The Reluctant Earl (23 page)

Her? Leah studied the contents of the pallet more closely... “Phoebe.” The name slipped out on a whisper. Nine years. The day she had yearned for, despaired for, had arrived after nine long and lonely years. Her sister’s motionless form wavered in the onslaught of emotion.

Chambelston vaulted up the last few steps and stood before her, hat in hand like a pauper petitioning a contribution. “I had a conversation with Elizabeth after the magistrate left. She instructed Mrs. Anderson to prepare the room next to yours.”

The footmen reached the landing with their burden. Leah followed their slow procession to an empty chamber and waited as they slid her sister’s form onto the bed. Only the faint rise and fall of Phoebe’s chest indicated she lived.

“The matron must have administered another dose of laudanum.” Leah ran her fingertips along the waxy coldness of Phoebe’s cheek.

“Not surprising. She has limited staff, so their choice would be restraints or drugs when patients become unmanageable.”

Unmanageable. What would happen when Phoebe regained consciousness—if not her senses? How long would Lady Sotherton consent to the presence of two unwelcome guests, especially one not quite sane? “I’m not certain this was a wise idea. I have no claim on your sister’s hospitality. Perhaps we should return Phoebe to the asylum until I have a permanent situation.”

“Miss Vance?” Lady Sotherton inched closer to the bed.

The familiar agitation stirred in Leah’s belly, eight years of always being on edge before this woman. “I’m sorry, my lady. I didn’t realize you were here also. I was only just suggesting to Lord Chambelston that perhaps we should find an alternative placement for my sister as quickly as possible.”

“Miss Vance, you saved my daughter from dangerous ruffians, and you returned Caro to us despite my harsh words and rash actions at our last encounter. Your sister is welcome to remain in my home as long as you need.”

“But Phoebe might—”

“We’ll deal with it.” Lady Sotherton tapped the back of Leah’s hand. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll speak to Mrs. Anderson about a schedule so that we have a maid with her at all times.”

“Y-yes, of course.” Leah waited until her erstwhile employer had departed before she turned to Chambelston. “She seems much changed.”

“As are we all. And for the better.”

A most accurate statement for Leah’s new perspective on life. And love?

“Now come.” Chambelston gestured toward the door. “We have much to discuss yet.”

“But Phoebe...”

“The maid will let you know the minute she regains consciousness.”

“Indeed, I will, Miss Vance.”

“Very well. She...” Leah hesitated, suddenly aware of how little she knew her sister anymore. What did she eat? What did she need? Oh, the missing years—

Chambelston enveloped her shoulders in an embrace. “You have the rest of your lives.”

“Thank you.” She said the words to Chambelston, and then winged the same thought heavenward as she rested her cheek against the fabric of his coat and inhaled its comforting scent.

“All will be well.” The scones flickered against the walls as he escorted her through the hallway.

“Did Miss Godwin confess?”

“Yes, it was much as you surmised.” He preceded her into an empty salon. “And I believe her claim that she didn’t enter Fleming’s chamber with the intent to kill him. The footman had recently administered a dose of laudanum, and she thought that a prime opportunity to retrieve her locket with none the wiser.”

“Except, seeing him...”

“Exactly.” Chambelston led her to a gracefully proportioned chair with blue-and-white-striped upholstery. “I’m going to speak to the judge on her behalf—to request leniency. Perhaps she can begin a new life in Australia. Harrison was right. We all need the chance to find redemption.”

“Well, I can’t fault anyone in need of a fresh start.”

“Your comment gives me hope.” He knelt before the chair and took her hand as her pulse began to pound in her ears. “Miss Vance, I do not mean to distress you with repeated importuning, but I am also looking for a fresh start—with you. I love you too much to not try again, and I have reason to believe you are not indifferent to me. Will you reconsider my offer of marriage and agree to become my wife?”

Light and joy bubbled in her heart until the room practically spun with her elation. “I should refuse again, I know.” Leah leaned forward and brushed her fingertips against his brow, pushing an errant lock of soft hair to the side.

“Then I’ll find myself harassing you again. And again and again until you yield. I can be quite annoying, you know.”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She started to giggle, but her laugh caught in her throat. “My sister...”

