Page 36

B elinda had never seen Piers look so haggard as he did on arrival shortly after breakfast. He’d told her to put it down to a difficult journey up from Devon, and a bad night’s sleep, but she sensed something was terribly wrong.

She refused to let the issue pass, no matter how often he assured her that he’d deal with everything immediately—she had nothing to worry about.

“Piers, we agreed that we would share everything, that there would be no secrets between us from now on, no family skeletons or hidden guilt. I’m strong enough to take whatever the world is about to throw at us because I now have you at my side.

As a result of that, I’m far stronger than I ever was before.

Please, my love, give me credit for having matured and learned from my mistakes. ”

He opened his arms with a sigh and welcomed her into his embrace.

“How did I manage before I met you, beloved Belinda? My life was so full of shame and pretense that I was growing old before my time. Thank you for your faith in me, and your compliments. I will find a way out of our present difficulties, but I couldn’t wait another moment to see your smiling face again, or smell the lavender perfume of your hair. ”

His words warmed her to the tips of her toes. “Very poetic, Piers! I’m hugely honored to be spoken about in such terms. But you don’t need to play the romantic with me. If we have a problem, we must discuss it and face it together. Shake hands on it.”

He stared at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, then his mouth widened into a broad grin.

“I knew I did the right thing in coming to see you first, Belinda. You’re an absolute tonic.

Perhaps I can prevail upon your hospitality and take a little breakfast, and then I’ll acquaint you with the details. I trust you have already eaten?”

What an infuriating man he was, to be the bearer of bad news, and not to relieve himself of it immediately!

But perhaps it was for the best—maybe he needed to give himself thinking time to find the words he needed to use to break the news to her.

Perhaps it had something to do with his visit to Devon—were there difficulties regarding the sale of the mine, or was its value insufficient to set up a veterans’ hospital as he’d promised?

Or possibly there was some problem with his parents—had his father forbidden him to continue with the match?

Seen from any angle, it was a poor one for a former French aristocrat.

Oh, how she prayed it wasn’t some setback concerning the wedding! She couldn’t bear it.

These horrible thoughts trampled through her mind, crushing her joy as she watched Piers drink a little strong coffee, and consume a couple of pieces of dry toast. As soon as he was done, he pushed his chair back and strode to the window.

“There’s no easy way to say this, Belinda, but before I do, I swear that you will be my wife, whatever happens.”

She ought to be assured by his words, but a cold hand of fear clutched at her heart, threatening to squeeze it to pieces. Coming up behind him, she slid her arms around his waist and hugged him.

“I’ve received an ultimatum from Charlotte.”

“Oh! But then, I suppose you were expecting to hear something, weren’t you?”

“Yes, but I thought her response would be purely mercenary. Instead, it’s a threat. Blackmail, if you like.”

Poor Piers! What had he done to deserve this? If only she hadn’t blundered in that night when she hadn’t understood the situation!

“To be honest, Piers, she’s been extorting money from you for years, preying on your emotional attachment to the child. I’m so sorry that I interfered, that I stopped you from reasoning with her. I’m beginning to wonder if she’s the sort of person that can be reasoned with at all.”

Piers turned around in her grasp, and held her to him, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“You truly are my angel, Belinda. And I forgave you long ago for what you thought was a good deed. Anyway, the crux of the matter is that if I don’t renounce you, and marry her, she is going to leave the country and take Oliver with her.”

His stark words were a stab of cold steel in her stomach.

Everything she’d hoped for, everything they’d been working toward, was balanced on the edge of a precipice.

Was she going to have to let him go? Surely, she would never manage without him.

There could never be another Piers Darvill—she might as well give up any hope of a family of her own and resign herself to the position of maiden aunt she’d previously been so keen to avoid.

“It would break my heart if you were to do that.”

“It would break mine too, which is why I have no intention of doing so.”

She held him harder, her fingers gripping the fine wool of his jacket. “Oh, but you can’t lose your son because of me! Can you not track Charlotte down again, as you did before, and at least try to reason with her?”

“Regrettably not. She says she is already poised to flee across to the continent—she doesn’t say where, although we have to assume France is too dangerous.

She won’t go there, despite having assumed a French surname.

Ireland? Holland? I’ve no idea, and I don’t have the wherewithal to have every port watched.

There are plenty of fishermen and smugglers who would be prepared to take a woman and child across the sea for a price. ”

“So, if you can’t find her, how can you agree to her terms?”

Piers looked pained. “She’s already thought of that, damn her.

She’ll be looking out for an announcement in the Morning Chronicle disputing any claim that you and I are to be married.

I must say there has been a mistake, and that my future wife is Charlotte Lavoisier.

Only then will she come forward, by which time it’ll be too late.

I’ll be a laughingstock, although I can bear that.

I just don’t want you dragged down with me. ”

Belinda could hardly believe what she was hearing. How could she be so unlucky in love? She’d already lost one suitor and was about to lose a second. Even worse, the latter was the man who’d won both her mind and her body, treating her to bursts of ecstasy surpassing all imagining.

She blinked back a tear. This was no time for weakness.

“So, how did Charlotte find out about us?”

“From the publishing of the banns, I presume. Someone who knew about her previous relationship with me must have told her. It seems more people know about my private arrangements than I realized.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Piers, but neither do I want to be the agent of you losing your son—again.

