Always True to Her (Emerson Book 2) (6 page)

“How can I not be cooperative for Anna’s sake?” She
gently tugged one of the girl’s braids and was rewarded with a smile.

“So you would not cooperate if it were I alone?”
Lord James asked with an aggravatingly attractive smile.

“Never, my lord. I would set the dogs on you.”

“You said you don’t have dogs.”

“I would acquire some.”

After agreeing on the exact place to meet and Lord
James insisting that both a maid and a footman accompany her home, Irene left
the house. Though she hadn’t accomplished what she’d set out to do, she was
pleased to have a purpose – too many days passed without one. If possible, she
would like to help Lord James and his adorable daughter. Though she wasn’t
certain what she could do since this was bound to be a misunderstanding.

Wasn’t it?

*

James hadn’t felt this unsettled in ages.

He’d had Cedric’s family neatly pegged. They were
peers born into money and privilege who did not respect a man’s hard work.
And, indeed, the viscount and the dragon had fit that description perfectly.
But the sister.

The sister.

Irene Wallace was a conundrum. Beautiful, but kind
to a shy little girl. A lady with exquisite manners who did not balk when Anna
touched her hair. She’d also stood up to that arse Simon Chilcott and placed
her arm around Anna protectively. Something happened to him when he’d seen
that. The gesture was so tender. So sincere. So sweet.

James couldn’t believe how close he’d come to
planting Chilcott a facer. He would have, if Anna hadn’t been there to witness
it.

He wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to meet Miss Wallace again.
Perhaps it was because she was the only person he knew in London. Well, that
wasn’t quite true. Most of the men he’d gone to school with probably lived in
London. They could be found fairly easily. Yet he had no desire to seek them
out.

After all, he had Anna to consider. There was no
one he could leave her with, not that he wanted to, anyway. He was still
getting to know her. They were slowly building a bond and he didn’t want to
leave her in someone’s care so he could go off for a night with friends.

He wasn’t the same man he’d been at school. He’d
seen too much of the world – the good and the terrible – to remain unaffected.
He had no desire to waste money gaming and whoring.

Well, he wouldn’t mind the physical release of a
visit to a brothel. But it was unseemly now that he was a father.

Good Lord, he was becoming a boring old
sot.

Or maybe he was just growing up.

He did have one other important mission in London.
He wanted to see his sister Win. He’d had few letters from her through the
years, which was in keeping with what Colin and Nick had been telling him
earlier. They suspected her husband limited her contact with the family. With
the way marriage laws were written, a wife was her husband’s property and he
could treat her as he liked. Given the abuse that existed within so many
marriages, it was barbaric that husbands would be given so much power. But,
unfortunately, it was the law of the land.

Nick had said she’d been travelling. James hoped
she was back. He was determined to see for himself if his sister was well.
And if Pierce had mistreated her, James would remove her from the house. She
could accompany him back to America. With divorce an extreme rarity, it
wouldn’t be the first time that a husband and wife parted ways, never to see
each other again.

If Pierce objected, well, it could be the last thing
he ever did.

So he would check on Win, then he would meet Miss
Wallace the following day and try not to think of her overly much in the
meantime.

He had no great confidence that he would succeed.

As usual, Irene breakfasted alone the next day. Her
father was so weakened by Lord James’s visit that he’d taken to his bed and had
not been seen since, except by the dowager. When Irene had tried to check on
him the previous evening, he’d curtly told her to leave. She’d tried again
that morning, but had been waved away by his valet.

The dowager always took her chocolate on a tray in
bed and had a standing order that she did not wish to be disturbed until noon
unless it was an emergency. Irene had often wondered just how urgent the
emergency would have to be in order to interrupt her grandmother without being
punished for the infraction. As a child, Irene had once badly bruised her arm
after falling from a tree. She’d sought solace from her grandmother at ten of
the clock and had her ears boxed as a result.

It was a mistake Irene had never repeated.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the events of the
previous day. They were extraordinary in many ways and the most excitement
she’d had in years, if not ever.

Her life was made up of a series of social calls and
duty, much of which was dictated by the dowager. Her grandmother had a list of
scheduled visits and events for each day, depending on which hostess was either
in her good graces or deserved a snub. But as the dowager became more and more
cantankerous, it seemed that Irene’s social life became even more curtailed.
There were days when Irene didn’t attend any events at all because someone had said
something that offended the dowager.

The dragon.

She had to laugh at how Lord James had described
her. It was impolite to the extreme, of course, but thoroughly accurate. She
had a feeling he was often blunt yet insightful. And not for the first time
did she wonder whether he might be right about Cedric.

