Chapter Six
As soon as Corin arrived at his estate two mornings later, he was greeted by his very surprised mother. “I never sent you a missive,” she said.
“But it’s right here.” Corin pulled the missive from his pocket, unfolded it, and showed it to her. “I haven’t been able to sleep the entire way here out of fear you’d tell me Reuben is dead.”
She accepted the missive from him and read it. “This is strange. It’s definitely my handwriting, but I didn’t write it.”
“If you didn’t write it, who did?”
She shrugged. “That’s why it’s strange. I have no idea. Reuben is fine. Come, I’ll take you to him. We were just finishing our morning meal in the drawing room.”
He followed her to the room, and sure enough, his eight-year-old brother was eating his eggs, looking healthier than he had in a long time.
Still baffled by this unexpected turn of events, Corin nodded. He didn’t understand this. Why did someone send him a missive claiming Reuben was deathly ill? And more importantly, who sent it?
“Why don’t you come and eat with us?” his mother invited as she gestured to the table. “There’s plenty.”
“Yes, Corin,” Reuben added with a wide smile. “Eat with us!”
The butler hurried to bring over another chair and gestured for Corin to take a seat.
Well, since he was here and it was time for breakfast, Corin saw no reason not to eat. He went over to the chair and sat down.
“Should I bring your things in, my lord?” the butler asked.
Corin nodded. He was in no shape to turn around and go right back to London. He would stay here, rest for a couple of days, and then return to London.
After the butler left, his mother leaned over from where she was sitting and patted his hand. “I don’t know who was responsible for that missive or why they sent you out here, but at least they were wrong. Reuben is doing well.”
Yes, there was that. It was more important that his brother was all right. Giving the lad a smile, he said, “I am glad you’re well. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“It’s nice having you here,” Reuben replied. “You don’t come here often.”
“That’s because I’m doing everything I can to make sure we have enough money to take care of everything. But,” he hurried to add, “it’s worth it. One day you’ll inherit my title.”
“You don’t know that,” their mother interrupted. “You could marry a nice lady and have children with her.”
“No, the title will go to Reuben.” Before his mother could ask him why, Corin selected a couple of eggs and biscuits then put them on his plate. “While I’m here, Reuben and I should go fishing or horseback riding. It’d be a nice day for it.” He glanced at his brother. “What do you think?”
“I haven’t been horse riding since you were last here,” Reuben said. “I think I forgot how to do it.”
“Riding a horse is like walking. You never forget once you do it.”
“But it’s been two years.”
Two years? He shook his head. “It hasn’t been that long. I came out last year.”
“I’m afraid you didn’t,” his mother told Corin. “Last year you wrote and said you had too many things to take care of in London.”
Did he? Corin thought back over the past year. His mother was right. He hadn’t come out here in two years. There were the business dealings he’d had to tend to, getting arrangements for a good doctor to come out here on a regular basis to check on Reuben, and, of course, his marriage. He hadn’t bothered to tell her about the marriage. What was the point? He and Candace didn’t have anything to do with each other.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here last year,” Corin said. “I didn’t realize I’d been gone for that long.”
“We know you’re busy,” his mother assured him. “Your father didn’t leave you with much money. I know you’ve had to work hard to get the estate on a firm foundation again.”
“It helps that I have good friends who have led me to profitable investments.”
“I’d love to hear about them while you’re here.”
“I’ll be happy to tell you all about them when we have a moment to ourselves.” He glanced at Reuben and smiled. “I don’t want to bore my brother. I’m sure he’d rather tell me about the books he’s read.”
Reuben’s eyes lit up. “I read a good one about a talking horse.”
Corin cut into his eggs with his fork. “A talking horse?”
With a nod, Reuben proceeded to tell him all about the story.
***
It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that Candace arrived at the estate. Her abductors hadn’t done anything to hurt her. If anything, they had seen to her every need. Once she realized she was in no immediate danger, she stopped throwing up. Shortly after that, she was able to keep down water and nibble on some food. She wasn’t able to eat a full meal or get much sleep, though.
So by the time the carriage came to a stop in front of a well cared for manor, she was too exhausted to fight the Duke of Lambeth as he carried her out of the carriage. She wasn’t willing to step out of it. Someone was going to have to make her get out, and sure enough, someone volunteered to do the job.
The gentlemen no longer wore their hooded robes. They were wearing normal clothes now. They weren’t exactly wearing clothing fit for their status, but they didn’t look like servants, either. But what did it matter? They were hauling her to someone she never wanted to spend another moment of her life with. As soon as she got her strength back, she was heading straight back to London, even if she had to take the carriage back herself.
