Chapter Five
Author’s Note: From here on forward, the events take place after Taming The Viscountess has ended.
***
Ten months after the marriage
May 1819
Celia, who had been forced to marry Sebastian Egan, Viscount Erandon, shortly after the ill-fated scandal, was shocked to learn of the marriage arrangement both Corin and Candace had made. She had joined her husband on a sea voyage in the autumn months. When it came time for her to give birth, they returned to land, and from there, they went to his country estate to make sure everything was in order. While there, she had their son, Daniel.
When he became one month old, they decided to return to London. After coming back, her first order of business had been to send cards to her dearest friend, Loretta, and her sister-in-law, Damara, to let them know she was back. Both came over to visit the next afternoon. Loretta was expecting her child in one more month, and Damara had brought over her four-month-old son, Joseph.
As Celia was catching up on the latest gossip in London, Loretta informed her that Candace and Corin were living in separate townhouses.
“Are you sure they are living in separate townhouses?” Celia asked, looking up from Daniel, who was in her lap.
Loretta nodded. “It seems they are very happy with the arrangement.”
“You can’t be serious,” Celia said, unable to hide her shock. “Corin and Candace have been married for as long as Sebastian and I have. As you can see, Sebastian and I are doing very well. Surely by now, Corin and Candace must be in love. They’re both good people. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t have fallen in love with each other.”
“Neither had wanted to be married. Candace made it very clear that she didn’t want to have another husband when you and I were at my brother’s dinner party. Don’t you remember that?”
“Yes, I know that’s what she said. But I said I could never love anyone except Corin, and I’m very happy with Sebastian. In fact, I realize now that I never really loved Corin. I merely fancied him.”
“Corin didn’t want to marry, either,” Damara added as she bounced Joseph in her arms.
Celia shrugged. “What does that matter? Sebastian didn’t want to marry me. He only married me because he needed my dowry to get him out of his brother’s debts. But after we got to know each other, we fell in love, and things worked out far better than we thought it would. Just because you don’t want to be married, it doesn’t mean things won’t end up better than you expected.” She glanced at her son and smiled. “Little Daniel wouldn’t be here today if my brother hadn’t made me marry Sebastian. Surely, good can come of Candace and Corin having to marry.”
“While I agree that marriage can turn out far better than someone expects,” Loretta began, “it doesn’t happen that way for everyone. Some people are worse off after the marriage.”
“That wasn’t true for you and your husband,” Celia pointed out. Then, looking at Damara, she added, “And you had no idea that you and my brother would get along so well when you married him.”
Loretta shook her head. “As true as that is, you can’t look at the three of us as the norm. Most marriages in London don’t lead to love.”
“But Candace and Corin can have a love match,” Celia insisted. “I know both of them well enough to know they can be happy together. They just need a little nudge.”
“And I suppose you’re the one who’s going to give them that nudge?”
To be honest, Celia hadn’t been thinking that, but Loretta had a good idea. If neither Candace nor Corin were going to willingly come together, maybe she should lend a hand. The scandal that forced them to marry had been her fault, after all. The least she could do was make things right.
“We can come up with a way to get them together,” Celia told her friends.
Damara’s eyebrows rose. “What do you mean by ‘we’?”
“I’ll need some help arranging a way for them to spend time together,” Celia replied. “Damara, I’m the aunt of your child, and the sister of your husband. We must stick together no matter what. And as for you,” she turned her attention to Loretta, “if you have a girl, my son might marry her someday. That will mean we’ll have the same grandchildren. Given how connected we’ll be, how can you say no?”
Loretta rolled her eyes. “You have a way of reasoning things that are just plain silly. Be sensible, Celia.”
“I am being sensible.” Celia took a moment to think through her plan. “I know they can be happy together. Corin will be good to her. He won’t be anything like her first husband. She’s just too afraid to take the risk to find that out. As for Corin…” She shrugged. “Well, he needs to learn that a wife will do him a lot of good. He can’t spend his entire life focused only on making more money. What good is wealth if there’s no one you love to share it with?”
“You almost have a convincing argument,” Damara admitted, “but I don’t want to interfere in someone else’s life.”
By the expression on Loretta’s face, Celia could tell she agreed with Damara. Both were exceptionally nice people, and right now, that was working against her. Celia hid her disappointment. It would be far easier to play matchmaker if she had some help, but maybe she would have to do this without them.
“All right,” Celia said. “You don’t have to help me. But I need to do something. The scandal was my fault. I’m responsible for the way things are between them. Neither asked to be put together. Now that they are, I’d like to see them happy. It would right the wrong I’ve done to them.”
After a moment, Loretta let out a sigh that let Celia know she was about to do what Celia wanted. “I suppose I can do something to help you.”
Celia smiled. “Thank you, Loretta! I promise this will work.”
“I’ll help, too,” Damara added.
“Good! You two won’t be sorry,” Celia said. “I might have made plans that didn’t benefit others in the past, but those days are behind me. This one is for Candace and Corin. They’ll be much better off for it.”
