In the Arms of an Earl (36 page)

“I was a child, then! I’m twenty years old, now. I’m all grown up.”

“Yes, so grown up. George would turn in his grave if he knew you had betrothed yourself to a fop, a…a puffed-up, dandified…”

“He’s none of those things. He loves me, and I love him!” She glared at him. “You may love me as a sister, Freddie, and God knows no one could have cared for me more than a brother or father, but you must listen to me now. I have chosen Jeremy as my future husband. He was never in love with Jane, nor she with him. They are only friends.”

“But…” He shrugged, trying to comprehend the bizarre situation. “What of Lucinda’s letter?”

“His engagement to Beatrice Dudley was arranged by his father. They have never even met. Jane convinced him to choose love over duty. She knew his feelings for me and encouraged him on my behalf.”

He sank into a chair and pressed his hand to his eyes. “You swear—Susanna, do you swear this is all true? You’re not just saying this to give me false hope?”

She knelt beside him and pulled his hand to her cheek. “Oh, dearest brother,” she whispered, kissing his hand, “I need only show you proof when you give me away at my wedding. You will, won’t you?”

Perhaps he’d been too blind, seeing Jeremy only as a rival for Jane’s affections that he’d overlooked his other qualities.

True, he was a man about town, but Susanna would quickly mold him into the right sort of husband. He trailed his finger across her soft, downy cheek, damp with tears.

He should have seen it. Now she’d spoken the words, it was painfully obvious her love for Parker had been there all along.

The convenient meeting at Lady Harrington’s scandalous party—the only place two people in love who wished to keep a secret could meet. Opera tickets in Susanna’s hand while Jeremy had a box for the same evening.

He’d assumed it was all Jane’s doing.

Sweet, shy Jane, who’d fled Everhill lest anyone force a marriage between her and a man she didn’t love. The same Jane who’d blushed and stammered whenever he spoke to her, though she treated Jeremy with casual indifference. Jane, who’d cried herself to sleep for three weeks when she hadn’t received any word from him.

George had wanted Susanna to be happy.
He
wanted her to be happy. He squeezed her hand.

“I would be honored, Susanna.”

She embraced him with a cry. “Thank you, thank you.”

“I should have let you make your own choices, Susanna dear. I just wanted what was best for you.”

“I know.” She kissed his cheek as Alice entered the room.

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Good heavens!” Alice arched a disdainful eyebrow. “Susanna, I sent you to find Frederick, not seduce him.”

Frederick stifled a laugh. He hadn’t felt so happy in a long while. “Actually, Alice, I won’t be in for dinner, after all. I must go to my wife.”

“Your wife? What, Jane didn’t return with you?”

A menacing gleam in her eye gave her away. His pulse raced. “What do you know of Jane, Alice?” He moved past Susanna to stand before Alice, who shrank beneath his gaze. “May I also ask why you are having a dinner party when you are not yet out of mourning for my brother?”

She tossed her head, the movement shaking the diamond brooch clasped to her hair. “I’m sure I have no idea as to what you are insinuating. I am in half-mourning now and have only invited a few close friends.” Her head tipped in Susanna’s direction. “
Her
, for example. As a favor to you,” she added slyly.

Frederick willed his temper to remain hidden beneath the layers of calm he had mastered over the years whenever he found himself in Alice’s presence. “I will see Susanna whenever I choose, and when she wishes it. Let me be blunt, Alice: did you suggest to my wife she should take a lover, or, worse, imply to her I had one?” He paused. “Susanna, for instance?”

The pale face flushed red. She backed toward the door. Susanna crossed the floor and seized her arm.

“What have you done? How could you tell her Freddie and I have any kind of relationship beyond that of a brother and sister? You know George was his best friend, and Freddie took care of me after he was gone. You knew, yet you lied. How could you?”

“I don’t know what you’re implying. Unhand me!” She tore from Susanna’s grasp. “Everyone knows that fine gentlemen have mistresses! It’s hardly a secret. Why, Henry…” She gulped on a sob. “Henry had several. He thought he kept them secrets, but I always knew. Even the housemaids were not immune to his advances.” She glared at Frederick, eyes burning. “You are the same as him. I’ve seen how you talk to them—how you look at other women. How you look at
her
.”

