The Temptation of a Gentleman (35 page)

“What bargain are you talking about?” Marion repeated looking from one parent to another. Their eyes were locked in silent combat.

“Walter, don’t.” Her mother’s voice was low and pleading, but it didn’t stop her father’s smile or his reply.

“Your mother loved another man.” Her father’s dark eyes narrowed as he glanced over Marion’s head at his wife. “She lay with him after we were married and voila.” His rage turned back on her. “
You
.”

Marion reeled back until she found she was pressed against the carriage seat with nowhere to go. No way to escape her father’s words. Even the outside gave no release, for the carriage had started moving again and was racing along at a healthy clip.

“You’re lying.” She looked up at her mother with pleading eyes. “Tell me he’s lying.”

Tears began to slip down her mother’s cheeks and gave Marion all the answer she needed.

“I’m sorry, my love. It’s true. Your father…” She shut her eyes and corrected herself. “Walter knew the courts would assume you were his flesh and blood. He agreed to keep you from being called a bastard if I would stay in the marriage and keep getting money from my family. But when that ended, he used those same laws against me to keep me from you forever.”

Sally gasped, but Marion hardly heard the sound over the rushing of her own blood in her ears.

“Oh, God.”

A wave of nausea washed over her and she thanked her stars she hadn’t eaten. The things she was hearing were just too much, but they explained everything in her life. Why her father had been so cold to her. Why he’d hated her mother. Why she’d never felt a strong connection to him.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

Her question was posed to both parents. Her mother had the chance when she arrived in London. And her father could have told her when she came of age and been rid of her forever. Instead he’d kept her in indentured servitude and nearly sold her virtue to a lecher and a murder suspect.

“Why would I tell you?” Her father laughed humorlessly. “You were a commodity. And after everything I’d been through, I had a right to make something from your existence.”

“By nearly selling me to a man who may have killed his first wife?” Marion burst out with a rage she hadn’t realized existed in her.

Walter’s eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about, girl?”

“Georgina Ross. Her fall wasn’t an accident.”

She gave a glance to Sally but the girl was strangely silent and stared at the floorboards. Why didn’t she speak? Why didn’t she tell Walter Hawthorne exactly the kind of man he had bargained with?

“Of course it wasn’t. Lucas didn’t kill her though. She killed herself.” Walter shrugged. “Not that it makes much difference now. He won’t have you as a wife, though perhaps he’d still like a night with you.”

Marion’s heart sank as she spun to face her friend. The maid’s eyes were answer enough that her accusations, too, had been a lie. Again she’d been betrayed. First her parents, now this woman who’d professed to be her friend. Noah had warned her Sally might only be using her interest to further her own desires, and he’d been right. The maid had used Noah’s investigation just to get away from Josiah Lucas.

“Sally?”

”I’m sorry, miss,” Sally said through tears. “I tried to tell Georgina not to do it, but she didn’t listen. And after she killed herself, Mr. Lucas refused to let me leave.”

“And so you used my fears and Noah’s investigation as a way to escape?” Marion shook her head in shock. “You allowed me to remain in that house, knowing that I was in danger from Lucas’s desires and all along you had information that would have ended our hunt for answers all the sooner.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I could have been raped!” Marion said in a near-scream that revealed more of her tangled emotions than was wise considering her father was taking her captive against her will. She needed all her self-control to escape.

She refused to look directly at anyone in the carriage. It was just too humiliating.

“Why are you here now Papa, Walter, whoever you are? What do you want from me?”

Walter caught her chin and forced her face up painfully so she looked him in the eye. “I want payback for all I went through. If I can’t earn back what I spent for your upkeep by your marriage, then I’ll earn it while you lie on your back. Mr. Lucas has associations with men who will be more than happy that you’re already a whore.”

Marion tensed. He was talking about selling her into prostitution. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably at the thought.

“And as for you…” He glared at Ingrid. “You must face some punishment, too.”

Marion shivered as she stared at the man who’d raised her. The man who was now a stranger to her in every sense of the word. They were all in terrible danger.

And Noah had no idea where they were or how to find them.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“What would you have me do? Stand here and scratch my head while the woman I love goes running off to God knows where for God knows what reason?” He held up the note Marion had left and shook it over his head. “This gives me no clues, it only says she doesn’t want me trapped into anything I don’t want.”

“Yes, but Marion might avoid Dover all together if she doesn’t want Noah to find her,” Griffin added with a shrug. “She could go north just to throw you off the trail.”

“Very helpful, Grif, thank you,” Noah spat.

His friend sighed heavily. “Perhaps
now
would be a good time to trade in on those years you two spent with the War Department.”

Audrey and Noah locked eyes. Yes, Golding would help. He rushed for the door and was surprised that when he reached for the doorknob there was a sharp knock. He drew back and stared at his family for a moment.

“Well answer it.” Griffin laughed. “You all look as though you don’t know how a door works.”

