Page 55

O nce the honeymoon was complete, the Duke and Duchess of Hertfordshire returned to London for a few weeks.

Hertfordshire thought back over their time away.

Ever since Lizzy had demanded he make her his wife on their wedding night at Hertfordshire House, they had never slept apart.

With Lizzy, when he made love, it was just that, a physical manifestation of their deep and abiding love, not a duty or a chore like it had been with his first wife.

No, relations with Lizzy were beyond anything he had imagined.

There were few rooms at Seaview House that had escaped unscathed, and the private cove with the strip of beach, which was hidden from being viewed from the sea, was one of their favourite places out of the house to couple.

Biggs and Johns were always left at the head of the path which led down to the cove, which ensured that no one interrupted the private time, erroneously or for any other reason.

Three weeks after their wedding, Lizzy reported missing her courses, which she had told him had been as regular as any grandfather clock since the first time she had them.

Not long after leaving the sanctuary of Seaview House, she had told him she had missed the second month’s indisposition.

They were very hopeful she was with child, but would not share with others until she felt the quickening.

They had been in London for a few days when Hertfordshire remembered something he had not told his wife. “By the bye, Darcy and Matlock want to speak to me about the virago from Kent.”

“Did they tell you about what they wish to speak about?”

“No, my inquisitive Lizzy, I will know on the morrow, and as we keep no secrets, you will know shortly after me.”

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Matlock and Darcy, the former with his younger son and the latter with his heir, arrived at Hertfordshire House to speak to the Duke.

William was thankful Her Grace was out shopping with his mother and aunt so he would not have to face her…yet. He knew the time would come, but the longer he could defer seeing her, the better.

“Is this about your sister’s embarrassing attempt to arrive at my wedding uninvited?” Hertfordshire asked once each of the men had their preferred libation in hand.

“We waited until after your wedding trip to act, so we could consult with you and not intrude on your initial wedded bliss. It is unsurprising you are aware of Catherine’s embarrassing actions,” Matlock stated stoically.

“If my dear sister thought she could create such a hullabaloo at St Paul’s, get scolded by the Bishop of London, and it would not reach your ears, she is more delusional than I already think she is.

” Matlock inclined his head to his brother-in-law and continued.

“If that was not enough, she attempted to barge into our houses when she discovered what not paying her townhouse staff and servants for about a decade purchased her.”

“Yes, I had heard of her careening around Grosvenor Square demanding accommodation,” Hertfordshire acknowledged.

“I think it is time for Catherine to be removed as the mistress of Rosings Park. Anne is only one and twenty and will not become the owner for four more years, however, as executors, Darcy and I have the power to eject my sister from the house,” Matlock revealed.

“My late brother-in-law de Bourgh knew what his wife was and had clauses written into his will to give his executors the power they would need to make sure his wife complied.”

“You know I believe that woman is more than a touch insane, do you not?” Darcy said as he stared into the remnants of the brandy in the cut-crystal glass he was holding in his hand, causing the liquor to swirl.

“Until this incident, I have refused to act, but that is no longer feasible. Either she needs to be committed to an asylum, or banished,” Matlock owned.

“When will you deal with her?” William enquired.

“If your father is available, we will make for Rosings Park on Monday coming,” Matlock proposed.

“Do you need a military escort?” Richard asked.

It was settled that Richard and William would join their fathers on Monday. For the latter, it would be a godsend to put distance between him and the enticing Lady Elizabeth Chamberlain. After his behaviour at Falconwood, he was not ready to see her yet.

He was snapped out of his reveries when Richard gave him a punch, albeit a very light one, on his shoulder. With a sheepish look, William followed the rest of the men.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Lady Catherine de Bourgh was sitting on her throne when her butler entered the drawing room and announced her brother, brother-in-law, and two of her nephews.

She had a good idea why they were at her estate unannounced, but she knew she could not show weakness; she would bluster her way through this.

“At last, you have brought this recalcitrant boy to do his duty and marry his cousin as Anne and I agreed when they were in their cradles,” Lady Catherine began. She knew she needed to distract the men from their purpose.

