Chapter 41
Evan, Joanna, and her housekeeper entered Blackwell Manor together, only to find that there were two guests already waiting for them in one of the drawing rooms.
Evan stared at the young lady, who only looked vaguely familiar, and the older gentleman, whom Evan recognized from the opera. He was the man who had upset the dowager duchess. The “old friend”.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Evan demanded, stepping forward. The young lady seemed to shrink in on herself, her gaze trained on the floor. If this were Lady Katherine, then he could not possibly marry her. He would not have a wife who was scared of him.
“Your Grace,” the man said with an oily smile. “It is so nice to finally meet you in person. I am Lord Oliver Preston, the Marquess of Somerton. And I believe you have met my daughter, Lady Katherine Preston.”
Somerton.
He knew that name.
His brow furrowed. “I had a footman who recently left my household. His brother was a stableboy in your manor, but was recently dismissed.”
Lady Katherine looked up at him with pained, wide eyes when he mentioned the stableboy, but the marquess simply laughed. The sound made Evan’s skin crawl. “Perhaps,” he said. “I do not pay a lot of attention to matters of my staff. I leave that for my steward to handle.”
There was something the man wasn’t telling him. Of that he was certain. He looked around the room, as if hoping to see his brother or grandmother hiding in the corners, but it was empty. “Where is my family?”
“Aside from your fiancé, right in front of you?”
The duke glared at the man, making it clear that he was not in the mood for games. “Where are my grandmother and brother?”
“Your grandmother is otherwise occupied. And I believe your steward had some work matters to tend to.”
Evan bristled. “Peter is my brother, not merely my steward. I suggest you remember that.” He hated it when people dismissed Peter as merely staff simply because he was adopted.
The marquess sneered. “With all due respect, I am not here to discuss semantics, Your Grace. I am here to finalize the details of your marriage to my daughter.”
Anger coursed through Evan’s veins, but he also knew this was his chance to find out what was going on.
However, there was no reason for Joanna to witness this. He wanted to keep her away from any unpleasant matters if he could. He turned to her. “Wait for me in the library,” he said. “This should not take long.”
She looked anxious, but relief flickered across her face. She was probably happy to leave this uncomfortable scene, and he didn’t blame her. She left, with Mrs. Lucas trailing behind her.
The duke turned back to the marquess. “I don’t know what my grandmother told you, but I did not approve that engagement to Lady Katherine. I am sorry for any misunderstanding, but I intend to marry Miss Thorne. Not your daughter.”
The older man glowered at him. “You will marry my daughter if you want to keep your grandmother out of prison.”
Evan frowned. “Out of jail? What possible reason would she have for getting thrown into prison?” The notion of his grandmother being in legal trouble was absurd.
“She never told you about what she did? Your grandmother is not the woman you think you know.”
“Care to enlighten me?” the duke said through clenched teeth.
The marquess smiled, seeming to revel in this moment, where he felt like he had the upper hand.
“Years ago, when your grandmother was a young woman, she had a suitor who was a tad more… aggressive than socially acceptable. She rejected him repeatedly. But he refused to give up. So he sought to force her into marriage by ruining her. He cornered her at a ball.”
Horror trickled down Evan’s back. He had no idea this had happened to her. She never gave any indication this had happened at all.
“Oh yes,” the older man said. “He would have been successful, too. He managed to get her skirts up while they were alone on the balcony together.”
“Don’t,” Evan said. He didn’t think he could bear to hear the details.
The marquess continued, as if he hadn’t even heard him.
“Martha was always a fighter, of course. You know I was half in love with her, back in the day, and it was only loyalty to my best friend—your grandfather—that kept me quiet. She pushed the man off of her, and that would have been the end of it if he hadn’t stumbled and lost his balance.
He fell off the second-floor balcony and broke his neck. ”
“I don’t believe you,” Evan said.
“Ask your grandmother, then. It does not matter to me if you believe the truth or not. When he fell, everyone attending the ball rushed out to see the body in the backyard. I was the only one who had seen what happened. I could have told them the truth. But instead, I lied. I said the man had been drunk and had fallen off the balcony by himself, and the matter was resolved. I decided to hold on to the truth and bide my time until that piece of information was needed. And this Season, I find that my daughter is in need of a husband.”
Evan looked at Lady Katherine, who was sitting in one of the armchairs, her arms wrapped around herself, looking distraught. “Why is it so urgent that she gets a husband?”
