Page 19 of His By Sunrise (Disreputable Dukes of Club Damnation #3)
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Wildflower Cottage
Farnham, Surrey
England
Precisely at noon, the butler came and sought Edwin out in his study.
“I know you don’t like to be interrupted in the morning hours, Mr. Coatesville, but since it’s not truly the morning any longer...”
He bit off the annoyed response he would have shot off. “It is no bother, Franklin. What do you need?”
The older man, who was everything proper and always had been, nodded.
“The Earl of Everfield is here and is demanding to speak with you. He is accompanied by Lord Danville, who is also in a disgruntled mood.” He shook his head.
“I have put them both in the drawing room, but they are quite agitated. Refused tea or refreshment straightaway.”
“Well, fuck.” Edwin shoved a hand through his hair. He’d expected Charlotte’s father to call, but not this soon. As for Danville? There were no words to explain the rage he held for the viscount. “Did either ask for Lady Charlotte?”
“They did, but I did not give away that she was here. Frankly, I don’t care for their attitudes, and I didn’t want to put her into potential danger. And besides, according to her maid, she had just risen and ordered a bath.”
“Good man.” What to do? “Do not mention their visit to her. I don’t wish for her to be upset.” He blew out a breath. “I’ll see to our visitors directly. And if fate is kind, I can send them on their way in short order.”
“Very good, sir.” The butler left, no doubt to update both men while Edwin sat at his desk and let the anger shoot through him.
How dare the blackguard come to call on him!
He had no claim to Charlotte, and she hadn’t directly said that she hoped to have a relationship with him.
What was more, he felt that he and she were making headway into forming a second chance at their marriage.
There was absolutely no way he’d allow the viscount—or her father—to destroy that.
When he could stew no longer about it, Edwin composed himself as best he could then left the study for the drawing room on the second level. The moment he came into the room and encompassed the two men in his gaze, another wave of hot anger rose in his chest.
“I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see either of you, so instead, I’ll merely arrive at the point straightaway.
What do you want?” If his delivery was harsh, he didn’t care.
Neither of them was invited, and he had no respect for the viscount.
Of course, he had no love for his former father-in-law, the man who’d ushered in the break of his marriage.
The earl was the first to shoot to his feet. He glared at Edwin, came toward him with his expression like a thunderstorm. “Where is my daughter, you degenerate?”
“How should I know? Unless you’ve forgotten, Charlotte and I haven’t been married for five years. Thanks to you.” The bitterness that wove through his voice was clear, even to him, and he hated himself for it, but there was no help for it.
“And thank God I stepped in or you would have ruined her, made her as unsavory as you are still.” Everfield raked his dark gaze up and down Edwin’s person. “Where is she? I know you kidnapped her the night of the ball.”
“For shame. Of course I didn’t. I went to my club directly after then came home in the wee hours of the morning.” Edwin shrugged. “Perhaps she finally got up the courage to run away from you and your reach, like she should have done years ago.”
“Bastard!” When the earl lunged for him, it was Danville who held his arm and yanked him backward. “I swear I’ll see you in Newgate again, and you’ll hang for your crimes this time.”
Edwin crossed his arms over his chest. “Hung for what, pray tell? Even if I had kidnapped your daughter, that isn’t a crime punishable by death.”
“Well, you will need to pay for that kidnapping, regardless.” The earl drilled a forefinger into his chest. “You have her; I know it.”
One of Edwin’s eyebrows rose in challenge. “Yet why should I hang for allegedly doing that?” His gaze jogged to Danville, who smirked.
“If not for what you’ve done to my daughter, then definitely for murdering a professor at Cambridge, hmm?” The earl’s grin held a menace that surprised him. “Oh, yes. Lord Danville has told me stories of your time there. About the death.”
Heated ire rose in his chest. “Ah, has he also told you that I took the blame so he wouldn’t?
That Danville was the one who stabbed the professor with a brass letter opener?
” He promised himself that he wouldn’t explode with righteous vengeance today, but he would and soon.
“Did he tell you that I took the blame, confessed to a crime I didn’t commit because he would be a titled lord and I didn’t have that bright of a future, according to his father?
” He glared at them both. “When I was released from prison, Danville pretended that he didn’t know me, so I wasted that decision.
