Page 11 of Forever Her Bachelor
Bloody hell, no wonder they had no funds.
His father had paid Wayford five thousand pounds while St. Clara was away on his Grand Tour.
Blinking several times, St. Clara tried to focus on the paper in front of him, to understand his father’s reasoning. However, there was no reason that he could find where his father would give Wayford such an obscene amount of money. Acid filled his mouth as he pondered the connection between Wayford’s payment and the investigation of Pippa’s father.
“As you can see, everything is in the folders,” Carson said, eyeing St. Clara with trepidation.
It was rather difficult for St. Clara to find his voice that lodged deep in his throat. “W-where are the correspondences between your father and mine?”
Squeezing his eyes closed, St. Clara lowered his head.How could he?He had always admired his father above anyone else in his life. So much so that he’d turned his back on the one person who meant everything to him. Now, years later, he knew his father had not been truthful when he told him that Pippa had moved on of her own volition.
St. Clara had returned from the Continent eager to wed, ready to begin their life as husband and wife. Yet instead of a welcoming smile and a warm embrace, St. Clara received silence and indifference from his betrothed.
Did his father have something to do with Pippa’s indifference toward him?
It was his father who had informed him.“The girl moved on; now, you must do the same.”
He could still hear the cold, gravelly voice as if the man was sitting directly beside him. Suddenly he could not help but wonder what else his sire had lied about.
Carson waved a thin hand out to the bulging folders in St. Clara’s hand. The urge to burn everything suddenly left St. Clara; now, the one thing he wanted was to discover his father’s secrets.
After spending his life worshiping Ludlow Bennett, it appeared he did not know him at all. He searched his memory of his father, remembering how the man had picked up the pieces of their lives after his mother’s betrayal. It was he who had come to St. Clara’s room when he’d awake crying for his mother and sister. His father was who’d taught him how to sit on a horse and shoot properly. As he’d grown older, his father had tried to instill in him the importance of a good match, of not allowing oneselfto be captured by a pretty face or a sweet smile. On that, their opinions had differed.
“As you see,” Carson was saying, causing St. Clara to focus on him, “there was nothing untoward about the family. The mother, the daughter of an earl who caused quite the scandal when she eloped with a university professor at Oxford.”
St. Clara stood, ready to end the conversation and read the contents of the folders himself. He could no longer focus on the younger Carson, his mind drifting back to his father. He felt betrayed by the man whom he had always shown blind faithfulness to, even against his own mother. “Thank you, Carson. I’ll be in touch.”
Carson looked up at St. Clara before standing. “Of course, Your Grace.” He shifted his weight from one foot to another. “I want to remind you there are fewer than three weeks until the deadline of your inheritance. If you do not marry, all the funds will be donated to an orphanage in your mother’s name.”
The reminder was like a punch to his abdomen. He had forgotten everything but his encounter with Pippa the previous night. Now, the desperation was clawing at him just from the reminder, and he knew he had no other choice. “Yes, I assure you I will be married before the end of the month.” St. Clara gave him a sharp nod.
“I made a list of young ladies still in Town for the Season in case you needed any assistance.” Carson moved a few things around the cluttered desk before handing St. Clara a scrap of parchment.
St. Clara glanced down at the list, trying to contain a groan of displeasure at the first name.
Florentia Vaughn.
Without another word, he retrieved his hat and cane from the footman Carson employed and hastily exited the office.
Once outside, he breathed deeply, needing fresh air. Why would his father have Pippa’s family investigated? What was the purpose?
His stomach ached from his father’s betrayal. He knew that the former duke had not approved of the match, but to search for something in her past? He wanted to know more, and most importantly, St. Clara was now determined to uncover his father’s secrets if it was the last thing he did.
His body vibrating, he rushed into his carriage, ignoring his coachman Randall’s curious looks. When the door closed, he opened one of the bulging folders, his fingers shaking. The inside of the carriage was a hazy blur to his eyes as he panted heavily, dread creeping up his spine. Sifting through the papers, he saw document after document on Pippa’s family: her mother, father, and even her grandfather, the former Earl of Barksdale.
Stopping on a letter from his father to the elder solicitor, Carson, St. Clara’s eyes roamed the words.
Carson,
Where are you with finding something on the Price chit? I will not allow my son to marry a common whore like I did. I prefer he marry one of the docile well-bred chits who are too idiotic to interfere or hold a conversation. He will return from Yorkshire soon, but I am trying to prolong his journey until you find something I can use to end this preposterous engagement. With the war over, a Grand Tour is the perfect thing for a young, titled gentleman with no attachments. Make the arrangements posthaste. Regarding the chit, I have another plan as she refused my offer of funds. Pity, really, she could’ve started a new life with five thousand pounds.
St. Clara
Reading the letter several times, St. Clara could not ignore the proof that his father had purposely interfered in his life. He had tried to bribe Pippa not to marry him, but she’d refused.His head ached with the force of his thoughts, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
His father had not been the man St. Clara thought he was.
At the time, he had been young and wanted nothing more than to please the man who had faced scandal but still raised St. Clara. For years, his father was his only parent. He often told St. Clara of his mother’s treachery, but at the time, St. Clara hadn’t realized how deep his father’s hatred for women actually was.