The duke led the way up to the front door. Looking over his shoulder, she saw Lord Worsley and Lord Erandon following close behind. She sighed and turned her attention away from him.
The duke stopped in front of the door, and just as Lord Erandon skirted around him to pound the knocker, the door opened.
The surprised footman stared at her for a moment before he asked her, “Do you require assistance?”
Before she could say yes, Lord Erandon said, “This is Lady Durrant. She is here to see her husband.”
The footman’s jaw dropped open, and in that moment, she knew Corin hadn’t told anyone at his estate about her. In London, people knew he was married. But out here in the country, no one knew she existed. And that annoyed her. Sure, they didn’t have a real marriage. They had been forced together. But she was still his wife.
The duke carried her past the footman who still didn’t seem capable of speech, and Lord Worsley, who had lingered behind, slowly stepped into the entryway as if he was waiting for something awful to happen.
“Don’t be a weakling,” Lord Erandon called out to him. “Your sister isn’t the only one who wants you to do this. Your wife wants you to do it, too.”
“Our wives are the only reason we’re here,” the duke said.
“Being here is an act of love and devotion to them,” Lord Erandon added.
Lord Worsley rolled his eyes but picked up his pace.
The Duke of Lambeth carried her into the drawing room where a middle-aged lady was reading a book. The lady gasped in surprise and rose from her chair. “Who are all you people?” she asked, clutching her book to her chest.
“This lady is Lord Durrant’s wife,” Lord Erandon introduced, gesturing to Candace, whose cheeks warmed at the way he’d so casually referred to her.
Candace scanned the room but didn’t see Corin there. The duke set her on the settee and then sat right next to her, probably because he was afraid she’d bolt out of the room if he wasn’t nearby to catch her. And he was right. She would have tried to run out of there. But he was tall and imposing, and that being the case, she remained seated.
“What do you mean?” the middle-aged lady asked. “My son came here this morning, and he didn’t say anything about taking a wife.”
“Well, he did,” Lord Erandon said. “The two married last year.”
The lady’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Last year?”
He nodded. “Last July. But they have been living in separate townhouses. Rumor has it that they haven’t spoken since the wedding.”
“The rumor is true,” Candace finally spoke up. Then turning her gaze to the lady, she added, “Your son doesn’t want to be married to me any more than I want to be married to him. It was a scandal that made us marry.” Never mind telling the lady how the scandal began. Candace couldn’t bring herself to tell a mother what kind of a cad her son really was. Instead, she gave Corin’s mother a pleading look, hoping that—from one lady to another—his mother would take pity on her. “I would like to return to London. Can you arrange for that?”
“She’ll do nothing of the sort,” Lord Erandon told Candace. He turned to Corin’s mother. “We know your son is a good and decent gentleman. Lady Durrant,” he gestured to Candace, “is a good and decent lady. We are sure that if they took the time to get to know each other, they would find the marriage to be beneficial to them both. My wife wrote a missive explaining everything.”
Though Lord Worsley tried to stifle his groan, everyone looked over at him as he went to a chair in the corner of the room and slumped into it. One would think he was about to face the hangman’s noose by the way he was acting.
From next to her, the duke rolled his eyes.
Lord Erandon, choosing to ignore Lord Worsley, unfolded the missive. “Where is Lord Durrant?”
Still looking shocked, Corin’s mother said, “He’s with his brother. The two went to the lake to fish.”
“We’ll talk with him when he returns,” Lord Erandon said. “Would you please have a seat while I read this?”
After a moment, Corin’s mother nodded and sat in one of the chairs. She glanced over at Candace, as if she didn’t know what to think about her.
“I didn’t ask to be here,” Candace told her. “They abducted me.”
“Yes, we did,” Lord Erandon admitted, not looking the least bit sorry for doing so. “We did it for love.”
Another groan came from where Lord Worsley sat, and Candace saw him put his face in his hands.
“You’re making your friend miserable,” Candace told Lord Erandon. “He doesn’t want to be here.”
“He’s my brother-in-law,” Lord Erandon replied. “And he’s afraid Lord Durrant will never talk to him again once he finds out you’re here.”
“He’s my friend,” Lord Worsley finally spoke up, lifting his head from his hands. “What I’m doing is an act of betrayal. He doesn’t want her here any more than she does.”
“Which is why everyone should let me return to London,” Candace insisted.
“We’re doing no such thing,” Lord Erandon said. “The matter has been settled. You and your husband will stay here to work things out.”