Noah did as he’d been ordered and turned the knob. Charlotte Ives stood on the stoop with a maid behind her. She glanced down at her fingernails and didn’t yet see that Noah, himself, had answered.

“Lady Charlotte Ives to see Lord Woodbury. I’m told he’s here,” she said with a yawn designed to make it look as though she couldn’t care less.

“Charlotte?”

Her eyes darted to his face and a blush colored her pale cheeks. “Lord Woodbury.” She paused and cocked her head. “Have you taken a position as a butler here?”

Normally Noah would have taken a moment to appreciate Charlotte’s unusual stab at humor, but today he had more pressing concerns. “No, I was on my way out.”

“I’m glad I caught you then.” She motioned her head toward the foyer in a subtle reminder that he hadn’t invited her in. “I need to speak to you on a matter of utmost importance.”

Noah sighed in exasperation, but stepped back to allow her entry. Charlotte drew back at the crowd of Jordans assembled in the foyer, but didn’t comment.

“G-good morning.” She cocked her head at Noah with question in her eyes.

“Charlotte.” Audrey smiled tightly. “Would you care for some tea?”

Noah’s eyes grew wide. He had no time to share tea with the woman he’d once been planning to marry. He needed every moment if he was going to catch up with the woman he would marry even if it meant dragging her to Gretna Green kicking and screaming.

“Charlotte, I realize we have much to discuss,” he said before the situation could get more out of hand. “But I’m afraid I’m on my way to a very important appointment. Please feel free to stay for tea with my family.” He turned and stalked back to the door, opened it a second time and prepared to hurry from the house.

“Isn’t the safety of your new fiancée important enough to stay five minutes and hear me?”

He froze at Charlotte’s soft voice and turned back. She stood with a hand on each hip and looked at him with a face half-accusatory and half-understanding.

Charlotte smiled at Tabitha and the crowd moved inside. Noah shut the door behind them and immediately turned to his former paramour.

“What do you have to say about Marion? Time is of the essence, so please, don’t punish me by dragging out what you have to say.”

Charlotte raised a brow at his angry words and plopped into a chair by the fire. She stared up at him for a moment, then whispered, “You’re in love with her. I didn’t think you capable, but…” She shook her head as if she hadn’t meant to say the words out loud. “I had a visitor yesterday evening. I thought nothing of it and decided to forget it even happened, but I pondered it all night. I cannot let what he said slip by. I had to tell you.”

“Yes. He said he had a proposition I might find interesting.” Her eyes narrowed. “I should have thrown him out right then, but he told me it was a way to get even with you for the humiliation you caused me.”

Noah’s heart clenched, not only out of fear for what Hawthorne had planned for Marion, but for the fact he had caused Charlotte pain, yet she still came to him and told him the truth.

“What did he say?”

“He told me if I’d help him get Marion away from you, he would help me find my way back to you.” A small smile crossed her lips. “I promptly told him I didn’t want any man who would leave me and told him to get out of the house. I even called one of my larger footmen to escort him.”

Noah rose to his feet. His hands trembled at his sides and his head throbbed. He had no idea if Marion had left his sister’s house of her own accord or not, but he did know she was in great danger. Her father would surely hear she wasn’t under his protection anymore and make chase. If the beating Hawthorne had given Marion was any indication, the consequences for Marion and her mother could be devastating.

“Then take Griffin. I can handle Golding and you may need another set of hands if you encounter trouble.” She turned to her husband. “Be careful.”

Noah turned away as the two shared a heated kiss. The last thing he needed was a reminder of what he could lose if he couldn’t find Marion, or if he found her too late.

“Foster!” Griffin called out as he released his wife. “Foster, have the carriage brought around for my wife and bring me my pistol.”

***

The Great Northern road out of London seemed to wind through city streets and bustling roads forever, even though Noah and Griffin rode horses which were easy to maneuver around carriages and crowds. Noah could only pray he’d chosen correctly and would stumble across Marion and her mother before something happened to them.

What had made Marion run? It was the one thing he still couldn’t answer. Could her father have found her and threatened her? Her note had left him no clues, no secret message between the lines. He had to believe she’d indeed intended to leave him of her own free will.

But why? Why had she left the very day he was to declare his feelings for her? She’d seemed happy enough in the Berenger house, and had even kissed him goodnight after the ball. Were those the actions of a woman preparing to flee?

Something else had to have happened between the time they’d separated after the ball and that morning when she left. As soon as he found her, he would discover what that something was.

He scanned the area around them. They had finally departed the last of the city and were now in the outskirts where there were few people. There was a tree beside the road, an old oak with a trunk as thick around as two or three large men standing side by side. At first Noah saw nothing out of the ordinary, but then he noticed a man’s foot sticking out from behind the tree as if he’d passed out.

“There, a man…”

“I see him.” Noah guided his horse around the tree, then skidded Phantom to a hard halt and hopped off the creature. He grimaced when the men trying to help parted and he saw who it was lying on the ground: Ingrid Hawthorne’s driver, and he had a large gash across his forehead. His arms were tied behind his back and he was unconscious.