Honor Reclaimed (All About Honor) (24 page)

“Honey, do you not see that this is
the best solution?
 
I love your
sweet nature, I value your beauty, I respect your intelligence, and I admire
your bravery.
 
You are of good
breeding and a fine family, and you are the mother of my child.
 
What more could any man expect?
 
I need a wife.
 
My father has become insistent that I
marry, and soon so that I can provide him with heirs to continue our family
line.
 
He just threatened me this
morning with getting my sister involved in finding me a wife.
 
He wants me to marry before I return to
the colonies.
 
This could not be a
more prefect solution.
 
Will you
marry me?”
 
Drew continued to hold
her hand.

“But you do not love me.”
 
Elle countered.

“Honey, I do have strong feelings
for you, and I loved you before.
 
I
am proud of how brave you are.
 
You
have suffered so much through no fault of your own, but you have held your head
high and faced what life has dealt you with pride and dignity.
 
I think you are an incredible woman.
 
I let you get away once and I do not
intend to let that happen again.
 
I
realized too late back then that I was in-love with you
but,
when so many years went by without hearing from you, I moved on.
 
I am not in-love with
you now
,
it is true
.
 
My heart belongs to another, but she is out of my reach, and
I can never have her because she already belongs to another.
 
I am not sure if I will ever be able to
fall in-love again with another, but if I do, it would be with you.
 
Please marry me.”
 
Drew had never been more serious about
anything.

“This is so sudden.
 
I need sometime to think.
 
I have a son to consider.”
 
Elle pleaded for time in order to sort
her out her confusion.

“Certainly, but remember he is my
son too, and I would like to make us a family.”
 
Drew reasoned.

“You are right of course.
 
Drew I would be honored to be your
wife.”
 
Elle said in a barely
audible voice.
 

Drew pulled her into his arms and
kissed her gently.
 
“I will try to
make sure you never regret your decision.
 
I think we can be happy.”

“Drew, how will we explain all of
this to Alexander?
 
The marriage he
will accept, but how do we explain that you are his father?”
 
Elle as usual put Alexander’s needs
first.

“We do not have to explain it to him
right now.
 
He can call me father
now; that would be natural under the circumstances.
 
When he gets older and becomes curious why he is my image,
we will find the right way to tell him.
 
Let us worry about it then.
 
If others ask, we will give them the same story I suggested, that his
father was my cousin.
 
That should
explain the resemblance.
 
We will
make it work, you will see.”
 
Drew
had never been so sure of anything in his life.
 
This just felt right.

“I trust you, I really do.
 
This is not the first time you have
come to my rescue.
 
I know you will
take care of everything.
 
I cannot
tell you how good it feels to be able to turn over the worries to someone
else.
 
I have lived the last six
years in fear and uncertainty.
 
Thank you.”
 
Elle was so
happy.

Drew once again gathered her in his
arms and this time he kissed her with a passion that surprised them both.
 
“I think I had better be speaking to
someone soon to ask for permission to marry you if we do not want to find
ourselves expecting again before we are legally wed.
 
With your father gone, to whom do I talk?”

“Since I am in Thomas’ care and he
is my brother, I would think you should speak to him.”
 
Elle suggested.

Kissing her one more time he said,
“I will go find him right now.
 
With your permission, I will ask to be married as soon as possible.
 
I will conclude my business and we will
leave for home as soon as possible.”

“Drew, where will home be?”
 
She asked with a mixture of fear and
excitement.

“Why Virginia, of course!”
 
He replied.

Chapter 10

Drew returned immediately to Thomas’
office.
 
Knocking on the door and
barely waiting for a reply to enter, he faced Thomas and demanded some answers
to his questions.
 
“Why was I not
informed that I had a son?
 
I
understand that Elle is too proud of a woman to come begging, but surely one of
you men who are suppose to have her best interest at heart should have informed
me.
 
She has suffered shame and
fear for six years needlessly.
 
I
would have married her the minute I knew she was carrying my child.
 
I have missed five years of my son’s
life.”
 
He was embarrassed when his
voice cracked.

Thomas stared at him with a non-plus
expression.
 
“I might ask why Elle
found herself in that position in the first place.
 
She had survived a nightmare and you took advantage of
her.
 
You went there to rescue her
and instead you took advantage of her.
 
That makes you a sorry bastard in my book. In answer to your question,
she did not want you to know.”

“You are right of course, but it is
not like I raped her.
 
