CHAPTER 15 #3
“I strongly urge you to be careful.” Gabriel's voice had gone deadly soft, the kind of quiet that preceded violence.
"Very careful about how you finish that sentence, Lord Ashworth, because I may be scarred and supposedly mad, but I'm still capable of defending the honor of the woman I love, and I'd hate for your son to have to explain to Oxford why his father returned from a social call with a broken jaw. "
“I dare say, are you issuing a threat against my person?”
"I'm promising you that if you say one more word disparaging Miss Whitfield, you'll discover exactly how much violence I met up against on the battlefield before this scar ended my military career."
The younger Ashworth, who had been silent until now, suddenly stood.
"Perhaps we should all take a moment to calm down before this escalates into something everyone will regret," he suggested, his voice remarkably steady for someone so young.
“It is plain there is much heat and agitation here, and to act upon such a swell of passion is to invite disaster.”
"Listen to your son, Ashworth," Gabriel said, not taking his eyes off the older man. "He seems to have inherited the intelligence that skipped your generation."
"How dare you…"
"I dare because this is my house, and you're here uninvited, attempting to arrange my life without my consent while insulting the woman I love, so I'd say I'm being remarkably restrained given the circumstances."
Clara finally found her voice, though what she really wanted was to flee the room and possibly the country. "Your Grace, perhaps I should withdraw and allow you to continue this discussion with your family in private."
"You're not going anywhere," Gabriel said, catching her arm as she moved to leave. "If they want to discuss my future, they can do it with you present, since you're the only future I'm interested in having."
"That's not possible and you are fully aware of it.” Lady Agatha said, her composure finally cracking to reveal genuine anger beneath. "She's nobody, Gabriel. A physician's daughter who's fallen into service, with no dowry, no connections, nothing that would benefit the estate or your position."
"She's everything," Gabriel countered, his grip on Clara's arm tightening as if he was afraid she might disappear.
"She's intelligent, brave, kind despite having every reason to be bitter, and she's the only person who's ever looked at my scars and seen the man beneath them rather than the damage itself. "
"That's very poetic, but poetry doesn't run estates or produce heirs of appropriate lineage," Lord Ashworth said, apparently having recovered from Gabriel's threat enough to continue his objections.
"Appropriate lineage? Are we breeding horses or discussing human beings?" Gabriel's laugh was bitter. "Though I suppose to you there's little difference, your daughter is just another asset to be traded for advantage, am I not correct?”
"That's enough," Lady Ashworth stood, her dignity offended. "Penelope, we're leaving. This conversation has become entirely inappropriate."
"Has it, though?" Penelope asked, not moving from her seat. "“Or has the truth, at long last, been rendered plain? Because I'd rather hear the truth about how we're all being manipulated than continue pretending this is about anything other than money and social position."
"Penelope Marie Ashworth, you will come with us this instant," her father commanded, but his daughter lifted her chin defiantly.
"No, I don't think I will. My curiosity is piqued, and I am resolved to wait and observe how this shall befall, because watching His Grace fight for love is far more interesting than being dragged to another assembly where you'll parade me before eligible men like a prize mare at an auction."
"You see?" Lady Agatha gestured dramatically. "This is what comes of allowing inappropriate attachments, chaos, rebellion, the complete breakdown of proper behavior."
"Proper behavior," Clara finally spoke, her own composure cracking under the weight of the situation.
"You mean the kind of proper behavior that involves threatening someone's employment and future if they don't disappear quietly?
Or perhaps the kind that involves bringing an innocent young woman to be sacrificed on the altar of dynastic ambition? That sort of proper behavior?"
"How dare you address me in such a manner…"
"I dare because I have nothing left to lose, my lady.
You've already made it clear that you'll destroy any chance I have at respectable employment if I don't leave, Lord Ashworth has all but called me a fortune-hunting light skirted woman, and the man I love is being forced to choose between his feelings and his entire life, so you'll forgive me if I've run out of patience for the niceties of propriety. "
Gabriel pulled her closer, positioning himself between her and his aunt. "She's right, you know. You've all become so obsessed with propriety and position that you've forgotten what actually matters, happiness, genuine connection, love that transcends artificial boundaries."
"Love," Lady Agatha scoffed. "You think love conquers all? You believe it will pay for estate repairs, satisfy creditors, maintain your position in society? You're more naive than I thought if you believe romantic nonsense will sustain you through reality."
"I think love is the only thing that makes reality bearable," Gabriel replied.
"I've seen what a life without it looks like I've been living it for three years, existing rather than living, going through the motions of duty while dead inside, and I refuse to go back to that emptiness just to satisfy your version of appropriate behavior. "
"Then you're choosing her over everything? Over your family, your position, your entire future?" Lady Agatha's voice had gone cold as winter.
"I'm choosing happiness over misery, love over duty, a life worth living over mere existence, and if that means losing everything else, then so be it."
"Then you've made your choice," Lady Agatha said, pulling herself up to her full height.
"Lord Ashworth, I believe we should discuss the legal ramifications of His Grace's obvious mental incapacity, as evidenced by his irrational attachment to an entirely unsuitable woman and his willingness to destroy his family's legacy for a temporary passion. "
"You wouldn't," Gabriel said, though Clara could feel the tension in his body.
"I would and I will. If you insist on this destructive path, I'll have no choice but to petition the courts to have you declared incompetent and place the estate under conservatorship until you come to your senses."
"On what grounds?"
“The grounds are assuredly your utter want of discretion in abandoning three centuries of family distinction for a female whose appearance at your door was shrouded in mystery.
She is purely an adventuress who has manipulated your affections for her own advantage, and possesses no legitimate claim upon your attention beyond the mere carnal infatuation she has so artfully employed to overthrow your better judgement.”
Clara felt Gabriel's body coil with barely suppressed violence, and she placed a restraining hand on his chest. "Don't. She's trying to provoke you into doing something that will support her case."
"Listen to her, Gabriel," Lady Agatha said with a cold smile. "At least she has enough sense to recognise when she's destroyed someone's life, though I doubt she has enough conscience to care."
That was too much. Clara stepped forward, shaking off Gabriel's protective hold.
"You're right, Lady Agatha. I am nobody.
I have no family of consequence, no fortune, no connections that matter in your world.
But I do have something you'll never have, the genuine love of a man who sees through all the artifice and pretense to what actually matters.
And that terrifies you, doesn't it? The idea that love might actually be more important than lineage that happiness might matter more than propriety that your nephew might choose his own path rather than the one you've laid out for him. "
"You …."
"I'm not finished," Clara interrupted, her voice steady despite the trembling in her hands.
"You can threaten me, ruin my prospects, ensure I never find decent employment again, and I'll survive it because I've survived worse.
But what you're doing to him…trying to force him into a life he doesn't want with someone he doesn't love…
that's the real cruelty. He went to war for duty, came back scarred and broken, and instead of letting him heal and find happiness, you want to break him further by chaining him to your expectations.
That's not love or family concern…that's control, pure and simple. "
"You have no right to speak of family…"
"I have every right to speak of love, which is what family should be based on, not manipulation and threats and the kind of emotional blackmail you're attempting."
Lady Agatha turned to Gabriel. “Do you now comprehend the extent to which she has led your morals astray?
The Clara Whitfield you investigated didn't exist except in the reports of people who saw what they expected to see a physician's daughter who knew her place," Gabriel said, moving to stand beside Clara, their shoulders touching in a way that felt like a declaration.
"The real Clara has always been this protective, unwilling to accept injustice simply because it comes wrapped in silk and social standing. "
"Investigated?" Clara turned to look at Lady Agatha. "You investigated me?"