“Now that we’ve committed ourselves to doing this,” Loretta began, “we need to come up with a plan.”
“I’m glad you said that because I already have something in mind,” Celia said.
And so it was that, for the next hour, the three schemed to find the perfect way to bring Candace and Corin together.
***
Corin arrived late at his townhouse the next night. It had been a profitable day, overall. Earlier that day at White’s, he found out his latest investment yielded far better results than he had anticipated.
Then at the ball that evening, he’d met Lord Whitney who seemed to have some promising business connections he just might benefit from. Candace had been there at the ball, but she hadn’t come anywhere near him. She never did. Nor did he go anywhere near her. She danced with several gentlemen and seemed to have a good time talking to her friends. He had no idea what she did in private. Nor did he care, so long as she didn’t end up expecting a child.
Everyone knew of their marital arrangement, so if she conceived a child, then it would be another scandal. If she did take lovers, she practiced discretion in the matter, and more than that, she took care to make sure a pregnancy didn’t occur. For that, and that alone, he was actually thankful to her. But it was the only thing he was thankful for.
Ten months since their wedding day, he still had to fight the urge to get bitter about the way she had trapped him into marriage. He would never have an heir because of her. At the time he made the agreement, he’d only been thinking of how angry he was to be made a fool of in front of the entire Ton. But since then, he realized she’d managed to not only rob him of his pristine reputation, but she had taken away his right to pass on his title to a son.
He supposed he could go to her any time he wished and insist she do her wifely duty to him. But then, he had always considered himself to be a gentleman of his word. If he promised to do something, he felt bound to do it, no matter what consequences stemmed from it. So for better or worse, his title would pass on to someone else. He hoped his eight-year-old brother might inherit it. That was, if he lived long enough. The poor lad was so sickly that he wasn’t sure if he’d make it to adulthood. Otherwise, it would go to his cousin, and his cousin was reckless with money.
Since there was nothing Corin could do about the situation with the heir, he would just have to be content with building up the financial wealth of his estate. Fortunately, that was all under his control. As Candace had promised, she hadn’t touched a single farthing of his money. So besides her not getting with child, he did have something else to thank her for.
But there was no reason to concern himself with thoughts of her. He had his new acquaintance with Lord Whitney to think about, and he had no doubt his business dealings with him would prove most profitable.
Just as he was about to take out his ledger, the footman hurried into the room. “Forgive me for rushing in here, but the gentleman who delivered this missive said it’s extremely important you get this right away.”
“What gentleman was that?” Corin asked as he accepted the neatly folded parchment.
“I don’t know, my lord.” After a moment, he added, “Should I stay in case you need something?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea.”
He hoped it wasn’t Candace telling him she’d gotten with child. That would be a very unpleasant surprise. It was one he’d dreaded almost every day since their marriage. Bracing himself, he opened it. It wasn’t from Candace. The familiar script told him it was from his mother, and the signature at the bottom only confirmed it. She had written that his brother had taken ill. In fact, by the tone of the missive, it sounded serious.
Corin’s heart leapt up in his throat. Was this it? Was Reuben so sick that he was going to die?
“Get the carriage, tell the valet to pack my things, and have the butler take them to the carriage,” Corin said, folding the missive and putting it into his pocket. “I need to leave for Westmoore tonight.”
“Right away, my lord,” the footman said and then ran out of the room.
Since this required an immediate change of plans, he needed to send Lord Whitney a missive to explain why he was leaving London. Lord Whitney had invited him to a dinner party, but there was no way Corin could attend.
Once finished with the task, he gave the missive to the footman to deliver to Lord Whitney’s residence. Hopefully, all would be well with his brother, and he could return to London within a couple of weeks so he could talk with Lord Whitney.
With a prayer that his brother would recover, he went to change for the trip.
***
Around the time that Corin was getting ready for his trip to the country, Candace was leaving the ball in her carriage. It had been a splendid evening. Well…it was…all things considered. Corin had been there. Even from across the room, she noticed the way he scowled at her. One would swear she had intentionally trapped him into the scandal that led to their marriage.
The only saving grace in the whole thing was that he never once insisted on joining her in bed. Thankfully, she was spared that horror. If she never had to endure another gentleman huffing and puffing on top of her for the rest of her life, she would be forever grateful.
Once she was able to successfully ignore Corin, she had a marvelous time. Anna and Jason had been there, and she had accepted their invitation to an informal dinner party in the upcoming week. She and Anna had even discussed shopping for some new clothes for Anna’s children. There were moments when Candace felt a flicker of envy because other ladies had children. It would be nice to rock her own baby to sleep at night or read stories to her child when he, or she, got older.
But the miscarriage she’d had while Lord Hedwrett was still alive had taken those dreams with it. She had to learn to be content with her lot in life, and quite frankly, it wasn’t worth subjecting herself to Corin’s bed to have one. Who knew what disgusting things he’d ask her to do? It’d been bad enough he’d tried to force her into something with him and Mr. Stephen Bachman. Even now, the memory made her shiver.
