Page 20 of The Courtesan’s Protector (About An Earl #4)

CHAPTER 19

T he first few moments after Hugo led Ripley into the billiard room were awkward at best. The young man was nervous, shifting around, nearly dropping the bottle before he poured them each a whisky and brought the glasses back.

He motioned toward the table. “Do you play?”

Ripley snorted. “No. That’s a rich man’s game.”

Hugo bent his head. “My apologies. Why don’t we sit by the fire? I’d wager we both have questions for each other after all these years.”

Ripley wondered what questions this young man would have for him, but he followed him nonetheless and took a comfortable seat beside him. For a moment, they stared into the dancing flames together. Then Hugo turned toward him.

“How old are you?”

Ripley had just taken a drink and he almost choked at the unexpected question. He coughed and managed to regain control of himself. “Er, twenty-nine this past March.”

Hugo let out a long sigh. “Fucking Father.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s just the same age as my eldest brother, Archibald.” Hugo shook his head. “That means he was with your mother and our mother at the same time. Just as we always suspected.”

Ripley pinched his lips, once again hating the earl for the harm he’d rained down on his mother. “When did you find out about me? About her?”

“Archie was about fifteen,” Hugo said. “Lewis was twelve, I was eight. We overheard him talking to the Dreadful Duke. My apologies, that’s what we all secretly call our grandfather. They were arguing about something…the subject turned to you. Father wanted to provide some schooling for you, some support, and my grandfather was railing at him about it.”

Ripley shifted. So the earl had made some half-arsed attempt to provide. Again, he wasn’t certain if that made the situation better or worse. “You three must have hated me.”

Hugo blinked and looked truly confused. “Hated? No. Angry with him, certainly. Our mother wanted him to love her so desperately.”

Bitterness filled Ripley’s mouth. “It seems to be a habit of the women he bounced along on a string.”

“Your mother, too?” Hugo said.

They stared at each other for a moment, understanding blooming between them. And while Ripley was still wary of this man, he also felt the tenuous beginnings of a connection.

“Well, when you started boxing, the three of us got very interested. I think Archie even attended a couple of your fights before our grandfather found out and banned him from doing it again. But we would read about them in the papers. I recall all three of us huddled around the paper, reading out the descriptions of your fights with bated breath. I wanted to crow to my friends when you won your first championship, but I knew Father would be livid if I revealed the relationship.”

“You…you were happy to know about my life?” Ripley said.

Hugo nodded. “Yes. All three of us. When you started the boxing club and everyone in our acquaintance was joining, all three of us longed to do the same. Father said no once again.”

“Well, bollocks to him,” Ripley said with a shake of his head. “If you want to learn, you’re welcome, all three of you. Membership fees waived. We don’t have to acknowledge our shared blood.”

Hugo blinked. “You’d do that?”

“It’s not your fault, is it? What happened.” Ripley shrugged. He acted like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t want to see his other two brothers. To know all three of them a little.

“I’ll tell them,” Hugo said softly.

“But now I must ask you a more pointed question, don’t I?” Ripley said. “You know what I must ask.”

“You want to know about me and Nora,” Hugo said. “You want to make sure that she’s taken care of so that Miss Kendall isn’t hurt.”

Ripley nodded, spearing him with a long stare. Hugo straightened beneath it and cleared his throat. “I love her. I’ve loved her since the first moment I saw her through the fence of that school. Honora is everything I’ve ever wanted in my life, and I will love and protect her for the rest of my days.”

There was an honesty there. A truth to those words. And even though Ripley didn’t entirely trust that a man like this, raised with every advantage and privilege, would retain that powerful emotion he felt now, at least in the moment he meant it. Since they were married, that was good enough.

“I even defied Father for her,” Hugo added with a sigh. “I know there will be consequences, but we’ll face them together.”

“I think you may find him easier now,” Ripley said.

Hugo’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“How do you think I found you?” Ripley said with a little smile as he sipped his whisky at last. “In exchange for my promising not to tear you apart limb by limb, he said he’d support you in your choices if it turned out you had married Nora.”

“Was—was tearing me apart an option?” Hugo asked with a little gulp.

Ripley chuckled. “I suppose it would have depended upon the condition we found Nora in.”

Hugo smiled, but it was weak and slightly terrified. Good. That was what Ripley intended. If he someday decided to betray Nora, at least he’d think twice about the consequences.

There was a light knock on the door and then it opened. Nora stepped in first, smiling at Hugo as both men came to their feet. Jane was behind her and Ripley frowned. She appeared drained, as if the weight of everything she’d gone through had finally come to bear.

“May we join you?” Nora asked.

Hugo held out a hand. “Of course, love.” As Jane stepped up next to Ripley, he smiled at them. “Why don’t you join us for supper and then spend the night here?”

Jane glanced at her sister. “Oh, that’s so kind, but we’ve descended upon you uninvited to begin with and I wouldn’t want to impose on you any further.”

“It’s far too late to return to London, Jane,” Nora said softly. “It’s no imposition. Please. I’ll have Colepepper get rooms ready for you and add two places to the table for supper.”

She gave a little bow of her head and then slipped away. Hugo smiled at Jane. “Would you like a drink, Miss Kendall?”

She nodded. When Hugo had stepped away, Ripley stared down into her face. “Did it go well?”

She shrugged rather than answered and when Hugo handed over her drink, she took half of it in a gulp. Ripley wanted to comfort her, but Nora returned then. Her smile was tight, but not as filled with tension and anger as it had been before she and Jane talked.

