Page 27 of Miss Hawthorne’s Unlikely Husband (The Troublemakers Trilogy #3)

H e was there. She could feel him holding her hand, his scent surrounding her.

She didn’t want to wake up and give up his touch, but her body was becoming more aware with each passing second until the voices around her became clearer, and the ache in her head throbbed relentlessly.

Oh god, her mouth felt awful. What on earth had she done the night before?

The only source of comfort was Richard. So comforting that she didn’t question why the air smelt more of him while the dream slipped further away.

“I know you’re awake, Ellie,” Regina said. Elodia frowned and turned her face into the pillow. Why was she here?

A hand landed on her shoulder and shook it. “Get up now.”

Ada. Why were they always around lately? Elodia grumbled and cracked one eye open. “What is it?”

“Good morning,” Ada said, handing her a cup. “Drink this.”

Ellie sat up, looking down at her body, which was clad only in her chemise and pantaloons.

She took in her surroundings which included Regina sitting in a chair to her right and Ada, sitting on the bed beside her to her left.

The room was unfamiliar. The dark wood paneling on the walls was varied with dark wallpaper in dark green, brown and gold.

Ada nudged her again, and Elodia accepted the cup and began sipping at the contents.

Hot water, ginger and honey.

“Where am I, Ada?”

“You are in my brother’s room.”

She nearly spit out her drink. “What?” No wonder the room smelt of him.

Ada nodded. “Mmm, I think he slept in his study.”

“But why—” Images swirled in her mind. A garden at night, someone holding her close, carrying her across the grass. “Did something happen?”

“We were rather hoping you would answer that question.”

“Although our question is more along the lines of ‘What on earth happened?’” Regina clarified.

“Specifically, why did you take a bottle of brandy onto the lawn in the middle of an event which then necessitated my brother having to carry you back to his room because you both were caught in the rain?”

“Oh…”

“Yes. So we will ask one more time, what is the matter?”

“And I swear if you fob us off like last time, I will not be held responsible for my actions.” Ada’s eyes were steely.

“And if I don’t? It’s not as if you can keep me hostage.”

“I beg to differ. I have your clothes, remember?” she replied, with the same cool look Elodia had seen on Richard’s face.

Damn… she had forgotten.

“Why are you treating us like strangers?” Regina asked softly. She wasn’t angry like Ada, she was… hurt.

“I am not.”

“You are , and I cannot account for it. Is it our fault? Is it us?”

“No,”

“Have we made you feel as though you cannot come to us anymore?”

“Of course not, Ada,” Elodia said, pushing herself up until she was sitting upright.

“Or is it that you don’t trust us because we are married now?” Regina asked.

It was uncomfortably close to the truth but not quite. “It’s not that.”

“No?”

“It’s… I haven’t told anyone. It’s not as if I am making exceptions for you in that department.”

“But you used to.” Ada insisted. “You used to make exceptions and tell us everything; we all did. And we found our way through together.”

Elodia sighed in defeat and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “The truth is, I don’t know how to speak of it.”

Regina sighed then crawled onto the bed beside her, so she was trapped between them, and then took her hand. “Never mind about the how, just spit it out.”

No way out but through. “I heard something said, that people think I’m a bastard.”

“A what?” Ada blinked in confusion.

“A bastard. That my parents weren’t married.” There was a shocked silence. “Have you heard anything about that?”

“I haven’t,” Ada replied. “Gigi?”

Regina didn’t look shocked at all. “No, but I imagine my parents did. My mother never approved of you no matter how Baba and I defended you, but she never told me why.”

“Just because people talk doesn’t mean it’s true, Ellie.”

“I checked his study. There is no mention of a wedding. There is no marriage contract, no license, no birth record for me. There were letters from their courtship as well. No mention of a wedding or a proposal.”

“When did you hear this rumor, Ellie?” Ada asked.

“At Gigi’s soiree. There was a woman berating her son for considering me for a bride.”

“Who?” Regina’s voice was deceptively calm.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not their fault that I’m illegitimate. It’s reasonable to want to protect your family from scandal.”

“I beg to differ,” Ada grumbled.

“Never mind that. My soiree, the one you left early, was over a week ago, Ellie.”

“I know.”

