Katherine flushedt.
He shook his head and his eyes went hard. “No, I thought not. Whether he lives or dies, you will be sorry for not saving yourself for me.”
“I will never marry you,” Katherine said, her voice strong.
“Ah, dear Katherine. I thought you understood. Your only grounds for annulment would be to acknowledge our marriage contract.”
“I never agreed to marry you.”
Finch straightened a ruffled cuff. “But I think you will agree to it now to save your lover’s life.”
He stepped back from her and took a folded paper from his inside pocket. “If you have any doubts about his regard for you, perchance you should read this.” He held it out to her.
Unwillingly, she took the paper from Finch’s hand. Addressed to her father, it was from Nicholas, and dated a few weeks prior. He offered to trade her and a lot of money for Ashfield. Each word, like a knife, pierced deep into her heart.
Where had he penned it? Salisbury? Devizes? She had known he had played her false, but to hold the proof in her hand was shattering. Since the beginning, he had toyed with her, telling her he protected her, yet he had used her instead.
“See you now the man you married? Know you now his true regard? He does not want you. But I do.” Finch took the paper from her limp fingers. “Revenge, dear Katherine, can be most satisfying. Examine your heart. Perhaps you would wish to see him dead?”
* * *
The shaking began as soon as Finch left. Katherine stumbled through the house in a blur before finding herself out the kitchen door, and in the garden.
Alternating between anger and regret, she railed at her image of Nicholas with his twinkling blue eyes, and full-lipped smile.
How could he, as the Raven, seek to expose the true nature of others, yet so despicably conceal his own?
What an irritating duplicitous man!
But could she condemn him to death? Could she watch him pay the consequences of his actions without trying to aid him? Could she take revenge upon him for the harm he had done to her? Or, since she had saved his life once, was she now obligated to do what she could to preserve it?
Katherine let out a great heaving sigh and wiped her hands on the back of her apron, surprised to see them covered with dirt. Looking about, she discovered she was on her knees, a pile of weeds beside her. The dirt below the rosemary and sage bushes was now clear.
The door behind her opened, and Annie slid through it. The little girl plopped down next to her. Thumb in mouth, she put her other hand into Katherine’s.
“Would you like me to show you how to tend the garden?” Katherine said to the sweet face beside her.
Annie nodded.
“You have to be able to tell the good plants from the bad plants,” she said, thinking how nice it would be if she could do the same with people. She showed the girl which weeds to pull. They worked together until a good part of the herb garden was clear of most of the wild growth.
Katherine sat back on her haunches and brushed the dirt off her hands. Working in a garden always acted as a healing balm. While her hands had worked, she had come to a decision. In spite of what Nicholas had done, she could not be the instrument of his death, nor contribute to it.
She would have to get an annulment.
Then she would have to do whatever she could to escape marriage with Finch, which put her back where she started.
But this time, she would find an escape on her own.
* * *
Nicholas woke cold and in pain. Had he heard someone call his name?
Eyes still closed, he rolled onto his back. The chill hard floor provided no comfort to his battered body and he liked it that way. The pain was a constant reminder of the mistakes he had made; the lies he had spawned, the heart he had broken.
“Nicky!”
He heard it again. The voice called louder, sounding very much like Henry. Nicholas groaned. He did not want to see Henry. Henry would want to help him, and he did not deserve to be helped. He deserved to be left to die.
Except, if he was going to die, he would probably have done so by now. Instead, he already felt the subtle and unwelcome signs that his body was healing.
“There he is. I see him.” Henry’s voice rose above the din and chatter.
Nicholas opened an eye. He lay in a corner of the felon’s ward. The other inhabitants were scattered about. They had ceased to pay him any mind once they had taken all he had of value. He’d offered no resistance as they took his boots, coat, and shirt. They’d not taken his breeches. Maybe there was some code of honor here at Newgate. Or maybe his breeches would have had to be torn to bits to get them past his fetters.
He inhaled a painful breath. At least one rib had been broken. Finch had probably meant to kill him. Nicholas wondered why he hadn’t.
