Chapter Fifteen
A deline climbed back into the house and headed down the hallway to her mother’s wing. Louise sat in her habitual spot, an oversized stuffed chair by the fireplace, with her knitting in her lap. The older woman looked up as Adeline walked into her mother’s bedroom. “Hello, Miss Adeline. She is taking a lie-down in the bed after the shock this morning.” Louise tilted her head to the large bed at the other end of the room.
Adeline sighed. It was absolutely what she had expected. Whenever things became emotionally overwhelming, her mother, like a turtle, withdrew into her shell, or in this case into her canopied bed. At this moment, Adeline was inclined to agree with the strategy. She hitched up her skirts, climbed into the bed, and lay down beside her mother.
“Hello, dear.” Her mother slipped a hand in hers as they lay next to each other, staring at the sky-blue canopy.
“I know this morning was hard, but George will recover,” Adeline said.
“I don’t understand what happened. Has crime in the city gotten so out of hand? Your father was so upset, distraught even. I think maybe it is his fault.”
“Why would you say that?” Adeline asked, surprised that her mother had sensed the truth immediately.
“Your father has many faults. I am not blind to them. Perhaps staying home is the best course of action. I don’t want you to leave the house unless you go by carriage and are accompanied by your father. No more walking to your friends’ homes with only your maid.”
“Yes, Mother.” Adeline squeezed her hand.
This was the other part of her mother’s illness. This fear of leaving the house. As a child, Adeline had spent chunks of time relegated to the house when her mother felt it necessary. She knew now the best course of action was to agree; it wouldn’t do to upset her. Hopefully, this episode would pass quickly once things settled and George recovered.
They lay there quietly for a bit. Then her mother sighed. Her hand slipped from Adeline’s and she rolled onto her side to bury her face in the pillow.
Adeline sat up with a sigh of her own. “I will let you rest. Will you come down for supper later? I have rosemary chicken on the menu tonight.”
“No, I don’t think I will be feeling up to it. Perhaps tomorrow.”
“All right.” Adeline ran her hand over her mother’s hair and leaned over to kiss her cheek. She slid off the bed and crossed back to Louise. “See if you can rouse her for supper.”
“I will try my best, Miss Adeline. But it is hard to move her from that spot when she gets like this.”
Adeline nodded. “You always take good care of her, Louise.”
“And what about you, miss? Who is taking care of you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard from Mary that your father’s gone and given you to Lord Bellamy.”
“It’s true. Lucy and Violet will be so disappointed their matchmaking efforts were for naught.”
“What will you do?”
Adeline shook her head. “Nothing, Louise. I will marry Lord Bellamy. What choice do I have?”
Louise patted her arm. “Well, I’m sure he has a fine house, and he’ll let you bring all your books. Mayhap he will turn up his toes sooner than later and leave you a wealthy widow.” She cackled.
Adeline rolled her eyes at Louise’s absolute irreverence. She supposed that when you reached a certain age you just said what you pleased. Adeline’s lips twitched in an effort to hold back her own laughter. “A girl can hope.”
*
Her mother had not come down for supper that evening. Neither had her father, for that matter. Adeline ate her food alone, missing the company of her brother. His jaw was so bruised that he couldn’t chew anything. Adeline had the kitchen send up soup for him. After finishing supper, she’d checked on him, but he had already been asleep. Now she was back downstairs in her library, staring at the beautiful statue of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. She ran her finger gently down the delicate porcelain, wishing she could be free to go off into the world and find her own destiny.
She heard the front door open and slam shut. “Where is the damn servant?” her father’s voice echoed.
“Right here, your lordship,” Mr. Boone said.
“Finally. Take these.”
Adeline watched her father stride down the hall past the library. Where had he been all afternoon? Didn’t the fate of his family mean anything to him? Or was he off gambling at the club? Wasting money he didn’t have again? She stood and sucked in a deep breath. It was time for her father to look her in the eye and tell her himself that he had sold her to pay off his debts. Maybe his guilt would make him change his mind.
She paused outside his study. He stood in front of the bar cart, pouring himself a brandy from a large crystal decanter. She knocked on the doorjamb.
Her father swung around. “Adeline, what are you doing up?”
“I can’t stop worrying about George, about what happened.”
He took a long gulp from his drink. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your concern.”
Adeline stepped into the room, crossing the dark wood planks to stand before her father. “I think it is very much my concern when you have sold me to Lord Bellamy for the money to pay off those men.”
Her father visibly startled.
“Yes, I saw those men when they came to threaten you.” She clasped her hands together and gathered her courage. “I don’t want to marry him. You promised me until Christmas to find a husband.”
“There is nothing to be done. You saw what they did to your brother.” He walked over to the fireplace. Picking up one of the irons, he poked at the fire. “Bellamy gave me the money this afternoon. You have already been paid for.”