“Will be cared for by the best nurses in Somerset, in all of England if you find no local women to your liking. Leah, how could you believe I, of all people, would reject you for such a reason? I, who love and value Caro.”

Leah drew her finger down along his temple to the rough stubble on his chin. “I had allowed myself to doubt God loves all people equally for so many years, and I wouldn’t—couldn’t—trust anyone until I repaired my relationship with Him. I was certain you would spurn me if you learned about Phoebe.”

“And so you rejected my proposal.”

“Because I had fallen in love with you—but not enough to trust you. I was still certain you would never accept a woman with such a family member as Phoebe.”

His grip tightened around her fingers. “And now? I know my distrust in the past hurt you, but the trials have led me to a deeper understanding of God’s provision.”

As with Leah. “When I observed you with Caro at the asylum, I finally realized I’d misjudged you, as if God had at last opened my eyes to your true character. I owe you an apology.”

“I’d rather have an affirmative answer to my question. Leah, you are now a wealthy woman in your own right. You don’t need my money. But I need you. No other woman of my acquaintance understands my love for Caro as you do. We are both people who have learned God loves and cares for even those the world considers imperfect—and I believe He brought us together at just the right moment. I love you, Leah.”

She stared into the earnest blue eyes—not a hint of mockery today therein—and considered how he had arrived in her life at precisely the moment when she’d been most desperate, when her future had seemed most hopeless. God’s provision. The last of the ice in her soul melted and washed away her doubts. “Yes. Yes, I should like to be your wife more than anything, Julian.”

He caught her in his arms as he bounded to his feet. “Good. I thought my knees would break before you answered.” And then he lowered his head and spoke without words for several thrilling more moments.

“There you are, Uncle Julian.” Teresa’s voice sliced through Leah’s blissful oblivion. “And Miss Vance also.”

Julian glanced over his shoulder, smug smile firmly in place. “But not Miss Vance for much longer.”

Teresa blinked. “You mean... Oh, I’m so happy for you both!”

“Then you won’t be offended if I ask you to go away.”

Teresa’s grin widened. “You’ll have plenty of time for that later. Come with me now. There is something you must see.”

Julian met Leah’s gaze, one brow lifted quizzically. “What do you think?”

“We’ll be leaving for Somerset soon enough. We should accommodate her.”

“Very well. This once.” He lowered his arms and threaded Leah’s hand through his elbow. “Lead the way, Teresa.”

Teresa fairly danced through the hallway to the drawing room where a crowd gathered—Lady Sotherton, Lady Caroline and...someone else.

“Maman?” Julian’s harsh whisper rumbled across the room. Leah paused in the doorway while he joined his family.

The elegantly coiffed blonde turned her head to reveal the serene features of an older woman. A woman who looked remarkably like Julian and Lady Sotherton and the portrait in Julian’s London town house. “Elizabeth wrote that I must travel immediately to Northamptonshire. I came as quickly as I could.”

“You wrote her?” Julian’s voice rose in disbelief as he stared at his sister.

“I didn’t know what else to do. I sent her another note tonight telling her all was well, but of course, she’d already departed.”

“You did the right thing.” Julian’s mother settled a hand on her long-estranged daughter’s shoulder.

“Maman, I’m sorry I let you down.” Self-recrimination laced Julian’s words and replaced Leah’s feelings of awkwardness with sympathy. “If I hadn’t—”

“Julian! You found her. That is all that matters.”

“Not exactly my doing.” He motioned Leah to his side, his eyes soft, his smile warm. “Maman, may I present Miss Vance, the woman who discovered Caro’s whereabouts? And my future wife.”

“Wife! Elizabeth, you did not tell me of ’zis.” The inflection of her native France colored her speech.

“She didn’t know. Miss Vance, this is my mother, the Countess of Chambelston. Maman, you may be the first to wish us happy.”

“Second,” Teresa corrected. “I was the first.”

“And a good thing she didn’t chance upon us sooner, else I’d still be on my knees begging for an answer.” That sardonic twist reappeared on Julian’s mouth as he glanced at Leah, but this time, he included all of them in the joke. “Miss Vance is not an easy woman to persuade. Fortunately for me, she decided to lower her standards for once.”