“It’s all being arranged,” Nora said. “Supper will be ready in half an hour. Until then, would you two like the tour of our home?”

“It’s falling apart, but we’re working on it,” Hugo said with a laugh.

“Yes, of course,” Jane said. “I’d love to see it.”

Hugo and Nora linked arms and guided them out. Ripley took Jane’s arm, as well, but as they were led from room to room, he could see, and more to the point, he could feel that she was just holding on. So all he could do was pour his strength into her and hope that it would be enough.

* * *

A fter the tense conversation between her and her sister, Jane was happily surprised that the supper was less so. As much as she doubted Granger, he was difficult not to like. He was friendly and amusing, and he clearly wanted to impress the two of them. Ripley because it was evident he was fascinated by his half-brother, and her because he wanted to make things easier for Nora.

Perhaps because of that, Nora also seemed happier. She was animated when she spoke of the house and their plans. She would fit into the world she had married into. It would be difficult, of course, but she was more of that world than Jane’s.

Besides, Jane had every intention of using her connection to her friends like Esme, Marianne and Clarissa to ensure Nora was welcomed at least by a few ladies of quality.

Now they were finishing up their main course of the supper, a fine lamb shank with roasted vegetables, and Jane finally asked the question she’d been dying to know. “How did you two meet then?”

Nora stiffened a little, as if she anticipated this was a way for Jane to oppose the match, but Granger had none of the same reaction. His face lit up and he reached to Nora’s hand where she sat at his right and squeezed.

“I was riding my horse past the school when he threw a shoe,” he explained. “So I climbed down, and I admit I was swearing a rather blue streak out of frustration, trying to get him situated when I heard this musical laughter coming from behind the fence.”

Nora relaxed a little and laughed that very musical laughter even then. “He was just so funny because he was apologizing to the horse for his language even as he swore, telling him he wasn’t to blame for any of it.”

“Well, to be fair, dear Vincent had done nothing wrong.”

“Your horse’s name is Vincent?” Ripley asked with a chuckle.

Hugo nodded. “I like human names on animals. My childhood dogs were Adam, Stephen and Bernard.”

“Oh, we should get a dog, Hugo!” Nora said. “I’ve always wanted a dog.”

Hugo looked at her with nothing less than utterly pleased indulgence. “Then a dog you shall have, my love. And you’ll name him or her.” He brought his attention back to Jane and Ripley. “Anyway, I looked up to see who was laughing at my situation and there was this angel, all haloed in sunlight. I was helplessly smitten.”

“From then on we would meet at the fence and talk,” Nora said. “I looked forward to those meetings all the time. I couldn’t wait to see him.”

Jane glanced at Ripley and found he was looking at her. She’d had the same experience with him, though her meetings were at far more unsavory places than a fence at a seminary for girls. But seeing him at the Donville Masquerade or at fights…those had been the highlight of her life for years. The thing that dragged her through the worst moments. She’d always taken a deep breath and reminded herself that at least she would see Ripley again.

“What about you two?” Hugo asked.

Ripley shifted as if he felt the discordance between the sweetness of Nora and Hugo’s story and the harder edges of his own with Jane.

“She came to a fight,” he said at last. “I saw her in the crowd and couldn’t take my eyes off her. I haven’t since.”

“Ah, love at first sight.” Hugo tipped a glass toward him with a wide, sweet smile. “Isn’t it grand?”

Ripley looked at her and beneath the table he covered her knee gently. “Yes. It is.”

Her cheeks heated as she looked at her plate. There he was, easily sharing the fact that he loved her. He never even hesitated even though she hadn’t given him any of that in return. Just like she had done with Nora, it seemed all she could do was hurt him by trying to protect him.

She cleared her throat as the empty plates were taken. What she wanted was to run away from all this. From the good and the bad, the guilt and the joy. But perhaps she’d been doing just that for too long. So she smiled and nodded as her sister suggested that they have drinks after supper, play cards together. Like this was just…normal.

Could this be normal?

She shook away the thought and watched as Hugo took Nora’s arm, the way she looked up at him with such love. And she saw the same expression on Ripley’s face as he reached for her.

“How did it go with her?” he asked softly.

She blinked, trying to quell the sting of tears. “Complicated. I caused her a great deal of harm in my attempt to keep her safe.”

He stiffened. “She must see why you did as you did.”

“I think she does on some level. Her exchanges with my mother made it clear what she was, what she is. But…but that doesn’t change that I abandoned her. That she was alone. Still, I think we have a chance to rebuild. Though perhaps it would be better if I stay away so I don’t taint her life as a gentleman’s wife.”

Ripley stopped in the hallway, ignoring that Hugo and Nora had disappeared into a parlor. He cupped Jane’s cheeks and tilted her face toward his gently. “She would be lucky to have you in her life.”

When she looked into his face, she could almost see herself through his eyes. Could almost believe him. She smiled.

“Do you know any card games that a gentleman might play with his lady wife?”

“None that aren’t slightly filthy,” Ripley said with a chuckle.

“Well, then I suppose they’ll teach us the rules,” she said, and turned her face into his hand to kiss one of his palms. “Let’s join them.”

And so they did, and indeed her sister and Ripley’s brother taught them to play. It was a good night, one she knew she’d treasure for a long time to come.

But it didn’t change that now she had to decide what her own future looked like. And if she was brave enough to fit Ripley into it.