Her anger bubbled over. She had been prepared to marry Bellamy, she really had, but her father’s casual disregard for her future was one too many cuts to her heart. Fathers were supposed to protect their daughters, not use them as pawns to fix their own mistakes. She had never stood up to her father, ever, but this was about the rest of her life.
There had to be another way. “I won’t do it. You’ll have to pay him back another way.”
Her father swung back around, his eyes burning with ire. “You will marry him and be happy about it. You should be glad that I found someone willing to take you on.”
The words were like a slap in the face. “Take me on?”
“You haven’t attracted a single suitor in four years. You’re far too clever for a woman and quite plain. I feel lucky Bellamy is so taken with you.”
“And what I want is no factor? Tell me, Father, how much am I worth? What did he pay you?”
“Five thousand pounds,” her father replied with no compunction.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, you didn’t ask for enough. All three of those pieces are priceless. They belong in a museum, not an auction.”
His mouth opened and closed like a fish on land. “It was simply a portion of what we will make to tide me over until the auction happens. Besides, Bellamy will certainly continue to be generous once we are family.”
Adeline dropped her arms to her sides. The truth was her father didn’t care for her at all. “Did you even once think about me? Do you care at all how I feel about marrying a man three times my age?”
“Why would I think about how you feel?” His lips twisted into a sneer.
“Because I am your daughter?”
“And therein lies the problem. You are not my daughter.” His usual mask of indifference fell away to reveal such contempt that Adeline flinched. “What you are is a thorn in my side, a constant reminder of betrayal.”
“What do you mean?” she whispered.
He took another gulp of brandy. “Your mother had an affair. And worse, she wasn’t careful and ended up pregnant with you.”
His words pierced her chest like arrows. She wasn’t her father’s daughter. She was a product of an affair. “Does everyone know?”
“No.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Some maybe knew. No one would dare chastise a royal duke, but your mother received some shunning from certain parties. The duchess at the time had a lot of influence.”
Dear Lord, Adeline had had a black mark against her this whole time and hadn’t even known. Rumors and innuendo abounded in society. Had this been part of the reason she had never felt accepted? Did people know she was a bastard?
She laid a hand on her heart. “I can’t believe Mother would have an affair.”
“Well, Fredrick was a charming son of bitch,” her father said bitterly. He sat down in his leather chair. “We are done here. You will marry Lord Bellamy, and I will finally have you out of my house.”
Adeline stood staring at her father for a long moment, reeling from everything she had learned.
“Go to bed, Addy,” he snapped.
She stumbled back a few steps, then turned and raced out the door and down the corridor. She didn’t stop until she had reached her bedroom. Her maid, Mary, looked up from her stool, where she polished a pair of Adeline’s boots. “Ready to change for bed, miss?”
Adeline nodded woodenly and let her maid undress her. Once she was in her nightgown she climbed into her bed and buried her face in the pillow. Perhaps her mother had the right of it. All she wanted was to hide from the world. She pulled the covers over her head and cried fat, silent tears into her pillow.
*
The following day, she kept to her room. Mary brought her food up on a tray, but Adeline didn’t have an appetite. In the afternoon, she checked on George but again found him sleeping. She stared down at his face, mottled black and blue, and his swollen lip. He was lucky they hadn’t killed him. He rolled in his sleep onto his bandaged arm, groaning before returning to lying on his back.
Adeline brushed the hair off his forehead. He didn’t deserve to be harmed by their father’s mistakes. There wasn’t anything he would be able to do to stop Bellamy from coming for her. She swallowed the tears that threatened. She’d promised herself she would not cry anymore.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe Bellamy would mostly leave her alone with her books. It would be worth it to protect George and her mother from further harm and to get out from under her father’s roof. Her father might hate her… Adeline’s breath hitched in her chest. That part still hurt the most. The way he had looked at her last night with such derision like she was nothing more than a pebble in his shoe. But George loved her, and so did her mother, as much as she could muster anyway.
Adeline walked out of her brother’s room. Why had George asked Lord Kingsbury to watch over her? Why him? She barely knew the man. Well, except for the kissing. She sighed. Kissing him had been much more pleasurable than she had expected. Being in his embrace, the object of all his focus had been…addictive. She wanted more.
Yesterday, his concern had wrapped around her like a warm blanket. But it was dangerous—this wanting something she couldn’t have. She had no choice but to marry Lord Bellamy to save her family. Besides, flirting and kissing were probably second nature to Kingsbury. What could a man like him see in her? She didn’t even know who she was anymore.
