The following morning, shaved with care by Lindale’s valet and dressed in clean clothes, Lewis sent the man to rouse his master.
Despite the ungodly hour of ten o’clock, Lindale was already up. “You look a mess. I came home early last night to see how you fared, but you were already asleep.”
“More like unconscious, I’m afraid. I tried persuading Gideon to marry the girl. I failed in dramatic fashion. Got a small contribution, however. I haven’t counted it. ”
It didn’t take them long to do the job. Five of the new gold sovereigns and a pile of smaller coins, all totaling ten pounds, seven shillings, and thruppence.
Lindale took a gulp of ale. “So, what will you do next?”
“I suppose I’ll marry her myself, though how I’ll keep her clothed and fed I haven’t a notion. Gideon’s ten pounds won’t last long.”
“There’s more involved than a broken heart, then?”
“Much more. A child, for instance.”
Lindale whistled long and low. “That’s grim. What man would want to raise his brother’s by-blow, even if that brother wasn’t Satan?” Lindale raised one eyebrow. “Might depend on how much he cared for the lady.”
Lewis merely grunted. “Tell Fuller I’m off to Bath. I’ll make sure Miss Wedbury is safe.”
Lindale sent him off with an unopened bottle of rye. “You might be needing that.”
“I might indeed.”
At ten o’clock that evening, Lewis reached the house Sir John had hired on Milsom Street in Bath. There, at least, he had no doubt about his reception, whatever the time.
The old butler gripped one hand, his face creased into a rare grin. “You should have let us know you were coming, sir. Lady Wedbury is at home, but… I say, sir, what have you done to yourself?”
“Nothing that won’t heal.” He’d seen himself in the mirror that morning and didn’t figure he looked any better now, after twelve hours brooding in a coach. The other passengers had eyed him askance and left him alone with his thoughts, which were forbidding indeed. A lifetime of unrequited love, for instance.
“Is there a room where I can clean up? Then I need to see Lady Wedbury.”
“Yes sir. I’ll let her know.”
When he entered the parlor half an hour later, Lady Wedbury swept across the room with both hands out in welcome. “There you are, Lewis! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you to Bath?”
Smiling, Lewis held her hands and waited for her effusions to wear themselves out.
“You’ll stay with us, naturally. I hope you plan a nice long visit. We’ve been in the dumps since the men left, and not much better before that. But you! Wimbley says you…” She took hold of his chin and angled him toward the light. “Good gracious, your eye! What happened?” It had turned a deep, dark red over the course of the day, all traces of blue hidden in its depths.
“It doesn’t matter. There are more important things on my mind.”
“Oh dear. We’d best sit down. Help yourself to a drink.”
He gladly took some brandy to the fireside, where Lady Wedbury had seated herself. He remained on his feet, however, his back to the flames.
“Have you heard from Sir John since he returned home?” Hard to believe only eight days had passed.
“Of course. What a dreadful journey they had, and no sign of improvement in Jack’s condition as we hoped.”
He sought words of comfort. “It’s too soon to tell, ma’am. Give him some time to settle in.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “But it’s so hard not to hope for a miracle. How does he seem to you?”
“I had only two days at White Oaks before I had to leave…on another matter.” Lewis had no intention of spewing Jack’s indiscretions into his mother’s ears. He paced back and forth. “Did Sir John tell you about—er—”
“About this unfortunate business with Miss Spain? Yes, he did.” Her chin rose pugnaciously, the spark in her eyes a forceful reminder of Cassie in a temper. “And of your suppositions with regard to Gideon. I must say, Lewis, I would not have thought you could leap to judgment about your own brother on the basis of a short acquaintance with a girl who is clearly not as virtuous as she wanted us to believe.”
Instinct told Lewis to defend the woman he loved, but he shoved instinct aside. Anna was not faultless in the matter, and argument on that point would get them nowhere. Best to keep the focus on Gideon.
Still, he spoke through clenched teeth when he responded. “It is no longer supposition, ma’am. He was quite pleased to admit it when we—er—talked yesterday.”
Lady Wedbury straightened, her eyes wide with shock. “He confessed to it? And then he did that to you?”
“I threw the first punch. The things he said…” He stopped in front of the fire, peering into the dark places between the flames. “It’s a game he plays for his amusement, ma’am. A calculated strategy aimed at seduction. Miss Spain is nothing more than a mark on his tally sheet, her child even less. Nor is she his only victim.”
She shook her head in denial. “I don’t believe that. Many an otherwise honorable man has his affaires de coeur, and sometimes a child is the result. I don’t think—”
Infuriated, Lewis rounded on her. “An honorable man does not seduce an innocent girl with implied promises of marriage, and then jest about the suffering he’s caused. Nor does he abandon his own child to the horrors of a workhouse, for God’s sake!” Shaking, he gulped down the rest of his brandy, wishing it was Lindale’s rye.
