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Chapter Nineteen

“ G randfather.” Caden rose, crossing to the old man to wrap him in an embrace. “It’s good to see you looking so well, my lord.”

“And why wouldn’t I? Have you met my young tiger?”

He referred to Kitty, his one-time servant-slash-companion.

Caden and Zeke exchanged amused glances.

“For some odd reason, I received word at the Fenton’s party that you’d taken seriously ill.”

The earl’s bushy gray brows furrowed.

Caden shrugged. “I’ll take it up with Harrison when next I see him—right after I thank him. As it happened, my fiancé and I needed to make ourselves scarce.”

Claybourne looked from Caden to Zeke, then fixed his gaze on the empty brandy snifters. “Do I need a drink to hear the rest of this tale?”

Slapping his hands on his knees, Zeke unfolded himself from his armchair. “Sit. I’ll pour, while Caden fills both of us in. ”

The earl grinned. “And here I feared things might get boring around here.”

“Boring?” Zeke groused, half way to the credenza.

The earl waved his hand in a vague gesture as he settled onto the sofa. “No more damsels in distress—”

“—disguised as boy servants. I see your point,” Zeke agreed.

He splashed brandy into a snifter for the earl, then refilled his and Caden’s empty glasses.

Caden dropped into his vacated armchair and steepled his fingers. “Do you remember the doctor and his wife who leased the old cottage near the river on the other side of the bridge? Years ago, when Zeke and I were boys.”

His grandfather accepted his brandy with a nod of thanks for Zeke. “The ones who had the pretty little girl to whom you were devoted every summer?’

Caden slid Zeke an accusatory look.

Zeke barked out a laugh.

“I was nice to her. That is all,” Caden said.

The earl’s blue eyes twinkled. Abruptly the twinkle faded. “Are you saying she’s the one you plan to marry?”

“She is.”

“I see.”

The room went silent save for the tick-tick-tick of the clock on the mantle.

Caden cleared his throat. “I take it you saw the ad?”

“If you refer to the one placed by Lord Bolton in search of any information leading to the return of his missing bride, then, yes, I saw it.”

“Excellent. That saves a bit of time catching you up to Zeke.”

“Before you entered the room, Caden was about to explain how he and Mrs. Jones became engaged.”

Claybourne gave Zeke a perplexed look. “Who in blazes is Mrs. Jones?”

Caden glared at his brother. “That’s the name Anna—formerly Miss Gloriana Masters—was going by when our paths crossed several days ago. She’s been using the alias since escaping Bolton and her wicked step-mother—”

“Her step-mother?” Zeke interjected, looking well and truly intrigued.

Caden nodded once, anger over the position Angelique LeClerque Masters contrived to place Anna in boiling up inside him.

“Her late father’s second wife orchestrated the entire affair. She convinced Anna she needed to marry Bolton in order to save both of them from a life on the streets. Evidently, Masters died penniless.”

“I recall the physician being well-off, if not outright wealthy,” Claybourne said. “Granted, we knew the family years ago. Circumstances change.”

“As we experienced first-hand,” Zeke muttered under his breath.

Caden shrugged. “I can tell you Anna did not anticipate finding herself destitute at her father’s death.

Thanks in no small part to the shock of it, she initially agreed to her step-mother’s suggestion to marry Bolton.

Soon after, however, she decided against the marriage.

When she informed her loving step-mother, she found herself imprisoned, drugged, and ultimately a coerced participant in a sham ceremony. ”

The earl sipped from his snifter. “Poor girl.”

Zeke drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I wish I could say I’m surprised Bolton would stoop to such a level. The perplexing thing is why he’d bother if she brings no money to the table. ”

“Oh, there’s money involved,” Caden said. “I just don’t know how, where, or why. Yet.”

“How’d she manage to escape after the ceremony? Where did she go?” Zeke asked.

Pride welled up in Caden’s chest. “During her captivity, she forged several letters of recommendation for herself. Suffice it to say she fled the night of the wedding with the letters and a piece of her mother’s jewelry, which she hocked for cash.

From there she landed herself in the role of companion to the Dowager Duchess of Wentworth. ”

Claybourne’s eyes sharpened. “Wentworth, you say? Of NorthUmberland? A guest at the Fenton’s party, I take it?”

“Yes,” Caden replied.

“I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of the lady in an age.

She used to pay us a visit on occasion, en route to London.

Always during the summer, never the spring.

She didn’t move much in society, even when the duke lived.

As I recall there was some sort of tragedy in the family.

Can’t recall exactly what,” the earl mused.