It is what
she wanted.
 
She needed to feel
whole and clean again.
 
I treated
her with respect, kindness, and tenderness.
 
Thomas, I want to make up for it now.
 
I want to marry her as soon as
possible.
 
I cannot undo what she
has suffered in the last six years, but I can see to it that she is happy and
well cared for the rest of her life.
 
I want my son to be able to hold his head up.
 
I want him to be my heir and to have his rightful place in
society.
 
You are their guardian so
I must ask your permission to marry her.”
 
Drew resented having to humble himself before this man.
 
He wanted his son and his son’s mother,
but he did not like having to beg for them.

“You are bound to know that you were
invited here so that you would see Alexander for yourself.
 
Gwen and I hoped that when you knew
that you would react as you have.
 
Elle deserves better than what she has been living through.
 
She has lived in the shadows for six
years trying to protect her son and the family from the shame it would cause if
people found out she bore a child out of wedlock.
 
She has lived as a recluse, staying in her rooms whenever
there has been company and visiting only with the select few relatives who knew
about her abduction and rape.
 
I
would like to tell you to go to hell, but you are her only hope.
 
If you marry her, you had better take
good care of her or I will personally make you regret it.”
 
Thomas informed him.

“I know I have a lot to make up
for.
 
You do not have to fear that
she will be treated well and have everything she desires.
 
I will do everything I can to make it
up to her.”
 
Drew felt humbled.

“Then you have my blessing and I am
sure the blessing of John as well.”
 
Thomas held out his right hand to shake hands on their pact.
 
Drew was thinking in the back of his
mind that he was not so sure John would have given his blessing, but hopefully
it would be too late for him to do anything about it by the time he found out.

“Go tell your bride and make your
arrangements.”
 
Thomas dismissed
him.

Chapter 11

That evening Drew presented himself
at his father’s residence.
 
“Johnson, is my father in tonight?”

“Yes sir.
 
He is in his study.
 
Would you like me to announce you?”
 
he
replied.

“That will not be necessary, I know
the way.”
 
Drew headed off down the
hall.
 
“Good evening father.”

“Well, what a surprise.
 
To what do I owe the honor of this
visit?
 
The good Lord knows they
are few and far between.”
 
Sir Alex
was truly surprised.

“Well Father, I wanted you to know
what a dutiful son I am.
 
I have
followed your instructions and I am here to inform you that I will be married
in three weeks at Westminster.
 
You
are, of course, invited to attend.”
 
Drew enjoyed watching the shock in his father’s face.

“Well I hope you did not pick up
some dockside whore just to spite me.
 
Who is this girl and who is her family?”
 
Sir Alex demanded.

“Her name is Elle Lewis.
 
Her father was Sir Edward of the
Vann.
 
She is the cousin of John
Lewis and I have known her since she was a child.”
 
Drew informed him.

“I know the child.
 
She was a sweet and pretty little
thing, but I have not seen her for six or seven years hence.
 
I had not thought to wonder what became
of her however.
 
How did you
convince her to marry you so quickly?
 
Is she desperate?
 
Did you
get her pregnant or something?”
 
Drew’s father chuckled at his own joke.

“As a matter of fact I did father,
and now I want to marry her.”
 
Drew
threw back at him.

“Good Lord son.
 
I would have thought that a man of your
age would have learned how to avoid these situations.
 
When did this happen?”
 
Sir Alex was both angry with his son and worried that he might be
trapped in an unhappy marriage.
 
He
deserved what he got, but he still did not want to see his son unhappy.

“Well Father, that is the
uncomfortable thing.
 
My son is
five years old now.”
 
Drew was
surprised at how much his father’s reaction meant to him.

“God bless son.
 
I will not have it.
 
Surely, you are not foolish enough to
be caught in some strumpet’s trap.
 
This woman wants to claim a title for her son so she tries to trap you
in her web by claiming he is yours.
 
If he is your son why is she waiting this long to inform you?
 
He could be anyone’s child.
 
Are you that desperate, that stupid?”

“Father, you will retract those
words.
 
She was not that kind of a
girl.
 
She has had no other lovers.
 
Alexander is mine.”
 
Drew said indignantly.

“So she told you, but how can you be
sure it is your child?” his father demanded.

“She did not come to me.
 
She did not want me to ever know, it
was her brother who made sure I knew I had a son.
 
Father, there could be no doubt.
 
He is mine.
 
You
just have to meet him and you will know too.
 