But I won’t give you up without a fight.

You can use Tom Haggar—I won’t complain that you’re corrupting him—or Roland to help with finding Oliver.

I’ll talk to Caroline and see if there’s anybody at the Lyon’s Den who can help us. ”

“What if it’s somebody at the Lyon’s Den who’s in league with Charlotte?

Not the proprietor, of course—nor any of her staff—but there are poor players who often lose at the tables and like nothing better than to plot the downfall of their rivals.

” He shrugged his shoulders and gazed at her helplessly.

“I just don’t know, Belinda. But however it came about, we cannot change the fact that Charlotte knows about us and is determined to break us apart.

I’m so angry, I could renounce both her and the boy. ”

His body shook, and Belinda knew he’d never been more vulnerable than he was right now. They would think of something; they must. They had resources and connections, far more than a little-known actress who mostly played the provinces and was constantly on the move. Didn’t they?

Belinda became aware of the locket that Piers kept always in his breast pocket—a cold, uncomfortable lump beneath her cheek. Lifting her head, she sought his gaze.

“You’ve never shown me your picture of Oliver. Would it do any harm for me to see it now?”

“I suppose not. I’ve just about made up my mind to destroy it, to help me forget that there is a small part of me out there in the world over which I have no control, and to which I can show no love.”

Releasing him, Belinda pressed her hand over his chest and felt the rapid beat of his heart.

“You’ll do no such thing. It may take time, but there are ways and means by which such issues can be resolved. Who knows? There may come a time when Oliver wants to know who his father is and will make an effort to find you. We’ll have to make sure that you’re easily found.”

“Thank you for your optimism, Belinda. Here—take a look. This is my boy.”

Belinda took the locket in a hand that trembled and opened the precious object with great care.

She looked at the portrait of the little boy, a rather thin, pale-cheeked babe-in-arms, possibly less than a year old when the picture was painted.

Her jaw dropped, and she gave a little squeak of surprise, almost dropping the locket.

“Whatever’s wrong, Belinda?” Piers took the jewel from her and stared at the portrait.

“This child is not the boy I saw in St. Giles, the one Charlotte Lavoisier is calling your son. That boy couldn’t have been much more than four, whereas your son would be around six by now.

But even more significant is the fact that the boy I saw had blonde hair, whereas, in the painting, the hair poking out from underneath the baby’s cap is dark, as one might expect from a child of yours.

I’ve known children born blond to go dark as they get older, but not the other way around. Doesn’t this make you suspicious?”

Piers gripped the locket, his knuckles white. “But Tom told me the boy had dark hair. Although he said it usually looked as if it had just been washed because it was lank and wet.”

Belinda found she was able to breathe again. A weight had been lifted from her, although a mystery remained.

“I thought it was a bit odd when I saw the boy. He looked rather as if he had dyed dark hair that was coming out blond at the roots. Why do that to a little one unless you’re trying to conceal the fact that they have blond hair?

I’m sorry, Piers, but Charlotte has been pulling the wool over your eyes all these years.

The boy I saw could not have been yours.

Now, we are going to find her, somehow, and hold her to account. ”

They also needed to find out if the child in the portrait, who bore a slight resemblance to Piers, really existed, or was the picture of someone imaginary? There was another possibility, but she didn’t want to trouble Piers with it yet.

All the blood had drained from his face.

He gazed at the portrait in disbelief, then flipped it shut and looked as if he was about to hurl it across the room.

“I cannot believe that I’ve been taken for a fool!

I deserve to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and my head stuck up on Traitors’ Gate.

How could I let so simple a thing fool me for such a long time? ”

“You weren’t to know. One never expects a person to be so evil when one has no evil in oneself. And you were young at the time—she took advantage of you. I beg you—don’t blame yourself. The fault is all with her.”

Belinda stood on tiptoe and kissed him until his mouth softened and he returned her kiss. Then he held her away from him.

“I’m so sorry for all the confusion. Once I knew we could find happiness together, I thought everything would be simple. What a fool I was!”

“No more of such talk. We need no longer be manipulated by Charlotte—now, we can turn the tables on her. I said at the time, didn’t I, that the boy looked too young to be one that was born six or seven years ago? It looks as if I’m right.”

“But if a baby was born back then, and she didn’t lie to me entirely, what has happened to him?”

An exceedingly good question, and one which might have a painful answer.

The book could not be closed until they had all the information they needed, and she knew Piers would never rest if he still believed there might be a child of his out there in the world without his protection.

He’d move heaven and earth to find out. Frankly, she knew she’d do the same.

“How did Charlotte’s message reach you? Did it come by regular post or via messenger? If the latter, perhaps we can find and question him.”

“The letter came to me care of the Lyon’s Den. Come to think of it—”

Piers rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. “I’m not just a fool—I’m an idiot and an imbecile as well. I’d almost forgotten, but Mr. Starveling told me that Mrs. Dove-Lyon had the messenger followed.”

Grasping at this filament of hope, Belinda exclaimed, “Then that is where you must go. The Lyon’s Den may provide all the answers that we need.”

Piers held her tight, nuzzling against her hair. “You were absolutely right, my darling. You’re perfectly capable of facing up to adversity, and we’re even stronger as a pair than we are individually. Fetch your bonnet and pelisse—we’re going to beard the Lyon in its lair.”