A Passionate Endeavor (30 page)

He took it from her and dried her tears, then
forced her to blow her nose. She did so in a loud, childlike
fashion.

“Will you accompany me back to the abbey,
Charlotte?” He hesitated. “You weren’t really leaving for London,
were you?”

“I thought it was for the best,” she said,
not looking at him. “But I will not leave right away. I will stay
for your father’s funeral, of course. I would not be so
disrespectful to his memory. He was the kindest of men. But after,
when you plan your own departure—”

“There you are!” shouted Charley, coming down
the rise overmounted on a huge chestnut gelding.

Nicholas had to grab the reins when Charley
could not bring the animal to a stop.

“You are needed at once, Lord Nick, I mean
‘Your Grace.’ “ The boy was completely out of breath. “Her Grace is
in such a state. Stevens sent me to find you, and to ask Lady
Charlotte, I mean Her Gr—, oh, you know who I mean, to bring some
smelling salts. Oh, do hurry, please, afore she tears the abbey
down with her screamin’.”

Nicholas turned to Charlotte, shaking his
head. “Will this day never end? It is only eight o’clock in the
morning, and yet it seems like it should be nightfall. We will
continue our conversation a bit later,” he said, taking her arm to
urge her toward the abbey. “But Charlotte, promise me you will not
make any plans to leave before we do so. Come, it’s time to face
the worst of it.”

“You!” his stepmother shrieked as Nicholas
entered the elegant sitting room off the duchess’s bedchamber. Both
Edwin and her lady’s maid had to physically restrain her from
attacking him. She pointed an accusing finger at Nicholas. “You
dare to show your face in my rooms? You, the murderer of your own
father. And you,” she said, looking beyond his shoulder to
Charlotte. “You vulgar little French mushroom. I knew you would be
the death of him. My dear, beloved Richard,” she continued, and
then crumpled onto the chaise longue. The maid handed her mistress
a new handkerchief.

Nicholas looked down at her. She made for
such a pathetic creature. The duchess had seemed to be made of
steel will and unquestionable authority when she had moved into the
abbey so many years ago. He had tried so hard, for a decade, to
gain her approval, a feat that a young boy of eight had not known
was unattainable. And now, lying before him, she was just an old
woman, filled with nothing but hatred and venom. He felt only
pity.

“Madam, I shall choose to ignore your
unfortunate comments as you are consumed with grief. However, I
must ask you to exert some effort to regain a measure of sanity in
the presence of others. If that cannot be accomplished, then I must
ask your maid and Stevens to leave us.”

Stevens bowed, and the maid curtsied her
acquiescence. “Already giving orders are you,
Your Grace
?”
Edwin said. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” Nicholas replied. “Do
you have difficulty comprehending why, Edwin?”

His half brother looked at him through
half-closed eyes. “Why, I have never had trouble
following
orders. Quite to the contrary. I have been obeying our father’s
orders since birth; a trait I thought we shared. But clearly, I am
very much mistaken. Now that our father is gone, you will break all
your vows to him and ruin us all because of your ignorance.”

Nicholas looked at Edwin’s cynical, pompous
mask and turned to Stevens and the maid. With a nod, he dismissed
them and returned his attention to his half brother.

“Edwin,” he said, and paused to collect his
thoughts. “I have found, in my many years serving the Crown, that
there are three kinds of evil in the world. The first type is
plagued with insecurities and jealousies that lead individuals to
behave badly. The second kind seems to be relentless in an attempt
to acquire power and control. And finally, the third type is
demonstrated in the sad cases of people who were born with criminal
tendencies,” Nicholas continued. He glanced down the length of his
nose to see the furious expression on Edwin’s face.

Nicholas raised his hand to stop him from
speaking. “Have no fear. I will not ask you to tell me into which
category you fall. The only reason I do not is because of the
memory of our father.”

Nicholas caught a swift, dark movement from
the corner of his eye. His stepmother had hurled herself headfirst
from the chaise longue and was now barreling into his stomach. He
tried to catch her thin arms as she struck his chest with her
fists.

“You stupid ox,” she screamed at him. “You
dare to call Edwin evil? You are the devil incarnate. My dear
Richard is not even cold on his deathbed and already you dare to
try to take control of the family and insult my son, who is your
superior in every conceivable way. I knew you would break all the
promises you made as soon as you came back. You are nothing but a
bad seed that should never have been born. You killed your father
with your scandalous marriage to this—this penniless foreign nobody
with pretensions of grandeur. Let me go! Or am I next on your
list?”

Nicholas released her and took a step back.
“Madam, it was not my intention to hurt you. As long as you can
restrain yourself there will be no further need for me to do it for
you.”

“Your Grace, may I offer you some laudanum
for relief?” Charlotte asked quietly. She had been one step behind
him all this time.

“You! Why I wouldn’t accept one drop of
anything from you. You have been in league with this demon all
along. All those potions and concoctions you gave dear Richard. If
there was any justice I would have both of you before the
magistrate on charges of conspiracy to murder my husband.”

Charlotte stepped back and looked at the
carpet. There was something about her graceful posture and the
lovely tilt of her head, that made Nicholas want to take her in his
arms and spirit her away from the evil that permeated the walls of
this cold abbey.

Suddenly, she tilted her head back and looked
at him. She had the most trusting, loving look on her face. She
radiated goodness. It hardened his resolve.