Wallflower, bluestocking, good girl—these were descriptors she knew applied to her. She pressed on her eyes, but tears flooded them anyway. She had tried so hard to be good, to not be any trouble. Where had that gotten her? Ripping off her glasses, she wiped away tears that had splashed the lenses with her sleeve. Her father was never going to praise her; he didn’t even want her under his roof. She was a child of scandal, a product of an illicit affair. No wonder no one wanted her.
Later that evening, she read in her room. She had gotten ready for bed but was too keyed up to sleep. Laying her book on the side table, she tucked her feet under her in the tufted chair. She reached for her saucer and sipped the lemon ginger tea. Usually, her books could distract her from her thoughts, but there were so many overwhelming feelings swirling around in her head. Fear for her brother, anger at her father, this strange feeling of want low in her belly. Kingsbury had her foolishly wanting more of his attention, more of his kisses.
A soft rapping came from across the room, making her boggle her teacup. Another slightly louder rap rang out through the quiet. Adeline set down her tea and rose from her chair as the window across from her swung open. With a small shriek, she scrambled behind the chair.
“Don’t be scared, Adeline. It’s me, Kingsbury.” A long leg appeared over the sill, and then the entire man climbed into her bedroom.
“What in God’s name are you doing?”
He stood still with his hands behind his back and a wide grin on his face. “Kidnapping you.”
“What?” Adeline sputtered. “Why?”
“I have vowed to protect you. And if you won’t willingly let me take you to Millstone Manor, then I will kidnap you.”
“You certainly will not.”
He stalked over to her. The chair was still between them, but he reached out and cupped her jaw. “Adeline, you can’t marry Bellamy. Your brother agrees. He thinks you will be safer at Millstone Manor, where you can’t be forced into anything. I will make sure you stay safe. I promise. I don’t wish to see you harmed in any way.”
“But what about the men that my father owes money to?” Adeline paced away from his soft touch and kind concern for her. She had to think clearly. She must marry Bellamy.
“Adeline, paying off your father’s debts is not your job. Besides, he is in bigger trouble than you think with the stolen artifacts he has in his possession.”
She whipped around. “Stolen…artifacts? How do you know?”
He sighed. “Because my assignment here in London was to recover the missing pieces.”
Adeline let that sink in. The artifacts were stolen, as she feared. He had been investigating her family. His attention to her finally made sense. He wasn’t interested in her romantically. He had been pretending to get close to her family. She liked it when things made sense, so why did it hurt so much? “Is that why you renewed your acquaintance with George? Is that why you kissed me? Were you hoping I would confess?”
“No.” He moved toward her. “I kissed you because you asked me. I have thought of nothing else in the last two days.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Kingsbury’s mouth pursed into a thin line. “I don’t need you to believe me. But I need for you to come with me.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I will put you over my shoulder and take you. But wouldn’t it be better if you packed a few things to take on your journey? I could do it for you, but I don’t have a keen sense for what a lady might need.”
She stared at him openmouthed as she thought about him pawing through her shifts and hosiery and forgetting to bring her books. Wait, was she going with him? She chewed on her bottom lip. Did she have a choice? He’d said he would take her over his shoulder if she refused. Somehow, this calmed her. This was the escape she’d wished for.
What did that say about her loyalty to her family? Blast it all . George wanted her to go to Millstone and so she would. Her father deserved any trouble this would cause. It may not permanently solve her problem with Bellamy, but it would give her more time to figure out other options to free herself.
A knock sounded on the door. “Miss, are you still up? Do you need anything?”
Damnation! Adeline raised a finger to her lips to tell Kingsbury to be quiet. “My maid,” she whispered.
He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. She sent him another quelling look before she moved to the door.
Opening it a crack she peered out at Mary. “No, nothing is amiss. Just having trouble sleeping.”
“Let her in and help you pack your things,” Kingsbury called out.
Mary’s eyes went wide as saucers. Adeline gritted her teeth. She was going to murder that man. She opened the door farther and tugged her sputtering maid through the threshold. “Miss, what is a man doing in your bedroom?”
Adeline glared at the grinning Kingsbury. Then, she came up with the only excuse that made sense. The only way to keep Mary from telling this juicy piece of gossip to the entire staff. “We are eloping.”
Kingsbury’s smile widened. Blast him.
Mary gripped her hands. “Oh, miss, I’m so happy for you. Working for that Lord Bellamy would have been awful. I heard he treats his servants poorly.” She leaned in to whisper in Adeline’s ear, “Your gentleman here is very handsome. Who is he?”
“This is Lord Kingsbury.”
Her maid curtsied. “Please to meet you.”
“Please to meet you, Mary. Your discretion will be well rewarded.”
Mary turned back to Adeline. “Let’s get your trunk packed, miss.”
As Mary moved off to the wardrobe, Adeline glared at Kingsbury. “You wait outside. I need to get dressed.”