Lady Wedbury stared, her mouth agape.
They both jumped when Cassie spoke from the doorway. “Lewis! That was magnificent!” She ran toward him.
“Not so magnificent, Cass. I just swore at your mother.” Holding off Cassie’s embrace, he turned to make his apology.
But Lady Wedbury’s gaze was fixed on her daughter. “That was not for your ears, Cassandra! Surely you know better than to barge in like—”
“Yes, Mama, but Lewis is here.”
“I am aware of that, Cassandra. Now greet him like a lady.”
Cassie rolled her eyes at Lewis and did as she was told, extending her hand and sinking into a curtsy suited for royalty. “How delightful to see you again, Mr. Aubrey.”
He bowed over her hand and replied in kind, but ruined the charade by pulling her into a hug and bussing her on the cheek. “You’re looking well, Cass.” Above the ball finery, her face was pale. Those tiny lines at the corners of her mouth and eyes—surely they were new?
“I can’t say the same of you. What in heaven’s name did you do? Get trampled by a horse? I hope that eye is temporary.”
“So do I!”
“What horrid man were you talking about just now? He sounds an absolute boor!”
Lady Wedbury rose, shaking out her skirts. “That is none of your business, Cassandra. It’s time we went upstairs. You can see Lewis in the morning.” She eyed him with the ferocity of a wild dog protecting its pups as she attempted to push Cassie toward the door.
Cassie resisted. “But, Mama—”
“This is Cassie’s business, ma’am,” Lewis said. “She’ll know the truth soon enough, in any event. I intend to make Anna Spain my wife. I’ll be on the early coach for Bristol.”
The ladies stared in shock. Lewis blinked at his own pronouncement. He’d thought of little else all day long, yet saying it aloud unnerved him.
Cassie started toward him, her face stretching toward a grin. “How wonderful! How did it—?”
“Surely not, Lewis!” Lady Wedbury converged on him as well, her brow creased in dismay. “She’s not your responsibility. Why should you give up your life for a trollop?”
“Madam!” Lewis bellowed, and she winced. Aware, no doubt, that she herself had just laid half the cards on the table for her daughter’s examination.
Cassie’s eyes opened wide as she looked from one to the other. “Anna? She’s not a… She’s a…”
Keeping half an eye on Lady Wedbury’s mutinous countenance, Lewis led Cassie to the sofa and sat her down. “Anna is about to have a child, Cass.”
“What?” She leaped to her feet. “I don’t believe it! She’s as innocent as—” Her hands clenched into fists. “It’s Gideon, isn’t it.” No doubt at all in her voice. She wrapped her arms around Lewis. “And you fought him! Oh, I do love you, Lewis. I hope you beat him to a bloody pulp and threw him in the river to drown.”
He smiled at her enthusiasm for the kill. She and Fuller would be well matched. “Alas, no. But I doubt he looks any better than I do.” He needn’t have worried that Cassie would soften toward Gideon.
She dropped onto the sofa and burst into tears, soaking her little handkerchief. Yet when her mother sat and offered a vinaigrette, she rejected it with disgust.
“Did you care for him, then?” Lewis asked.
“No!” She blew her nose once more. “I don’t know. He makes me laugh. But no, of course not. It’s only…” A sniffle. “I miss Neil awfully.”
Lady Wedbury sighed. “I know, Cassandra. You’ve put on a brave face, but I know.”
Lewis cleared his throat. “Have you given any thought to going home, ma’am? I’m determined that Anna must be accepted by society, even if it’s only Wrackwater Bridge society. I shall need all the help I can get.”
Mrs. Wedbury took her daughter’s hand. “What do you think, Cassandra?”
“You’d like to go, wouldn’t you, Mama?”
“I would. As little as Captain Fuller has been able to visit Bath, however, it will be far less in Yorkshire.”
“I know. But if we can help Lewis and Anna, it will be worth it. Lewis will travel with us, and—”
“I can’t, Cassie. I’m on my way to Bristol.”
Lady Wedbury tsked her disapproval. “Please reconsider, Lewis! You’re twenty-two years of age. To be burdened with a child that isn’t yours, and a wife you don’t care for—”
“But I do, ma’am.”
Cassie clapped her hands. “Of course he does. How splendid! A happy little family, ready-made.”
Lewis grimaced. “Hardly. But perhaps in time…”
Lady Wedbury’s brows arched. “Does she still have hopes for Gideon, then?”
“Oh no. I believe she loves him, though, despite everything.”
Cassie put both hands on his arm. “But she will come to love you in no time. She must. I’ll tell her so. Because otherwise, how could you bear it?”