He remembered little of the fight, and wished to remember nothing before that. Especially not the hurt and indignation on Katherine’s face when she had dropped his lucky piece on the ground. Now it was gone. He must have lost it sometime during the fight or here at Newgate. And it seemed his luck had gone with it.
“What a sorry sight ye be, but glad I am to have found you.”
Nicholas turned his head and was hit by a wave of dizziness as he looked up a long pair of legs to see Henry smiling down at him.
“Not I,” he croaked at his old steward.
“No.” Henry shook his head. “You’re goin’ to have to face up to it, lad. You’re not just responsible for yerself now. Ye have a wife.”
Nicholas turned his face away.
“Get up, Nicky, or I’ll get you up. I’ve paid your garnish and ye’ll be movin’ to a better cell. We’ll clean ye up and get yer wounds tended. And then ye will figure out what ye’re going to do next.”
As he struggled to rise, Nicholas cursed the loyalty of friends.
* * *
Katherine watched as a familiar old coach came to a rickety stop before the Pemberton residence. As her father’s stout figure emerged gracelessly from the vehicle, a feeling of tired resignation ran through her. Yet she could not help the slight swell in her heart when she saw his familiar form.
She should have known he would turn up sooner or later. She had truly hoped it would be later, after she had petitioned for the annulment. Yet his timing had been ever thus.
Had he come to take her home? Surely Finch had sent him.
The butler showed Gerald into the small sitting room. He popped up from his chair when she entered. “What is the meaning of this?” He held up a piece of paper.
“Hello, father,” Katherine said. “It is so nice of you to come.”
“Fiddle-sticks,” he puffed. “Explain this.”
Katherine took the paper from his hand. Her heart tumbled when she recognized Nicholas’s signature at the bottom. Her stomach did a familiar lurch, and she sank into a nearby chair. Another letter? Would this be as damning as the first?
She took a deep breath and began to read. After a formal salutation, it announced the matter of their marriage and went on to reassure her father that Katherine would be provided for in the event of Nicholas’s death. Nothing was said of Ashfield. It was dated four days prior, yet there was nothing to indicate where it had been composed.
Why had he written her father with these reassurances? Could it be he felt some remorse for what he had done?
She handed back the letter. “This is true.”
“Truly married?” Gerald nodded. His voice went up several notes. “To an Earl?”
Katherine nodded.
He smiled broadly. “That is very well done of you.”
Katherine almost smiled in return at his rare praise, but brushed it aside instead. “No, father. I am afraid ’tis not. You see, the marriage is a hoax, and he is an impostor.”
Gerald’s face fell. “I am afraid I do not understand. He is not an Earl…?”
“He is an Earl, but he did not say so, nor did he say that his family once owned Ashfield. He only married me to get it back.”
Gerald shook his head. “You have got it wrong, gel. ’Tis an impostor who says he is an Earl when he is not. What you have is a very fortunate situation.”
“’Tis my misfortune. I will seek an annulment, so I may put this
situation
, as you call it, behind me.”
“No, daughter. I could not allow that.”
“Father, you have guided me all my life, as is your duty, I know. But in this you will not. I will do what is best for myself.”
Her father’s face went pink. He raised a pudgy finger and shook it at her as he spoke. “What of your family, Katherine? Care you naught for them, and their needs? Do not be a selfish girl.”
Katherine flinched inwardly as she shook her head. “I but do what is right.”
Her father ignored her and continued. “I understand Lord Ashton will face charges as the Raven. If this is true, and he is to suffer for what he has done, be sure that before aught happens to him, you carry his seed.” He looked at her sternly. “Make a son of it.”
* * *
Two days later, James Pemberton returned from his business trip. The tall, heavyset man ushered Katherine into the small, very cluttered room he used as an office. He listened, a forefinger placed across his lips, occasionally running a hand through his wild untamed hair, as she told him what had transpired. As she finished, his perpetual vague look vanished, and his eyes focused on her with hawk-like tenacity.
