Intentions of the Earl (36 page)

“Lizzie, quit sugarcoating it,” Gateway cut
in irritably, putting a swift end to Elizabeth’s evasive story.
“He’s a man, or at least he’d like us to think so, just get on with
it.”

Andrew scowled at Gateway, but didn’t bother
to give his meaningless dig a response; life was too short to spend
it in Gateway’s presence.

Elizabeth shot Gateway a questioning gaze,
then cleared her throat and nodded. “All right,” she said in a
normal if not somewhat clipped tone. “The previous duke was a randy
lad when he was eighteen and seduced his mother’s lady’s maid. Not
wanting to lose her highly coveted lady’s maid, the duchess chose
to ignore the fact she was increasing and the maid kept her
position. A few months later the maid died in childbirth.

“For some reason, Charles, Robert’s father
and the duke at the time, had sympathy for the motherless, and
essentially fatherless, child and he decided to keep me as his
ward, even though this infuriated Robert.”

Andrew just stared at her, stunned. He’d
always heard rumors and speculation his mother’s family, but he’d
never had the heart—or desire—to bring it up with her. But to know
she was a by-blow from the old Gateway was enough to shock anybody
into a state of horrified silence.

“My grandfather was the sweetest man, and
much to Robert’s dismay, he spoiled me beyond belief. When I came
of age, he decided I should have a come out. However, just weeks
before I was to be presented to court, Grandfather died,” Elizabeth
said sadly, then swallowed a couple of times and looked across the
room with a said expression on her face.

“Mother,” Andrew said abruptly, startling her
out of her little daydream. “You’ve just told me how you’re
related, but how did you two become so close, you’re nearly twenty
years older than he is.”

“If you’d let met finish, you’d know,”
Elizabeth said with a sniff.

“Well, excuse me for hurrying you along. This
isn’t exactly one of those charming family stories one sits in
front of a cozy fire all bundled up in blankets, drinking hot
chocolate and begging their parents to repeat for the hundredth
time. Now could you tell me the rest, so I can punch Gateway once
more for good measure and go after my wife?”

Elizabeth shot him a sharp look. “There will
be no more hitting, it’s barbaric and I raised you both better than
that, or so I thought.”

“’Fraid not,” Gateway said jovially. “And
there will certainly be more hitting if he goes after her.”

“No, there won’t be,” Elizabeth snapped,
jerking her gaze back and forth between Andrew and Gateway. “I
don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but it’s obvious
the beautiful young woman that came in here earlier has her heart
broken, and Andrew will be going after her if I have to drag
him.”

“Not to worry, I’ll be on my way to fetch my
bride as soon as you tell me how the two of you became bosom
friends,” Andrew said irritably, meeting his mother’s stare with
one of his own. “Could we please get on with it? I’ve never heard
you ramble so much; you’re starting to sound like Liberty.”

Gateway snorted. “Nobody could talk that
much,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Elizabeth eyed them both curiously, but
didn’t ask. “Robert had just married my closest friend and didn’t
want to spend the time or money on presenting me to court. But his
father’s will said he’d be disinherited if he didn’t make a match
for me, so in less than a week, he managed to match me with the
biggest reprobate of the season, Lord Townson.

“I don’t know what he told Thomas to get him
to marry me, but whatever it was, it didn’t include the actual
amount of my dowry, nor my parentage,” she said dryly, rolling her
eyes. “The day after our wedding, Thomas and Robert were in the
Rockhurst library fighting over my dowry and my friend thought she
was helping and stepped in to convince the duke to give him the
rest of the money. He refused and that’s when she accidentally let
it slip it was only hurting his daughter more by withholding the
money.”

“That’s why he packed you off to Essex?”
Andrew asked softly.

Elizabeth gave a stiff nod, her body was
rigid and her eyes were fixed on an empty vase across the room.
Andrew sat back down and wrapped his arm around her. Pulling her to
him, he brushed a kiss on her forehead and murmured, “I’m
sorry.”

“No need to apologize,” she assured him with
a stiff smile. “It’s not your fault. It was for the best. I
couldn’t imagine having to live with that despicable man the rest
of his life.”