She must not think of it. The important thing was that her life was still her own—as was her body. No one would ever hurt her again.
The carriage came to an abrupt stop. Surprised, she grabbed the seat so she wouldn’t fall forward. What was going on? It was much too soon for her to be at her townhouse.
She looked out the window and called out, “Why did we stop?” to her coachman.
That was when she noticed two hooded figures. One was climbing onto the carriage and the other was pulling her footman away from the carriage. For a moment, she couldn’t move. But then, something in her snapped, and she threw the door open.
The hooded man who’d taken her footman over to the sidewalk hurried over to her. “Get back inside,” he said, his voice so raspy that she couldn’t make out who he was.
Given the fact that she couldn’t make out his face from under his hooded cloak, it was impossible to figure out who it might be. He took a step toward her, and that was when she saw his peg leg. She had heard of a gentleman who’d had a peg leg, but for the life of her, she couldn’t recall who it was.
She backed up into the seat.
“Stay inside until we tell you it’s time to get out. If you try to escape, we’ll hunt you down and bring you back.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded that she would obey him.
Without another word, he shut the door.
From what little she could see from the window, the coachman was being led to the sidewalk where the footman was standing. The second hooded figure waved to the first, and the two hopped onto the carriage. A moment later, the carriage moved forward again, this time at a much faster pace.
She gripped the seat beneath her and bit her tongue so she wouldn’t cry out lest one of them silenced her for good. Where were they taking her? When they got her to where they wanted, what were they going to do to her?
The carriage turned the corner of one street and then another. To her horror, she realized they were taking her out of London. She pressed her hand over her stomach, willing the urge to vomit to pass. This couldn’t be good. There was no way it could be good. Maybe they were going to kill her. Maybe Lord Durrant had tired of having her for a wife—albeit in name only—and had decided to get rid of her so he could marry someone else. Even Lord Hedwrett, in all his vile actions, had never tried to kill her.
The further out of London they went, the more her stomach knotted up, and finally, when she couldn’t take it anymore, she banged the top of the carriage and called out for the gentlemen to stop.
Thankfully, they did. And as soon as she threw the door open, she threw up on the ground. When she was done, she collapsed back inside the carriage.
The gentleman with the peg leg approached the door. Had she not been shaking from having just thrown up, she might have been able to scream. But she couldn’t. In fact, she couldn’t even move away from him as he extended something in her direction.
“Pull back your hood,” a gentleman told him from the back of the carriage.
“Yes, you’re going to scare poor Lady Durrant to her grave,” another gentleman—this one from the front of the carriage—added.
Three gentlemen? She couldn’t recall seeing more than two, but everything had happened so fast, and she was only looking out one of the windows when she’d been abducted.
The gentleman in front of her quickly lowered the hood. It took her a few seconds to realize it was Lord Erandon. She hadn’t seen him since last year, shortly before he’d lost half of his leg during the storm. That had been right before his brother died and left him the title. Before then, he had been a captain.
Lord Erandon offered her a reassuring smile. “We’re going to take you to Lord Durrant’s estate.”
She gasped. Was this some game Corin had planned? Did he intend for her to entertain the three gentlemen in a wild orgy? “No, I won’t go. You must return me to London at once.”
Lord Erandon, probably noting the trembling in her voice, said, “I assure you, my lady, that no harm will come to you. My wife and her friends, Lady Worsley and the Duchess of Lambeth, only wish for you and your husband to get to know each other. As soon as we take you to his estate, we’ll go back to London.”
She blinked. Lady Erandon, Lady Worsley, and the Duchess of Lambeth? And they had talked these three gentlemen into abducting her? Just how many other people were involved in this?
“Where is Lord Durrant?” she forced out.
“He’s on his way to his estate,” Lord Erandon replied. “We sent him a missive telling him that his brother was ill and needed him. He doesn’t know you’re coming. I’m afraid we can’t go into detail until we arrive at Westmoore.” He paused. “I take it from the vomit that you aren’t hungry,” he slowly continued with a glance at the ground, “but would you like something to drink? Or do you need to tend to business of a personal nature? There’s a bush you can go behind for privacy.”
Was he serious? She wasn’t going to get out of this carriage. Not until she absolutely had to. And right now, she didn’t have to. She shook her head.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll continue on our way then, but if you need anything, just give us a tap.” He knocked the top of the carriage then closed the door.
In the next minute, the carriage moved forward. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to maintain the little calm she still had. Did she dare believe Lord Erandon? That no one was going to hurt her? She wanted to. Of course, she wanted to. No lady wanted to be used to fulfill a gentleman’s perverted fantasies. But she couldn’t bring herself to believe him. Until she arrived at Lord Durrant’s estate, and the three gentlemen left without laying a hand on her, she just couldn’t believe him.
Sniffing, she wiped away a tear, straightened up in her seat, and stared out the window at the passing landscape.