She didn’t believe her brother would ever do
anything as dishonorable as stealing from a man. But Cedric was known to cut
the occasional corner, though Irene could not recall a time when he’d done so
to the extent detailed by Lord James. Most of his transgressions involved
overspending his allowance, then racking up gaming debts.

The debts had always been paid – either by her
father or the dowager. So, if Lord James’s allegations proved to be true, she
assumed her father would make good on what was owed him. She hoped Cedric
would learn from the experience, but had little faith that he would.

Her first order of business would be to learn what
she could about Cedric’s business in America.

*

The pain started before Winifred opened her eyes. There
had been many mornings such as this. Not all of them. Not even the majority
of them. But in Win’s six-year marriage, her husband had struck her often
enough that she was familiar with the order of events.

They would co-exist for a certain amount of time,
sometimes weeks, occasionally months without an incident. Though there had
been a time or two when it had only been a matter of days. Then something
would set Clarence off. It could be a sizable gaming loss after one of his
nights in a hell. There were certainly enough of those. Or it might be a
fight with his family.

Sometimes it was something Win said or did. Or
didn’t say or didn’t do. Clarence had once beaten her bare bottom with a
hairbrush after she’d laughed when a dog had danced around him barking.
Another time, Clarence had remarked that the weather was lovely. And when Win
hadn’t readily agreed, he’d pushed her against the wall so hard her head had ached
for an entire day.

He was always careful to never leave bruises on her
face or arms. Nowhere they could be seen by others. The bruises would only be
visible to Win, her maid and Clarence, since he usually demanded his husbandly
rights immediately following one of his beatings. Or tried to, at least.
Clarence was rarely able to perform sexually. It had been years since he’d
been able to complete the act with her.

That had been one small mercy in their marriage. Though
she’d always wanted children, she did not wish to bring an innocent life into
the world that Clarence very much controlled.

For if he ever struck her child, she would kill
him.

Her father had been deep in debt as Win approached
her eighteenth birthday. He’d been taking bids from prospective grooms who’d
wished to ally themselves with the Earl of Ridgeway. He’d considered each on
one criteria only: whether they had enough blunt to not only settle his
substantial debts, but to also offer him a yearly stipend to keep him in the
lavish lifestyle to which he’d grown accustomed.

The old earl had told her there had been several
offers for her. A few – but not many – were from gentlemen of the
ton
.
Most had been from the merchant class who wanted an entrée into society. The
prospective grooms had ranged in age from sixteen to men in their sixties. It
had been somewhat of a relief to learn the man her father had chosen, Clarence
Pierce, was only in his early forties, with reddish brown hair and a body just
barely giving in to the dissipation of a drinker.

For Clarence could certainly drink.

He’d been polite for their brief courtship, but he’d
backhanded her on their wedding trip. Her transgression has been to smile at
their tour guide who’d shown them Venice. She had meant nothing by the gesture
but kindness. Her explanation had only earned her another slap.

Clarence had then explained to her in an eerily calm
voice that she was his property and he would treat her as he pleased. He also
informed her of something her father didn’t know. He had bought up all of the earl’s
markers, both the ones he’d disclosed and the ones he hadn’t.

Win didn’t know why her father wouldn’t have
disclosed all of his debts, but Clarence had told her the earl had secrets he
didn’t want anyone to know. Because of that, Clarence not only owned the earl,
but he controlled the fates of Colin, James, Rose and Letty. If Win didn’t do
exactly as he said, he would ruin each of them. If she even thought of
complaining to her family, he would make Colin an outcast in the
ton
.
If she ever contacted her family without his express permission, he would
ensure the earl married Rosemary off when she was sixteen to a man of
Clarence’s choosing.

Win would rather die than subject Rose to that fate,
so she’d accepted her husband’s terms. For the time being. Through the years
of beatings, she’d considered taking her own life. But she had to remain alive
to ensure Clarence would not follow through on his threats. The death of her
father had come as a relief, since it meant Colin would now be the earl. He
would protect Rose and Letty at all cost.

She missed her family dearly. She wanted nothing
more than to see them, but she knew Clarence well enough to realize he’d punish
everyone if she did. Colin might be the earl, but Clarence was still powerful
enough to ruin him.

She felt her ribs. They were bruised, but not
broken. Unfortunately, she knew the difference from experience.

There was a knock at the front door. Win had been
prohibited from looking out the window to see visitors. No doubt Clarence
believed she would find a way to signal her distress. So she did nothing, only
idly wondered who was there.

She washed at her basin, wincing as she did so. The
beating she’d received had been relatively minor and was the first she’d had in
almost three weeks. She had to breathe shallowly to keep the pain at bay.

Her maid, Tawny, entered her chamber without
knocking. Tawny, along with the other servants, was paid well to do Clarence’s
bidding. Win suspected that Tawny was also his mistress. Better it be Tawny
submitting to his whims than Win. She almost felt sorry for the girl.