“That explains the estrangement, but I fail
to see how Benjamin fits into all this,” Andrew said curiously.

“Well, see that’s where the story gets
stickier,” Elizabeth said cautiously.

“Lizzie, you’re beating around the bushes
again,” Gateway declared, sounding agitated. “The duke wasn’t the
only randy rascal around; his wife cuckolded him and when I was
born it was undeniable proof she’d been shaking the sheets with the
second footman. They ran away together and the duke packed me off
to Essex with a nurse.”

Andrew felt his jaw relax and his mouth hang
open, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get it to
close. The irony of it was too much. Gateway was a bastard through
and through, in action
and
deed. “That’s what you meant by
‘sort of’ being siblings, one of you is actually the child of a
duke by blood and not paper, and the other is a duke’s child on
paper but not blood,” he mused, trying not to let his fascination
show. Truly this was the stuff for novels.

“Yes, well, I’m glad you find it
entertaining, Andrew,” his mother said shortly. “After Ben was
moved to Essex, the duke wrote and told me he would send me what my
grandfather had set up for my dowry if I would watch out for Ben
until it was time for him to go to Eton. I was penniless, so I
agreed. Naturally, I let the two of you play together and would
have continued to had your father not gotten wind of it.

“When you were five, Thomas found out about
the situation and demanded you go live with him in London. I wrote
letters everyday begging for him to let you come back, but it was
only after I agreed to give him half the money that he let you come
home. While you were gone, the duke wrote and demanded you two not
have any more interaction because he didn’t want you two to
recognize each other at school, start asking questions and cause a
scandal. Seeing he was right, I reluctantly agreed and when you
came back, I told you he’d moved. That’s when you started spending
the afternoon’s with the nanny and I’d go see Ben.”

Andrew felt every muscle in his body tighten.
The feeling of sympathy for his mother’s plight was swiftly
changing into rage. She had told him it was countess duties, but
all along she’d been stealing away every afternoon to go see
Benjamin.
He
was her son,
he
had needed her. “You
left me, your son, to go see spend time with someone who isn’t even
your brother?” he questioned, piercing her with his stare.

Elizabeth stiffened and pursed her lips. “How
dare you?” she demanded, her voice telling how offended she was. “I
had to. I'd agreed to watch out for him. That was how I made my way
in this world. You should be grateful I went. How do you think we
survived? If it had been up to your father, we would’ve starved to
death out in the country,” she snapped.

“Did you have to check on him everyday?”
Andrew countered. “Wasn’t once a week enough to go see him?”

“He was lonely!” she burst out. “All he
wanted was a little human interaction. Other than me, the only
other person he saw was his nurse. You at least got to go see your
father, even if it was a miserable visit. He had no one. On the two
occasions the duke did come to see him, all he did was condemn him
for his mother’s transgressions.” She jumped up and started to wag
her finger. “If you’d been listening at all to what I just told
you, you’d know that I was the object of the duke’s scorn for
years. Whether Ben is really my brother or not doesn’t change that
I love him the same way I love you. He and I share a tie similar to
the one you and I share. You and I were hated and the object of
scorn by your father, and Ben and I were the object of scorn from
the duke.” With a huff, she plopped back down on the settee and
crossed her arms defensively.

Andrew felt shame wash over him. She was
right. She had to go see Benjamin, not only for the money, but her
other reasons were valid as well. He had no right to be angry with
her for loving and being loved by someone else. “I’m sorry for what
I said,” he said softly, squeezing her hand. “It wasn’t fair of me
to say those things to you. You did the best you could, and I
appreciate all you did for me.”

Elizabeth didn’t say anything, she just wiped
away a tear that was rolling down her cheek and squeezed his hand
back.

Coming to his feet, Andrew silently walked
out of the room. This was all too much. In the last two days he had
ruined an innocent girl’s reputation, been challenged to a duel,
gotten married, been in a fist fight, found out his mother was
illegitimate, learned in a twisted way he had a bizarre connection
to the depraved Duke of Gateway, and worst of all, he’d lost his
wife.