I should have let him rot, should have told Bow Street at the time exactly what I’d witnessed. ”
Heavy silence followed that statement, filled with shock and awe as the earl stared at him while the viscount looked at him with a faint grin.
“Such tales you tell, Coatesville, or should I say Nottingham?” Danville tsked his tongue as he shook his head. “Sometimes the memory fails us as we age, hmm?”
Everfield nodded. “You are lying; you can’t help it. Most of your life has been based on lies. You always were the sneaking about type, keeping company with questionable men. Just one of the reasons my daughter was never meant to be with a man of your ilk.”
“Lying?” If any more anger went through him, Edwin knew he would break apart. “Am I? Why don’t you ask Danville for the truth? Ask him about why the professor at Cambridge died. Ask him about why he was even in the professor’s office that day to begin with.”
Frankly, he wanted them both out of his home. Everyone he’d ever known had either used him or betrayed him, and it wasn’t confined to his past, for Charlotte was doing it now, and she hadn’t even tried to hide it.
To be fair, neither did he, but he knew, deep down in his gut, that he could win her back through carnal endeavors.
And they had shared a few quiet moments too this time ‘round that were working to bring them closer, and he suspected that once they both shared their core truths and stopped hiding, the remainder of the barriers would come down.
Opening the doors to a bright future.
“No more excuses, Nottingham. It’s beneath you, and I won’t tolerate it.
” The earl waved away his explanation as if it didn’t matter.
“Danville is three times the man you are, and he is the one I want for my daughter.” Again, he shoved his forefinger into Edwin’s chest. “Let me search through the house. I know you have my Charlotte.”
Like hell I will.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Everfield.
But if you don’t get your arse off my property, I’ll summon the nearest constable to do it for me.
” As he spoke, he moved to the door. “No doubt if Charlotte wishes to come home and back to London, she will, but since she isn’t here, there is no reason for you to stay.
And God help me, if you don’t take Danville with you, I can’t be responsible for what might happen to him. ”
The viscount narrowed his gaze on Edwin. “This isn’t over, Nottingham. I’m going to bury you, and then finally Charlotte won’t be so distracted. She’ll focus on me with joy and happiness.”
He frowned. “Surely if she’s distracted, it’s not my fault. I have only seen her a few times over the past several years.”
“She is skittish around men, only returned to society in the past year. Before that, she kept herself at her father’s country estate.
” Danville took a few steps toward him, causing Edwin to retreat.
“I’m going to wed your former wife, Nottingham, and there’s naught much you can do about it, for who will the authorities believe if things get ugly between us—you or me, especially with your history? ”
“Get out!” Edwin’s shout reverberated throughout the room. “The next time I see you, Danville, you can be sure that I will bury you, one way or the other.”
And that was a promise he intended to keep.
C harlotte gasped when the door to her bedchamber flew open and Edwin strode into the room, slamming the panel behind him.
“Edwin?” She slid into a sitting position and reached for the folded length of linen on a small, round table near the bathtub. “What are you doing here?”
No doubt alarmed by the noise, Bessie came into the room from the adjoining one. When she caught sight of him, she skidded to a halt. “Mr. Coatesville?”
“Please leave us, Bessie.” A dark flush had risen over his collar and seeped into his cheeks. “I’ll tend to the lady’s needs for the remainder of the afternoon.”
When Charlotte nodded at her maid, the younger woman fled. Then the soft snick of the door to the corridor in the dressing room served as a testament that she had left the suite. “Edwin, what’s wrong? You seem at sixes and sevens?”
“Your father came to call,” he said from around a growl. His eyes flashed with annoyance.
“Oh? I did warn you that he would begin his search here.” The more she looked at him in his garb as a country gentleman, the more his presence filled the space, and the more awareness crawled over her skin, even after everything they’d shared in the past day and a half.
Good heavens, had it only been that small amount of time? It felt as if she’d lived another lifetime with him since the ball.
He came further into the room and approached the porcelain bathtub. “He wanted to search the house, demanded I give you up. I didn’t say that you were here, but I didn’t exactly lie either.” A fierce frown turned his lips downward. “What was more, Danville accompanied him.”
“What?” Shock gripped her chest. “William was here?” A slightly sick feeling coiled through her belly. “Why?”