She nodded viciously at Susanna. Frederick shook his head. Realization of what Henry had done to Alice struck him like a blow to the chest.

“You are mistaken, Alice. I have never taken a mistress. What Henry did is between you and him. He’s not alive to defend himself, however. I am truly sorry he caused you such misery.”

She stared at him in agonized silence. Her lower lip trembled, and she crumpled in tears, sagging to her knees. Susanna pulled her up. Alice collapsed in her arms, wailing.

“I have no children, nothing from him!” She shook with helpless sobs.

Shooting Frederick a look, Susanna indicated he should help. Biting back more of what he longed to say, he stooped to help Alice into a chair. He handed her his handkerchief, and she mopped her face, but the tears continued.

“He took my girlhood…my innocence! I was a good wife to him. I thought he loved me. I deserved to be loved.” Her words ended with a plea.

Susanna stared helplessly at Frederick. He clasped Alice’s shoulder firmly.

“There, now. We cannot change the past, Alice. I’m sure Henry loved you…”

She shook her head violently, raising her tear-streaked, reddened face to him. “He did not. There were others before me. He was in love with your housekeeper’s daughter when he was a boy at Dornley Park. Your father sent her away. Henry told me so.” New tears spilled forth. “But he could not marry her, of course. He chose me, and more’s the pity.”

Frederick sat on a footstool by Alice’s feet, and Susanna knelt opposite. Together, they held Alice’s hands.

“You’ve acted foolishly, but perhaps all the damage you’ve caused may be put to rights.” He turned to Susanna. “On my way out, I’ll tell the guests their hostess has fallen ill. Ring for her maid to put her to bed.”

“Where are you going?” Susanna asked.

“Where else?” A smile reached his lips. “I must go to her. I can be at her sister’s by morning.”

“And bring her back to this?” Susanna waved her arm to encompass the room, Alice, and the strains of the musicians in the ballroom.

“What am I to do, then? Leave her at home?”

“No, of course not. But you can’t bring her back here. You’ll both be unhappy.” She chewed her lip, deep in thought. “If only the session was over, and you were free to live at Dornley Park.”

“Yes, and if only I were not the Earl of Falconbury, but ordinary Colonel Blakeney, none of this would have happened.”

“That is true,” she admitted.

While Frederick considered his options, none of which appeared promising, the door banged open. A familiar face grinned rakishly at him, the smile quickly vanishing into a frown as the scene unfolded.

“Good lord, Freddie—whatever have you and Miss Suzy done to poor Alice?”

Frederick stood back as the older man who resembled Henry hurried to Alice, falling to his knees beside her and tugging her into his arms. Frederick couldn’t help but notice with a dash of irony how easily Alice’s arms went around the man’s neck as she gave in to new sobs, encouraged by the patting hands on her back and tender whispers in her ear.

“Cousin Felix,” Frederick murmured, glancing at Susanna, who appeared stunned. Now he understood the hastily arranged dinner party and Alice’s recent lack of mourning attire. He recalled spotting Alice and Felix together in his mother’s garden, shortly after she’d married Henry. He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, as Alice claimed to be attending to a cut on Felix’s hand.

“Nice to see you, Frederick. How have you been? When you’re not upsetting helpless females, that is.”

Frederick poured two glasses of brandy, hesitated, and poured a third. Susanna helped bring them to Felix and Alice, who now sat closely together on the couch, their hands clasped so intimately that Frederick didn’t know whether to be shocked or amused. He settled on resignation and raised his glass a few inches in salute. After a pause, Felix raised his. Alice averted her gaze, and he took some spiteful pleasure from her guilty blush.

“I have been in the land of the living, I’m happy to say,” Frederick remarked. He indicated the couple with his glass. “Here’s to old acquaintances.”

“Hear, hear,” Felix murmured and gulped down the liquor. Alice’s glass remained in her hands.

“Somebody, please—explain to me…” Susanna choked, but Frederick waved her words away.