“I don’t understand what this is all about,” Corin’s mother said. “Will someone please tell me why this is happening?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Lord Erandon turned his attention back to the missive. “This is what my wife wrote. ‘The scandal that brought Lord and Lady Durrant into holy matrimony is my fault. I had planned a way to get Lord Durrant to marry me, but in order to do so, I knew I would have to create a scandal. I had paid a gentleman to lure him to the den and soil his frock coat and breeches so that Lord Durrant had to remove them.’”
Corin’s mother put her hand to her mouth in shock.
“‘The plan was for this gentleman to take Lord Durrant’s clothes and make him believe that he would take them to the maid for a quick cleaning. Meanwhile, I was going to go to the den to remove my gown.’”
“I didn’t know that part,” Lord Worsley said, his voice a mixture of horror and dread.
“‘I didn’t make it to the den in time,’” Lord Erandon continued, ignoring Lord Worsley. “‘By the time I got there, Lady Hedwrett and Lord Durrant were together in the den. Months later, the Duchess of Lambeth and I discovered that the gentleman helping me that evening had betrayed me. He didn’t wait for me to get to the den. Instead, he found Lady Hedwrett and dragged her there. It seems that Lord Durrant hadn’t wanted to marry me, and he paid this gentleman so that he wouldn’t have to.’”
Lord Erandon went to the next page of the missive.
“‘What the gentleman did not tell Lord Durrant was that he was going to bring another lady into the den,’” Lord Erandon continued. “‘The end result was the marriage between Lord Durrant and Lady Hedwrett. So as you can see, this whole thing was neither Lord Durrant’s fault nor was it Lady Hedwrett’s fault. It was my fault. I am to blame for the whole thing. I know this apology is late in coming, but I am sorry. Even if they can’t forgive me, it is my hope that the two of them will be able to move forward from this horrible misunderstanding and share a love match.’”
A love match? Lord Erandon’s wife couldn’t be serious! Candace had made it clear to Celia that she had no intention of marrying again, let alone sharing a love match.
A moment of silence fell upon the room before Corin’s mother turned to Candace. “Is this true? You really are married to my son?”
“I was forced to marry him because of a scandal,” Candace clarified. “I assure you that I would never go into a den with a gentleman unless I had my friend and her husband with me.”
“I’m not blaming you for the scandal,” Corin’s mother hurried to assure her. “I just wanted to make sure I understood what was in the missive.”
“Yes, you understood right,” Candace said. “Unfortunately, the marriage is real.”
“You shouldn’t think that way,” Lord Erandon replied. “You need to give Lord Durrant a chance before you say the marriage is doomed. My wife is insistent that you are a lovely lady, and I happen to know Lord Durrant is an honorable gentleman. The two of you should make an excellent match. It’s just a matter of getting you two together. Which brings me to my next announcement.” He took a deep breath as if to build up the suspense and then blurted out, “For the next three months, you and Lord Durrant will stay here. My friends and I will be removing the wheels from your carriages and taking them back to London. We’ll return in three months and put the wheels back on.”
Candace’s eyes grew wide. Three months? Three months of being stuck in this horrible cage with that horrible gentleman? She bolted to her feet. “You can’t keep me here as if I’m a prisoner!”
“We’re not. We’re keeping you here because you’re Lord Durrant’s wife. This isn’t a punishment. It’s an opportunity for love to bloom.”
An opportunity for love to bloom? Was he daft? There was no possibility of loving blooming. “I demand you return me to London at once,” she said, crossing her arms.
“We’ll return you in three months,” Lord Erandon replied. He turned to Corin’s mother. “How long do you believe Lord Durrant will be out fishing with his brother?”
Corin’s mother shrugged. “I’m not sure. They were only gone for an hour when you arrived.”
Lord Erandon folded the missive and tucked it into his pocket. “In that case, may we have something to eat?”
“Of course,” Corin’s mother said. “I’ll have Cook prepare something at once.” She glanced at the three gentlemen as if she wasn’t sure she was allowed to leave the room.
“Thank you,” Lord Erandon replied. “We’ll stay here.”
After a moment of scanning everyone, she offered a nod and then headed out of the room.
“You should eat when the meal is ready,” Lord Erandon told Candace. “Of all of us, you ate the least the entire way here. You have to be famished. Would you like to get settled into your bedchamber while we wait for the meal?”
“I want to go back to London,” Candace insisted, though she knew it’d do no good.
“As I said, we will be happy to do that in three months.”
She let out a loud sigh, went to the window, and stared outside where a servant had taken the horses from her carriage. The horses were feeding on the grass nearby. Three months. Three very long months. Just how was she going to survive this?