“Madam, my grandmother and Mr. Llewellyn were
with me very early this morning, just prior to the time of my
father’s death,” he paused to take a deep breath. “They were called
in to witness an addendum to his last will and testament. I have
asked the vicar to come later this afternoon to discuss the changes
with you so you will not be surprised during the formal reading of
the document following the funeral three days hence.” He stopped
when he felt a small, warm hand curl into his own. He realized his
fingers were clenched and cold. “But I do not want you to live in
suspense and worry. You and Edwin are to remove to Carston Hall in
Yorkshire-”

“Why am I not surprised that you would exile
us to the cold, boggy north?” Edwin interrupted.

“I chose Carston because it is the estate’s
second-largest property. If you would prefer, I will allow you to
choose the smaller manor house in Shropshire.”

“Well, Mother dear, I suppose we must be
grateful for the unexampled kindness
His Grace
is seeing fit
to bestow on us. I for one will enjoy watching from afar the total
ruin of the Knight family fortune. Although, I expect with Mr.
Coburn remaining as the competent steward, it will take longer than
expected. May I be permitted to ask
Your Grace
, if we will
be allotted our own portion of funds to control? At least we will
be able to invest wisely to ensure our own future comfort and
well-being,” he said with an air of supreme confidence.

“I am again sorry to burst the bubble of your
illusions, Edwin, but your Mr. Coburn is, at this very moment,
cooling his heels in the strong room of The Quill & Dove. There
is the matter of many thousands of pounds missing from our estates,
which
you
and Mr. Coburn will be required to explain,”
Nicholas said, before staring hard at Edwin. “Now, Edwin. I would
not have you misunderstand me on this last point. You and your
mother will be given a generous stipend each month that you shall
not exceed. Have no doubts that no debts of yours shall be paid
that exceed the stipend. I will attempt to exonerate your name from
any scandal Mr. Cobum’s actions produce. But, I will not agree to
any blackmail.

“I shall forgive your gross mistakes this one
time. But understand me well, if you and Her Grace,” Nicholas said,
nodding toward the duchess, “behave properly, I shall reward you
both with a season in town every few years or so. Make the mistake
of continuing your malicious behavior, and you will reap your
reward, which will include a substantial change in your standard of
living. Do I make myself clear?”

The young man’s face had exhibited every
color of the rainbow during Nicholas’s lecture. He was surprised
Edwin had not exploded in anger. But Nicholas had underestimated
his half brother’s reserves of control when self-preservation was
at stake.

“And lest there be any doubt about the
future, I will sign a document this morning transferring all
unentailed wealth and properties to my wife upon my demise. And I
daresay it goes without saying that any sudden change in my health
would be investigated, starting with you both. Now, may I count on
you to not make complete spectacles of yourselves by disgracing me
and my wife while you stay here for the funeral?” He continued
without waiting for an answer. “For the next time either of you
utters an ungracious word to me or my wife, I shall be forced to
change my mind about allowing you a generous portion and not
including you in the investigation concerning Mr. Coburn.”

Edwin had turned white in his shock. He
looked like a child who had received a well-justified whipping.
“Yes… sir.”

The proverbial bully had turned coward. “Very
good, then. I shall leave you to recover and send a maid to attend
to Her Grace.”

Nicholas stood stock still as the pause
lengthened into an uncomfortably long silence. He stared at his
half brother until Edwin was forced to show his respect by a slight
bow. With that, Nicholas quit the room alongside Charlotte.

His arm had never felt so rock-hard as it did
just now while they walked past the tiered formal gardens of
Wyndhurst Abbey toward the cottage. The loud crunching sound of the
pea gravel beneath their steps filled Charlotte’s ears. The air was
cool, signaling autumn’s commencement as the dark red roses made a
final fragrant showing before the killing frosts.

Charlotte felt very shy in his commanding
presence, unsure of what to say. She dared a sidelong glance at his
rugged, handsome profile and saw the grim set of his mouth while
they headed into the teeth of a strong wind that promised to pierce
the heavy gray clouds all around. They entered the taller grasses,
swirling madly in the breeze, and startled a pocket of field
grouse, who flew away, their long tails fanned in flight.

They walked in silence; he seemingly lost in
thought, she wondering what he was thinking, not confident enough
to utter a word. Within sight of the cottage, Nicholas halted.

“Charlotte,” he said, turning to face her. “I
am sorry for everything you have had to endure since coming to this
godforsaken place. From the hostile reception, the death of your
father, your forced betrothal, through it all you have been a model
of grace and all that is charitable and good. And I, well, I was
all that is the opposite.”

“I am not sorry I came,” she interrupted in
whispered tones, while looking at the ground. “And it is not true
what you said. You are all that is courageous and kind. I know that
because of your excellent character. You took pity of me, but there
was no need. I did not want your pity. I only ever wanted your…”
Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte could see that he had bent
down to try and catch her words.

“My what?” he asked.

“Oh, never mind. It doesn’t signify. Shall we
go into the cottage? I have something for you. I wanted to give it
to you before I left.”

He took her hands in his own and bent to kiss
them. She felt like an awkward girl staring into his impossibly
handsome face.

“What did you only ever want from me,
Charlotte?”

She released his hands and began marching, in
the longest strides her legs would allow, to the whitewashed
cottage beyond. She could hear him walking beside her.

“Tell me you only ever wanted
my love
,
dearest,” he said, his deep baritone voice floating in the
wind.

“I cannot,” she said, horrified that he had
guessed her greatest desire. “I only ever wanted your respect,
sir.”

“Well then, that is too bad.”

She swung around to face him, anger flooding
her body, forcing the tears that had threatened to spill back into
their small recesses. “Yes, it is too bad. I was never able to gain
anything but your pity. Now, please, I beg of you to leave me
alone. I think it best that I leave you here, actually. I will send
the item I have for you with Doro. Will you please, I beg of you,
arrange for a carriage to take me to London the morning after your
father’s burial? I think it best that I leave then,” she said.