I want you to met Elle too.
 
She is so beautiful and so sweet.
 
She deserves better than me, but she has done me the honor
of agreeing to be my wife.
 
You
will be good to her or I will disavow our kinship.”

“Fine words my son, but I do not see
you forfeiting your inheritance over some chit and her bastard.”
 
Sir Alex spat out.

Sir Alex was shocked when his son
grabbed him by his collar and growled in his face, “You will retract those
words right now, or I will walk out of your life forever.
 
She will be my wife and Alexander is my
son.
 
I will not tolerate you or
anyone else treating them with disrespect.
 
You may take your inheritance and shove it up your pompous
arse.
 
I have my own estate and
holdings in the colonies.
 
It will
be no hardship on me to leave everything in England behind for good and never
look back.”

“Now son, calm down.
 
Bring the
chit,
excuse me, your intended and the boy by to see me next week.
 
Allow me to judge for myself.”
 
It was rare for Sir Alex to back off
for anyone, his doing so spoke to his fear of losing his son.
 
Maybe there was something to this girl
for her to have so affected his son.
 
He had a week.
 
He would get
his agent to search out any information on this young woman.
 
If there were any dirt, Jackson would
uncover it.

Exactly a week later Drew returned
to his father’s house with Elle and Alexander.
 
“Drew, I am so frightened.
 
I know your father will not like me.
 
How could he?
 
What man would want an unmarried woman with child for his
son and heir’s wife?
 
I do not want
him to hate me.”

“Honey, I think it would be
impossible for anyone to hate you, but once he sees Alexander, he will be so
carried away that you will be caught in the radiance of his joy.
 
Besides, I like you and that is all the
counts, is it not?”
 
Drew tried to
reassure her.
 
He sure hoped he was
right.

“Are you sure he will accept
Alexander?
 
I can understand if he
rejects me, but if he is unkind to Alexander, I do not know how I would handle
it.
 
He is so young and
innocent.
 
He has never met anyone
who was unkind to him.”
 
Elle was
terrified her child would be hurt.

“It will not happen, I promise,
however; if you get uncomfortable about the way he is being treated you have
only to tell me and we will leave immediately.
 
I promise.”
 
Drew continued to reassure her.

They were greeted
at the door by Johnson
.
 
Alexander, having been kept virtually
cloistered and being unused to being in public, was hiding behind his mother’s
skirts.
 
It was not until his
mother stepped into the hall that Johnson got a good look at the boy.
 
His first thought was that the master
was going to be in for a big surprise.
 
He had been so sure that if the boy were truly Sir Andrew’s the mother would
have had him hauled to the altar or to court years ago.
 
In Johnson mind there could be no
doubt.

“Johnson, will you inform my father
that we are here?”
 
Drew could see
the recognition on the older man’s face.
 
Johnson had been with them since before he was born.
 
Like many of their older servants, he
was as much family as servant.
 
It
meant a lot to him to see that he had Johnson’s approval.

“Sir, he requested that your guests
be directed to the parlor, and for you to attend him in his study for a few
minutes.
 
Madame, if you will allow
me to show you to the parlor?”
 
Giving a slight bow to Elle, he escorted them across the hall.

“Elle, I will be with you in just a
moment.”
 
He kissed her on her
forehead and squeezed her hand to reassure her.

He entered his father’s study
without knocking.
  
“Father, I
will not tolerate your rudeness to my family.
 
The least you could have done is to meet them directly in
the parlor to welcome them and put them at ease.
 
Elle is terrified that you will be unkind to Alexander, and
I have promised her you will not.
 
If you are unkind in anyway we will leave immediately, and you will
never see us again.”

“Son, please calm down.
 
I called you back here to tell you that
I was sorry for the way I behaved last week.
 
I have made inquiries about your intended and have not heard
one derogatory word against her.
 
She has never been held to any censure, I could find no one who could
speak ill of her.
 
Everyone
believes her to be a perfect lady.
 
It seems that the world believes her to be a widow, and for appearances
sake that makes it easier to assimilate her into our family.
 
I would like to meet them now if you
please.”
 
Drew had never known his
father to apologize to anyone for his actions.
 
He only hoped that Sir Alex meant it.

The men adjourned down the hall to
join Elle in the parlor.
 
“My dear,
may I present my father, Alexander Braybrooke, Earl of Abingdon.
 
Father this is my fiancée’ Elle.”
 
Sir Alex made a knee to Elle and she
curtsied in return.
 