Win pulled on her dressing gown, then regretted the
movement because of the pain in her ribs. Tawny didn’t miss the wince that
went with it. She smirked just the tiniest bit.

“The master wanted me to tell you your brother James
is in town.”

“James is here?” Win couldn’t believe it. She
hadn’t seen her brother in eight years and missed him terribly. Clarence had
strict instructions that the post be given only to him. Win suspected that
James had written more frequently over the years than the two letters she
received annually. And Clarence had already opened them before she saw them.

“He ain’t here at the house,” said Tawny. “And the
master says if he should come, you’re not to see him if you know what’s good
for you and them sisters of yours. But he did say I could tell you he brought
back a half-breed daughter. He’s not even ashamed of her the way he should
be. He’s been taking her with him everywhere. He’ll likely bring her here,
too, if you can imagine. A savage like that in a house like this. The master
says to remind you that if you try to send word or see them, you’ll be sorry.”

James was back in England.
And he had a daughter. Win tried to never show emotion in front of her
husband’s servants, but she couldn’t prevent the smile that broke out on her
face at the thought of James – the wildest of her brothers – as a loving
father. For she had no doubt that he would love his daughter and give her the
life none of them had ever had.

“You think that’s funny, do you?” asked Tawny. “I’d
think you wouldn’t want another beatin’. But suit yourself. There’s them that
like such things, though I never pegged you for that sort.”

With that helpful observation, Tawny left with a
sway to her hips that would make an opera dancer envious.

It would be worth a beating to see James again and
meet his little girl. But Clarence might follow through on his threats to hurt
Rose and Letty. She couldn’t risk it. And she couldn’t place James – or any
of her brothers – in the awkward position of keeping her away from her
husband. For she was certain that if any of them knew her true situation, they
would, at the very least, remove her from this house. That would violate the
rules of society and mean the ruination of them all. Not to mention it would
earn them Clarence’s wrath. And God only knew what he would do if they took away
his property.

No, she would bear up as she had for years. And
hope Clarence would eventually forget about her. Or that she would find a way
to escape to America.

Perhaps one of Clarence’s enemies would finally kill
him. Mayhap he’d have to run away to the continent to avoid them.

She liked the thought of Clarence on the run without
her. Perhaps fate would step in and keep them all safe. Though fate hadn’t
done such a good job of protecting her so far.

*

James was still getting used to the intricacies of dressing
a little girl of the
ton
. If he’d had the money, he would have employed
a maid for Anna. As it was, he gave her privacy behind a screen to wash and
dress in her shift. Then he went about the task of fitting her with the
various petticoats and skirts befitting a girl of her age.

Anna’s English wardrobe consisted of two simple
gowns he’d bought second-hand in Philadelphia and two dresses which no longer
fit Letty. When James had met his daughter, she’d been wearing the clothing of
her people. She was comforted by the familiarity of the buckskin and cotton
garments, but James felt it was important that she dress like a British lady in
public now that they were in London. People stared at her enough as it was.
He could only imagine what it would be like if she wore traditional garb. It
wasn’t a rejection of her culture, but merely an accommodation to make her stay
in England easier.

“Damnation!” muttered James, as soon as he realized
he’d laced her dress wrong.

Anna turned to look at him with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. But your papa is not a very
good lady’s maid.”

“That’s all right,” she said, with a slight smile
before turning back to leave him to his task.

She never complained. Not even when he’d burned
their meals during their travels. Or when the voyage had been so rough that
she’d been ill. She hadn’t complained about the crowded stage. She didn’t
even question him when she was introduced to a house full of strangers and
informed they were now her family. She just went with him and did what he
asked.

And that humbled him more than anything ever had or
ever would.

He finished dressing her, then checked to make sure
he hadn’t missed anything. She was a little rumpled compared to other girls,
but part of that was his ineptitude with an iron, not that he tried to hone his
skills with any frequency. One nice attribute of wool was that it didn’t
wrinkle like cotton.

He had a new admiration for valets and ladies’
maids.

But it wasn’t just his unskilled ironing that marred
the overall look. Unfortunately, Anna’s clothes were not tailored to fit her.
Letty’s gowns were a bit too big on her, despite Rose’s alterations before
they’d departed Wiltshire. He had a feeling his sister had left a little bit
of room for Anna to grow into them. It was wise of her, of course, since even
if he regained his land, he wouldn’t be able to spend too much on a new
wardrobe.

His first priority was to keep Anna well fed and with
a roof over her head. He wished he could dress her in the finest wardrobe, but
he would settle for clean, warm clothing. And as he’d been reminded countless
times both in America and here back home, very few people had even that.