He tapped his lips with his finger. “I have looked into this case. The charges against Lord Ashton are serious.
‘All ravishments and willful taking away or marrying of any maid, widow or damsel against her will
…’” he quoted from memory, “are capital offenses. The charges against him as the Raven are equally serious. He is in a good deal of trouble and could be sentenced to hang.”
“So I have been told.” Katherine’s voice caught. “But ‘twould be a lie to say I married him against my will, for I did not. ’Twas not an abduction. Although I was quite mistaken in his motives and identity, I did go with him of my own free will.”
James nodded. “Should you provide that testimony, the charges of abduction would be dropped, yet you would remain married to the man.”
Katherine made a weak nod. “What of an annulment? Is there some way to secure a release from this marriage without my being forced to a marriage with Richard Finch?”
“Annulment could be granted on the basis of the prior contract, if it really exists. Did you pledge yourself to this man, Finch?”
“We had not said our espousals. Yet I believe the financial agreements were final.” Katherine sighed. “But now my father would probably say he agreed to the marriage with Lord Ashton”—her heart beat painfully as she said the name—“because he is an Earl, not because it is true.”
James tapped his finger against his lip. “No doubt Finch would bring testimony that your father had approved his suit. That could provide you with the annulment you seek, yet it would not prevent a subsequent marriage to Finch.” He clapped his hands together. “All this conflicting testimony could keep matters tied up in the Courts of Chancery for quite some time. That would keep Lord Ashton alive until the matter was decided, and prevent your marriage to Finch indefinitely.”
Katherine chewed her lip. She did not want the agony of a prolonged legal suit. Would that this had never happened. That she had never said ‘yes’ when Nicholas had said they would marry. That she’d never been coaxed into such impetuousness by a pair of twinkling blue eyes and a dashing white streak of hair.
“Is there no other recourse?” she asked.
“No other way to end the marriage, except to petition for an Act of Parliament, which is granted so rarely I would not recommend you even think of it.” He sat back in his chair and his eyes went unfocused.
Katherine waited so long for him to continue, she thought he might have forgotten she was there.
At last, he spoke. “You could get a separation from Lord Ashton with a formal agreement for alimony. It is unlikely you could obtain this through the courts. You would have to get your husband to agree to this. Do you have any bargaining power with him?” He smiled and snapped his fingers. “You could agree to testify against the abduction in return for this separation.”
Katherine shook her head. Negotiate with Nicholas? See him again?
“Think on it, cousin. You do not need to make any hasty decisions. The wheels of justice move slowly.” James smiled. “By the way, I have heard news of your husband. He has been transferred to the Tower.”
Katherine’s heart dropped.
James took her hand and patted it. “That just means that his noble status has been discovered and secured the move. In fact, it will be much better for him in the Tower. It is quite common for prisoners in Newgate to die from disease before ever going to trial.”
His eyes sharpened on her. “Once you have decided what you wish to do, I will be most happy to prepare whatever documents are required, or speak to whoever can most help us. I am sure Alicia has already made it clear you are welcome here for as long as you require. In fact, I can already see we would be hard pressed without you.”
Katherine’s heart eased, just a little.
* * *
Nicholas paced the small cell that had been his home for the sennight since Henry found him. A small, cold, barren place, yet better than he deserved.
Henry had first obtained a better room at Newgate, and two days later Nicholas had been transferred to the Tower. For this, he should be grateful, but he was not. He did not like the peace or the solitude. He did not appreciate the good food Henry brought him, or the warm clothing, although the bath had been nice.
His body still ached from the pounding he had received from Finch. But it did not hurt nearly as bad as his heart. He now knew that living without Katherine’s love was like living without the sun. He missed her sweet presence with a pain that pierced through him far worse than the injury Finch had done. And he had no one but himself to blame.
He filled his hours with pacing. The motion satisfied his busy mind, and it helped his body heal. There was naught else to do in this room but to wait. Nicholas did not like waiting. He liked to take action. Because of this he had got himself into a tight spot he could not get himself out of.