“Is it not obvious, Susanna? My cousin Felix has found love in the arms of my brother’s widow.”

Felix snorted, while Alice dropped her head even lower. The youthful blush was rather becoming on her, and Frederick remembered when she’d first come to Dornley Park, a vivacious, fresh-faced debutante, excited about marrying the newly invested Earl of Falconbury. Dashing, handsome Henry. Wealthy, fun-loving Henry, who, apparently, shared more of himself with women other than his wife. He couldn’t blame her for falling in love with Felix, the only son of their father’s sole brother, and marquess in his own right on his mother’s side.

“You make it seem sordid, Freddie,” Felix retorted, but his dark brown eyes, the mark of the Blakeneys, were amused. “I loved her the day we met, that first summer she came to your house. If I’d had my title and great fortune back then, I’d have won her. But”—he shrugged, and Frederick noted the smug smile hidden behind an air of reproach—“Henry was the lucky fellow.”

“But now Henry is gone.” Frederick sipped his brandy and quickly put the glass down. The taste had become abhorrent. “Convenient, but—” He extended his hand to Felix. “Who am I to stand in the way of love? Congratulations.”

Felix shook his hand cautiously, but with more fervor when he realized there was no bitterness. He helped Alice to her feet and slid his arm around her waist. “We mean to be married quickly, Freddie. I’ve no intention of waiting another twenty years for her to say yes.” He glanced down at Alice, the self-assured grin vanishing with a look of such tenderness Frederick nearly choked. “If you’ll have me, Alice, dear.”

She pressed her hand against his heart and gave him an unabashed look of love. “Yes, Felix,” she murmured, and he kissed her lightly on the nose.

Frederick looked at Susanna, who appeared to sag with relief now the worst was over. “Well, do not stand on ceremony on Henry’s account. By all means, marry at once, by special license.”

Alice gasped. “What will people say, Frederick? Henry’s only been gone…”

“Nonsense,” he assured them all, “Felix is a blood relative. It’s quite common for a brother or cousin to step in and care for the widow.” He winked at Felix. “Alice is no ordinary widow, after all. She has inherited all of Henry’s debts and liens. Another year of waiting, for courtesy’s sake, would ruin her.” He noted Felix’s fine buff trousers and heavy gold watch fob. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, cousin.” He grinned.

Felix smirked. “As it happens,
Cousin
, your brother Edwin introduced me to some maharajas who are eager to open trade with England.” He made an elaborate show of tugging on his cuffs, which bore great ruby cufflinks. “I am more than capable of settling Henry’s debts, if it means making Alice happy.”

Frederick nodded, pleased. “The life of a Nabob suits you, Felix. I always knew you would far exceed all of the Blakeneys in fortune and persistence.”

His thoughts drifted toward Jane. He could almost feel her in his arms again and couldn’t wait to be on his way to her. He frowned suddenly, and Felix echoed his concern.

“What is it?” His glance darted at Frederick’s left sleeve.

Frederick wondered if anyone would ever allow him to be merely troubled about anything other than his missing hand.

“I have a meeting at the House tomorrow. I meant to leave town and go to…” He laughed shortly. “Alice may fill you in on that part of my life, since she plays such a handsome role.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want the earldom, Felix. My life was always wrapped in my music, and then in Jane. Becoming the Earl of Falconbury has destroyed us both.”

A strange look crossed Felix’s face, and he reached out and gripped Frederick’s hand. At first, Frederick was puzzled at the gesture. Then, the realization of Felix’s unspoken intent dawned on him. The possibility of a different life—an unencumbered life with Jane—seemed obtainable.

“I can take your proxy, even if we are always on the opposite sides of the table.” The grin returned to Felix’s face.

Frederick couldn’t help but notice the remarkable similarity between his brother and his cousin, although Felix lacked Henry’s selfishness. Felix was a shrewd businessman who’d bring stability to the nearly devastated earldom and Henry’s properties. But for the chance of birth, Felix would have made a marvelous Earl of Falconbury.

When Frederick didn’t speak right away, Felix’s brow creased. He pulled back his hand but stopped when Frederick gripped it with new strength.