“The Dowager is a distant relation to the Fenton’s. To Viscount Randall, as well. I assume that’s why she attended the festivities, which resulted in my path crossing with Anna’s after all this time.”

Zeke and the earl fixed Caden with matching, expectant looks.

“Yes?”

His grandfather gave an exasperated sigh. “You saw each other and, what? Professed your undying love for each other from childhood?”

Caden barked out a laugh. “Hardly. I recognized her, but couldn’t place her. She, on the other hand, denied having ever laid eyes on me and let me know in no uncertain terms she wanted nothing to do with me.”

Zeke grinned. “You mean to say a woman exists immune to Caden Thurgood’s infamous charm? ”

Caden smirked. “I did mention she’s now my fiancé?”

Zeke hooted with laughter. “So you did.”

“How did you go from stranger to fiancé?”

Caden propped his chin in his hand and considered which details to share. “Suffice it to say I did, eventually, recognize her.”

He rose from the chair and paced to the open terrace-doors, buying time. “I told her the ruse was up, we became reacquainted, and I…I proposed. The thing is…”

Neither Zeke nor the earl said a word as seconds ticked by, but Caden felt their eyes boring into his back.

He executed an about face. “The problem we have is how to get her out of the damned marriage. While she managed to escape hours after the so-called vows were spoken, Bolton’s been searching for her. He means to have her back, and we know he traced her to the Fenton’s party.”

“Know, how?” Zeke asked.

“I saw him at the inn where we rode out the storm.”

“I see,” the earl said.

“It won’t take much digging on his part to discover she and I spent a great deal of time together prior to my departure and her disappearance. We can assume he’ll wind up here sooner than later.”

The earl crossed his arms over his chest, looking resolute. “We’ll have to get the marriage annulled quickly, then.”

Zeke eyed Caden. “There’s only one sure way to achieve that. As you stated, Cade, she ran away after the ceremony. It’ll be uncomfortable for her, but a quick examination by a physician and—”

“—No, no, no,” Caden interrupted, knowing all too well where Zeke was going. “She won’t want to submit to anything like that. Too…er…undignified. Too…public.”

God’s teeth. His cheeks throbbed with scalding heat. It wouldn’t take a genius to glean why Caden wouldn’t want Anna examined for proof of virginity.

The earl glanced up to the ceiling as if seeking divine guidance.

Zeke coughed into his fist. “Of course. Do you have any other ideas for a more dignified basis of annulment?” He pressed his lips together.

The bastard was laughing. Caden feigned ignorance. “We investigate the cur, then use something we find to scare him off.”

The earl nodded. “Good thinking. We can leverage the information to get him to agree to the annulment, and then,” the earl met Caden’s eyes, “get the two of you to the alter. Quickly .”

Caden inclined his head, taking his medicine in stride. At least he’d beaten them to the punch announcing his engagement. Now all he had to do was convince Anna to accept his proposal.

***

“Here we are.” Lady Thurgood pushed open the heavy paneled door and crossed the threshold into the large, sunlit chamber.

Anna followed, gazing about the high-ceilinged antechamber. “How lovely.”

“I’m so glad you like it. It’s one of my favorite suites. I do hope you’ll find the rooms comfortable for the length of your stay.”

She felt like a princess out of a fairytale.

Silver and blue silk papered the walls. Two large oriel windows afforded a clear view of the Derwent.

Their shutters were open wide, allowing for a soft, fragrant breeze which riffled the sheer drapes and caught at Anna’s hair.

She could well imagine lounging in the inviting sitting area, taking tea or reading .

Through an open double doorway, she spied a large canopied bed with a beautiful blue brocade coverlet along with the usual accompaniments—a dresser, side tables. And there, on a chest beside the wardrobe, her unopened luggage.

The future countess moved through the chamber, examining surfaces, the vase of fresh cut flowers beside the bed, the wicks in the oil lamps. She was beauty and vitality incarnate, and she made Anna feel positively dowdy.

“A tray of tea and biscuits is coming directly. I’ll just wait on that if you don’t mind?”

“Of course, though you need not trouble yourself if you’ve other things to do?” She finished on a hopeful note.

“Nonsense. What could be more important than getting to know my future sister-in-law?” Lady Thurgood faced Anna, arms clasped loosely behind her back.

“I do wish we’d had some notice of your arrival, but then Caden assumed we knew of his return as he believed himself summoned by Zeke. How very odd.”

Anna flushed. “It is odd.” She ducked her head. “I’m very sorry for any inconvenience my presence has caused, my lady.”

She had no notion of the true inconvenience Anna would cause them. Not yet.