“We came to you only a few days ago and asked what was wrong and you told us it was about Mr. Thornfield.”

“It was about him as well. But I was thinking that it would be reasonable if, bearing this in mind, you wanted to put som—”

“Elodia Hawthorne, I want you to think very carefully about finishing that sentence.” Ada’s voice had never sounded so sharp.

Regina was staring at her with an expression so stricken that Elodia couldn’t bear to look her in the eyes. “Did you think we wouldn’t want you around because you couldn’t be a social boon to us as you were before?”

“Not exactly.”

“I have never been so insulted in my entire life—”

“—Ada,”

“—And that is including my very charming brother-in-law and father-in-law.”

“I just don’t want you to have to—”

“You are going to make me lose my temper in a minute,” Ada snapped, and Elodia fell silent. If Ada hadn’t lost her temper as yet, it wasn’t a good beginning.

“After all we’ve been through, how could you imagine we would even think of abandoning you because of something like that?” Regina said, her voice low and even. But it was the tears in her eyes that made Elodia want to sink into a hole.

“Not abandoning me, just—”

“Stop speaking. I mean it. I cannot believe you would think we would value the ton more than we value you or our friendship.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way.”

“Then how exactly did you mean it?” Regina asked.

“I was afraid because I thought I knew him, my father. I thought I knew what he was and what my parents were to each other. I remember them together and I believed that they were in love, that he loved her as much as he loves me.”

“I’m sure he does,” Ada said, pressing close beside her, now that her wave of temper had passed.

“But don’t you see? He lied to me and I don’t even know what he lied about. He lied and his lie ruined my mother and myself. It demeaned us. And he did it while making me believe he loved me.”

“Have you spoken to your father about this?”

“No. I told you I haven’t told anyone.”

“Ellie, you don’t know that he lied to you. You don’t know that you are illegitimate.”

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if he lied to me about marrying my mother or if he lied to the ton about not having done so.

In the end, the result is the same. She died trying to give him a son he didn’t deserve.

She died loving him and he degraded her.

I am all that is left of her in the world and he degraded me as well. ”

“Did you think that if he could turn his back, so could we?” Ada asked.

“I didn’t really believe you would, I only didn’t want to test it.”

“It must have been quite a shock to hear that. I’m sorry that your father is a blaggard,” Regina said, laying her head on Elodia’s shoulder.

“We don’t know that he’s a blaggard. He might be an ignoramus,” Ada said with a shrug.

“I beg your pardon?” Elodia turned her head towards her.

“I married into a family of them. Believe me, one should always leave room for sheer stupidity. It is possible that he is unaware.”

“The level of idiocy that would entail is unimaginable,” Regina said dryly.

“Not necessarily.”

“Would you say that about your Mr. Thompson?” Elodia asked.

“Oh, Basil has had his moments, believe me,” she said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

“Your father is an intimidating man. He has claimed you openly and vociferously which means that to go against you is to go against him. Few people have the stomach for that. And most wouldn’t speak of it within his earshot, or yours. ”

“Even so.”

“I’m not saying it is likely to be that, but incompetence can be as cruel as malice.”

It was a good point. Somehow it felt even stranger to imagine that her father was dim witted. Even scoundrels could be mighty, and she couldn’t imagine her father to be anything so common as foolish . Was that more forgivable?

“I still can’t believe you said that to us. To us .” Regina shook her head and glared at Elodia so fiercely that Elodia couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s not funny, Ellie,” she groused. “Apologize!”

“I’m sorry, Ada and Gigi. I should not have underestimated you both in that way.”

“That is correct.”

“Do you accept my apology?”

“Yes. Once.” She nudged her playfully with her elbow and Elodia almost laughed. She was still upset, but she was glad that the secret at least was out with Regina and Ada. She should never have kept the truth from them.

“May I have my clothes now?”

*

Starkley House, Mayfair, London

To say that Richard found himself in a bit of a quandary would be an understatement.

Threading the needle between maintaining the appropriate boundaries with Elodia while not treating her cruelly or attracting attention was difficult enough when he thought her feelings were only an infatuation, but now it was clear it was something else.

She loved him. She’d said it, but if he was honest, he’d never believed it fully until that first kiss in the study.