“My pleasure Mistress, I knew your
late father for many, many years.
 
Our families share quite some history.
 
Welcome to our family.”
 
He kissed her on the forehead.

“It is my pleasure to meet you
sir.
 
My father thought very highly
of you and had many good things to say about you as well.”
 
Elle replied.

“Father, I would like you to also
meet our son, your name sake, Alexander.”
 
Drew reached around behind Elle and pulled Alexander out of her
skirts.
 
He was pleased to see his
father reaction when see saw his grandson for the first time.
 

Sir Alex’s eyes became moist as he
looked down on the miniature image of his own son.
 
Alexander looked identical to the way his father looked at
that age.
 
“Well Alexander would
you come give your new grandfather a hug?
 
You look so much like your father did at your age.”

“Did you know my father when he was
my age?” the little guy asked his grandfather.

Realizing that he said too much he
tried to cover, “I knew him all of his life.
 
He and I were very closely related.
 
He was sort of a naughty little boy,
are you a naughty little boy?” he asked with a smile.

“Oh no sir, my mommy says I must to
be a good boy, mind my manners, respect my elders and say my prayers”, the boy
replied earnestly.

Sir Alex roared with laughter and
picked the boy up swinging him around in the middle of the room.
 
He was rewarded with a chorus of
giggles.

Drew looked at Elle to find tears
streaming down her face.
 
He took
her hand and brought it to his lips.
 
Drew’s father was obviously enthralled with his new grandson.
 
Still holding Elle’s hand, he led her
from the room.
 
“It looks like he
will be busy for some time.
 
Will
you take a stroll with me in the gardens?”

“I would like that very much.
 
Do you think it is alright to leave
Alexander with your father?” she asked.

“With his grandfather you mean.
 
I feel sure we will not be missed.
 
I need some time alone with my fiancée
and I know a place in the garden where we will have a few minutes to
ourselves.”
 
He had a devilish look
in eyes that sent a thrill up her spine.

They strolled hand and hand down the
paths enjoying the beautiful efforts of gardeners.
 
Elle was looking down the path at the seemingly endless row
of hedges when suddenly Drew took her arm and pulled her to the side and
through a small opening that had gone unnoticed until that moment.
 
When they emerged on the other side,
she found a private secluded area with a tree and bench placed beneath it.
 
“Oh Drew this is so lovely.
 
Do you come here often?”

“No my dear, you are the first woman
I have ever brought here.
 
It does
seem a shame to waste the privacy.”
 
He pulled her into his arms and lowered his lips to hers.
 
He kissed her for several minutes with
tender feather light kisses.
 
She
was so open in her response that he grew bolder kissing her with his mouth
open, running his tongue over her lips and then entering her mouth with his
tongue.
 
He felt her stiffen
slightly in his arms and backed off a little bit until he felt her once again
relax in his arms.
 
Slowly he
inched his hand up to her breast.
 
He tenderly grasped her breast in his hand and lightly brushed his thumb
across her nipple.
 
He felt her
shudder in his arms.
 
He slowed
down trying to decide if she was experiencing sexual arousal or if she were
suppressing fear as a result of the trauma of her rape.
 
She felt him hesitate and pull back
slightly and knew what he was thinking.
 
It would be easy to give into her fears and turn away from Drew at this
moment, but to do so would mean that they had won.
 
She boldly took his hand, placed it back on her breast, and
then ran her arms around his neck pulling his lips back down to hers.
 
Drew was quick to respond to her
invitation locking his lips to hers, sliding his tongue back in her mouth
playing with her tongue while gently squeezing and massaging her breast.
 
When she began to moan against his lips
he grew bolder, lowering his mouth to the swell of her breast, kissing and
gently biting at the soft but firm flesh.
 
As she continued to revel in his touch, he grew bolder reaching behind
her to find the laces of her gown.
 
He released the laces and lowered the shoulder of her gown exposing a
large portion of her breasts, which were so invitingly pushed up above her
kirtle.
 
He began to lavish them
with kisses and to nip at them a bit more aggressively than he had the exposed
skin above the neckline of her dress.
 
When she still did nothing to deter him, he reached into her kirtle and
freed her barely contained breast from its confines.
 
Once the nipple was exposed, he lowered his head to her
breast and gently drew her nipple into his mouth.
 
He felt her catch her breath and stiffen slightly.
 
“Do you want me to stop?
 
I do not want to frighten you.”