“Where are you going?” Gateway shouted to
Andrew’s back.

“Out,” Andrew answered simply in a clipped
tone.

“Out? Not to the baron’s house party I
hope?”

Andrew whipped around to face Gateway. “It’s
none of your business where I go, or what I do,” he said in a
steely tone. “You might have some strange connection to my mother,
but that doesn’t move you up in my opinion.”

“I’m warning you, Townson, if you bring her
back you’ll never get that estate back,” Gateway thundered.

“I don’t want it,” Andrew said, realizing it
was the truth. “I thought I did, I thought that if I could get that
estate back it would solve all my problems.” He looked to his
mother. “I thought if I could get that estate back, I would be able
to have the income that I currently lack and could give the house
to my mother to heal the pain I caused when I rejected her. But
ruining someone else’s life is not the way to go about fixing
things. I don’t know why I let myself believe it was.” He met his
mother’s eyes. “I’m sorry for what I did and said back then, but I
was just a boy and I didn’t realize the pain I was causing. I do
hope you’ll forgive me.”

“You ruined a girl’s reputation to get back
that musty, crumbling estate because you thought it would mend our
rift?” Elizabeth shrieked, leaping off the settee and putting her
hands on her hips. “You, my son, are a coxcomb. I hated that
estate. I only went there because I didn’t have anywhere else to
go. As for our separation, well, that was your father’s doings. I
did send you letters, but per Thomas’ request, they were returned
by the school master. During breaks, he demanded you go stay with
him, he did it to torture me and it worked, but I never held that
against you.”

Andrew swallowed, closed his eyes and sank
into an empty chair. Everything he believed about the rift in their
relationship had been wrong. For years he’d felt guilty about what
he’d done. And now he found out it had nothing to do with him at
all; he was a coxcomb.

His whole body felt numb. Everything he’d
done concerning Brooke was all for naught except a lot of grief for
both of them. If he’d ever bothered to talk to his mother, he’d
have known all of this earlier, much earlier. More importantly, he
wouldn't have tried to ruin Brooke in an effort to smooth things
over. His blood chilled at the thought. If this hadn’t all worked
out this way, he might have never met Brooke. She was what was
important now.

“Snap out of it, Andrew,” Elizabeth said,
snapping her fingers in front of his face and breaking Andrew from
his trance. “I know all these revelations are shocking, but what
are you waiting for? Get off your arse, go get your bride, and
bring her back for a proper introduction.”

Andrew’s eyes popped open and he shook his
head at his mother’s blunt words. “I suppose that wasn’t the finest
first meeting,” he said dryly.

“No, and as fetching as she looked in that
dressing robe, I imagine she’s quite a beauty when properly
attired,” she said with a simple smile.

“That she is,” he agreed. Although, he was
rather convinced she looked even better without it. Andrew rose
from his chair and turned to face Gateway. “Thank you. If not for
you and your idiotic scheme, I would never have met the love of my
life.”

Andrew smiled at Gateway’s unhinged jaw
before running out the door and saddling his horse.

Chapter 28

Brooke heard Andrew rifling through his
things. Looking for the key to the connecting door, she supposed.
Too bad for him, she’d swiped it while he was still in the hallway
banging on her door like a madman.

Leaning down to where her clothes were in a
heap on the floor, she scooped them up and quietly padded over to
the door. She slowly opened it so not to let it creak. She got it
open far enough to slip out and she stood quiet to make sure Andrew
was still digging around. She heard him grunt and spill over what
sounded to be a container meant to hold ink pots and quills. Taking
a breath, she darted out the door and headed to the main staircase.
She was afraid if she tried to go down the servant’s stairs, she’d
have to walk past his room, and if he left the door open, he might
happen to see her.

Running down the hall, she was glad she had
chosen to carry her slippers rather than wear them because the heel
on them would have made too much noise on the uncarpeted stairs.
She walked down the stairs as fast as she dared, trying to go
quickly but not make noise. When she got near the bottom she heard
the duke and Andrew’s mother talking about something. She almost
wanted to stop to listen and try to figure out why they were
calling each other by their first names, but she dared not.