“Uncle Julian, she hasn’t any choice. I found the two of you alone in the blue salon in a most compromising position.”

“All part of the scheme to be certain she didn’t change her mind. Did you hear that, Caro?” He tweaked his younger sister’s hair. “Miss Vance will be coming to Somerset with us.”

“Now?”

Julian’s laugh reverberated against the walls. “Soon.”

“It is so good to see you laugh again, Julian.” The Countess of Chambelston clasped Leah’s hand between both of her own. “Miss Vance, I pray God grant you and my son every blessing.”

He already had.

Epilogue

Somerset,
England
June 1817

J
ulian stared out the study window where the afternoon sun drew shadows on the grass. Lush green stretched toward the horizon and promised new chances, new life.

In his fields, in his heart, in his home.

“My lord?” The butler interrupted his reverie from the doorway. “A message arrived on the post. From America.”

His heart skipped a beat as he slipped the paper off the salver. “Is my mother about?”

“I believe the ladies are in the garden.”

“Very good. I’ll share this with them when they return.” He snapped open the wax seal and began to read. Oh, Maman would want to see this! He started to rise from his chair.

“Learn anything interesting?” Leah quoted those familiar words from the doorway. He waited by his chair while she sashayed into the room and next to his desk.

“As a matter of fact, yes. From my brother.”

“Are you going to tell me what he said, or do I have to sneak into your room tonight to learn your secrets?” Her charming dimple flashed beside a saucy smile.

“My door is always open to you, Lady Chambelston.” He winked and passed her the letter. “A girl, Kit says—with lungs powerful enough to ward off any future English invasion.”

Leah’s soft chuckle rasped against the quiet. “It sounds as if he has truly acclimated to his new country.”

Or perhaps the bonds of family gave a man the drive and determination and dedication to make anywhere a home, so long as he was with the ones he loved. “I thought you’d be outside with Maman and Caro.”

“I was. Phoebe seems to especially enjoy the sunshine—not surprising after so many years confined to a single room—but I tired. I left her with Molly and returned to the house.”

“Forgive me, my dear. I left you standing. How thoughtless.” He nudged her into the chair he’d vacated moments before. “I can’t believe the maid let you return by yourself.”

“Stop fretting, Julian. It’s a child, not some dreadful disease.”

A child.
Their
child. His mind sketched a little girl with bows in her hair, a dimple on her cheek and her mother’s compassion in her heart. “I bought you a gift.” He retrieved a paper from the desk and offered it to her.

“A deed?”

“You once told me that if you ever suffered an excess of funds, you would use them to help others.”

Her brows drew together. “But land? What am I to do with a piece of property?”

“Put a building on it and hire staff.”

Understanding kindled in the wide hazel eyes. “An asylum! Oh, Julian.” She launched herself from the seat straight into his arms.

“An asylum that treats the patients humanely and accepts even those who cannot pay.” He rested his cheek against her hair and breathed the soft fragrance of lavender. “I thought perhaps you’d like to go with me tomorrow to look at the property.”

“Anywhere, Julian. I will go anywhere with you. God has blessed us beyond measure. It’s only right that we should share our bounty and joy.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt of
A Royal Marriage
by Rachelle McCalla!

Dear Reader,

I love history, so when I decided to write Julian’s book, I researched the major events of the late Regency to see what real events would have had an impact on the characters.

Historians identify 1816 as the Year Without a Summer. A convergence of unusual solar activity and a massive ash cloud from the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora created a “volcanic winter” throughout much of the northern hemisphere. The unusually cold, wet summer caused poor harvests and scarcity by the winter of 1816–1817. Famine engulfed much of Europe and North America. With Europe still reeling from the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars, civil unrest soon followed.

It was against this turbulent backdrop that I set a story about two lonely people caught up in the events of the time. Of course, I took a few liberties. No one knows the identity of the person who fired on the Prince of Wales’s carriage in January of 1817, but since conspiracy theories do make for fun stories, I let my imagination loose.

I love to hear from readers and can be reached through my website at
www.cjchasebooks.com
.

C.J. Chase