“Catty, you know as well as all of us in this room that is a lie you concocted to attempt to hold onto that which is not yours,” Matlock boomed.

“Anne never made any agreement with you. Further, how, pray tell, were your Anne and William in their cradles at the same time when our nephew is almost three years older than your daughter? You never did pay attention to your lessons, thinking learning was below you, but I thought you were able to do basic sums. It seems I was wrong.”

“I have asked you not to address me thusly, Reggie,” she blustered. The last thing she expected was the men before her to refute her claims with immediacy and show her no respect at all. It made Lady Catherine livid. “How dare you come into my house and speak to me so?” she demanded.

“That is brown. ‘Your house’ indeed. This is no more your house than it belongs to the lowest servant at Rosings Park,” Darcy stated derisively.

“As much as you have railed against it, you well know what your late husband’s will states.

The only thing you are due is your jointure, and even that is conditional.

As far as remaining the mistress here, that is only if we as the executors,” Matlock indicated himself and Darcy, “agree to allow you to retain that position until Anne reaches five and twenty, or she agrees after that date.”

“What happened to the funds we allowed each quarter to pay the wages of the staff and servants at de Bourgh House, as well as for the repairs you claimed needed to be effected?” Darcy demanded.

“We know you have not paid anything you were supposed to for the running of the house in London for nigh on ten years. Is that where you got the money for all of this gaudy, tasteless décor we would never allow you?” His eyes swept around the room at the evidence of his sister-in-law’s bad taste.

“And there is the embarrassing way you behaved at St Paul’s,” Matlock added. “Yes, Catty , we know all about your display as you attempted to interfere with His Grace’s wedding. You are a disgrace to the Fitzwilliam name.”

“Aunt Catty, you do know that you had less chance of Lord Hertfordshire marrying you than you have of William here offering for Anne, do you not?” Richard asked.

“If I had an attraction to Anne as anything but my cousin, offered for her, and she accepted me, Rosings Park would be my property. The first thing I would do, in that case, is remove you from the estate,” William insisted.

“Do you think I would allow an uneducated woman who only knows how to interfere in the lives of the tenants and residents of Hunsford to keep running this estate into the ground?”

“The Duke loves his duchess to distraction, and if you ever attempt anything, by word or deed, to harm her, he will ruin you, and none of us will step in to save you from yourself,” Darcy warned.

This was not going as she was sure it would.

She should have known that those gossipy clergymen would not keep her visit a secret.

Lady Catherine was beginning to worry. All four men were glaring at her angrily.

Surely they would not turn her over to the magistrate for theft of the funds she knew were not hers to use as she had done.

She decided to use a different strategy to try and save herself.

“It was confusion. I thought you had given me the funds to redecorate the mansion…” Lady Catherine closed her mouth with a clack when her statement garnered a burst of derisive guffaws.

“After all we have said to you, you still think that you are able to pull the wool over our eyes?” Matlock barked. “You are fit for Bedlam!”

“We found Mr and Mrs Wapping. They told us that for a year they wrote to you asking you where the money for their wages and the servants’ wages were, as well as the funds to run the house.

As servants took things from the house to cover what they were owed, the Wappings remained at the house for another year all the while writing to you almost weekly.

Once the year passed and no word or funds came from you, they took enough to cover what they were owed,” Darcy reported as he looked at the notes he had made when he and Matlock met with the couple.

“Once they left the house, over time, it was beset upon by miscreants who brought it to the pitiful state it is in now.”

“Then those nobodies need to be arrested. How dare they steal from me?” Lady Catherine screeched.

“It was not yours, so please cease claiming it was,” Matlock growled.

Lady Catherine shrank back.

“They have receipts for the items they sold. The money is just about what they were owed for their wages.” Matlock glared at his sister.

“If anyone is to be arrested for theft, it is you, Catty ! The amount you stole over the years is enough, many times over, to see you hanged. The only remaining question is if we banish you, have you tried and hung, or committed to Bedlam.”