His hot gaze ran over her night shift, all the way down to her slippered feet, causing her to feel bare even through the thick flannel. Her cheeks heated, and that sense of light-headedness returned.
But he shook his head. “No, I don’t think I trust a girl as clever as you. I will turn my back. You have my word as a gentleman and naval officer; I won’t peek.” He crossed the room and turned to face the door.
She huffed loudly, more for his benefit. Strangely, she did trust him. Not that she would admit it to the man. He had been manipulating her from the start. She would need to be far savvier if she would be traveling with him. No more mooning over him.
Adeline hurried over to Mary. “I think I should wear the plum velvet. It’s warm and comfortable for traveling.”
“Yes, miss.” Mary quickly dressed her in the two-piece skirt and jacket, over top of a cotton blouse and a warm woolen petticoat.
Mary brushed and pulled her hair into a simple low bun while Adeline fretted about the artifacts and the scandal that would surely ruin her family’s name. Then she realized the answer was simple. If she took the pieces with her then her father couldn’t be implicated. There would be no proof that he ever had the pieces. Her heart ached at taking away their opportunity to make money on the sale, but it was for their own good. In fact, she was saving them from their own bad decisions.
She would figure out how to return the items anonymously. She glanced over at Kingsbury, who was still standing facing the door. Perhaps he would know how to return the items. Perhaps she might trust him after a bit of analysis.
Her lips twitched in amusement at his ramrod-straight posture. “You may turn around. Good boy.”
If she thought she might needle him with the last bit, she was dead wrong.
Kingsbury turned around and winked at her. “All set, then?”
Mary added the hairbrush and comb to her trunk and closed the lid with a snap of the brass clasps. “How will you sneak it out of here, miss?”
Kingsbury crossed to the window and gave a soft whistle like a warbling bird.
A couple minutes later, Lieutenant Trent’s handsome face popped up above the sill. “Good evening to you, Lady Amberley.”
Kingsbury passed the trunk to Trent who balanced it on one shoulder with his long arm wrapped around the lid. “Take that down, will you?”
“No problem, boss.” Then he disappeared down what Adeline assumed was a ladder propped against the house.
She went over to the window and peered out into the back garden. Past the wall, a carriage waited in the lane behind the house. She glanced back over her shoulder. “You really planned this all out?”
“I have the route plotted. We must travel a couple of hours tonight to get out of London. But then I think it safest to stop for the night and continue on in the morning. How long does it usually take to reach Millstone Manor?”
“It can be done in two days, but we often take three because my mother doesn’t like to be cooped up in the carriage for so many hours at a time.”
“Ready?”
“No.” She scrambled to think of an excuse to go downstairs. “I’ve realized I left my extra set of spectacles downstairs in the library. I must go get them. And perhaps a book or two for the journey.”
Kingsbury frowned, his eyes narrowed.
“I will go out the back door and meet you in the garden. I promise.” She made a cross over her heart.
He nodded, and disappeared out the window. Once he was gone, Adeline sucked in a deep breath. Was she actually allowing him to abscond with her into the night like in some Gothic novel? Don’t be a ninny and romanticize this. Once his task of delivering her to Millstone Manor was completed, he would head back to his job capturing smugglers at sea. She would hide the artifacts in Wiltshire and return to London to fix the mess her father had made.
For the first time in her life, Adeline had no idea what would happen next. It was exhilarating. She gave Mary a hug. “Thank you for your help. George knows about the trip, but Father and Mother do not. Most likely, no one will even notice I am gone for several days. Can you go see if the corridor is clear?”
“Yes, miss, leave it to me.”
After Mary exited, Adeline quickly grabbed two more chemises from her drawer. Clutching them to her chest, she followed. They made their way downstairs without seeing a soul. Adeline slipped into the library and grabbed her carpet bag. She quickly wrapped the gold crosses in the length of fine cotton and then opened the case that held the diadem. It was more delicate, and sent up a prayer that it would survive the journey as she carefully wrapped it in her other chemise.
Assessing the items on the table, she grabbed the statue of Artemis. Perhaps the goddess would keep her safe. Satisfied that they were hidden, she tucked them all in the bottom of the bag. Then she took the novel she was halfway through and two others, placing them in the bag next to the bundles. Finally, she crossed the room to snatch up her extra spectacles and slid them into a side pocket. She looked around at her space. Was there anything else? She grabbed her favorite wool shawl off the back of the chaise and stuffed it into the bag as well.
Then she blew out her taper. Leaving it behind, she headed to the back of the house. The cold air slapped her in the face when she slipped out the door. She glanced back at the dark windows. Was this the right decision? It didn’t matter; Kingsbury was kidnapping her, and despite the nerves that tangled in her belly, a small part of her danced with excitement. A new adventure awaited.