The Marquess’s lip curled in disgust. “Every father wants their daughter to marry quickly.”
“Few resort to blackmail. What aren’t you telling me?” He looked at Lady Katherine, whose head was bowed in shame as her arms covered her stomach, almost protectively.
Realization dawned on him and he looked up at the marquess. “She’s with child.”
“You have no proof,” he said, glaring at the duke. “I suggest you don’t slander my daughter that way.”
“It would explain the urgency of the situation,” he said slowly as he pieced it together. “My guess is the man isn’t a member of the ton or you would have harassed him into marrying her as soon as you found out.” He looked to the young lady. “Lady Katherine? Am I right?”
A single sob escaped her and she looked away. “Yes,” she said quietly.
“Shut up!” Lord Oliver shouted at her. “You’ve done enough damage.”
“Who’s the father?” Evan asked Katherine.
“Owen,” she whispered. She met his eyes for a brief moment before looking down, her cheeks reddening. “The stableboy.”
“Ah.” Suddenly it all made sense. He turned to the marquess.
“So you dismissed the stableboy and bribed his brother to reveal information on Joanna. Jimmy would have taken the bribe if it meant keeping his brother out of poverty while he found a new position. You are the one who fed that information about Joanna to the scandal sheets!”
“Yes,” the older man growled. “I needed to reveal that harlot to the ton to ensure you were available to marry my daughter. But it hardly matters now that you know. You will marry my daughter, or your grandmother will go to prison.”
Evan barely heard his grandmother’s footsteps as she entered the drawing room. She always has to make an entrance.
He turned to look at the dowager duchess, who looked at the marquess with squared shoulders and a determined look. “He will not be marrying your daughter, Oliver.”
The marquess frowned at her, as if unable to believe what he was hearing. “Has your memory left you in your advanced age, Martha? One word from me will send you to prison for the rest of your life! Even if it’s not prison, all the ton will know what you have done.”
“I did nothing wrong that day!” The dowager duchess said, marching up to him.
She glared at the man, refusing to cower beneath his withering gaze, and Evan felt himself relax as he looked at her.
This was the grandmother he knew and loved.
Not that strange woman who sent out a betrothal announcement behind his back.
She continued to speak. “All you saw was me protecting myself from a vile man who could not take no for an answer. I will not be ashamed of what happened anymore!” She turned to Evan, looking apologetic.
“I am so sorry. I never should have betrayed you or Miss Thorne. I should have told you the truth right away.”
“It’s all right,” Evan said. “We can talk about that later.”
She offered him a small smile before turning back to the marquess. “You are the one who should be ashamed, not only for how you treat your daughter, but for threatening a woman of my age!”
A small sob came from Lady Katherine, and they all turned to look at her as she wiped a tear from her face.
“I am so sorry, Your Grace,” she said, looking at Evan.
“I didn’t want to cause you or anyone else grief.
But I cannot marry you. I am in love with Owen.
I wanted to run away with him, but Father would not let me. ”
The marquess’s face turned an ugly red color with rage. “Shut your bloody mouth, you whore!” He raised his hand, and Katherine flinched back.
Evan put himself between Lady Katherine and her father.
He grabbed the older man’s hand, his nails digging into the man’s skin.
“You will stop this at once,” he said. His voice was quiet, but every word that came out of his mouth was laced with fury.
He could not remember a time he felt angrier than in this moment right now.
“You will not hit a lady in my presence, or I will call the constables. You had best remember that I am a duke and you are merely a marquess who is currently an unwelcome trespasser in my home. If I call the constables here, it will be you walking out in handcuffs, not the dowager duchess. You have threatened my family, and because of that, I will ruin you. Leave now.”
The man glared at him, but after a moment, he realized that Evan was dead serious. He nodded and averted his eyes downward. “Forgive me, Your Grace,” he murmured. He took a step away from the duke, pulling his arm out of Evan’s grasp at the same time. “Katherine, let’s go,” he said sharply.
The young lady hurried to her feet and scampered after her father, mumbling apologies to both the dowager duchess and Evan the entire time.
The two of them watched the father and daughter leave. His grandmother watched with a furrowed brow. “Do you think she will be all right?” she asked. “Oliver is not a forgiving man when he is angry, and Katherine has put him in a spot of trouble.”
“He put himself in trouble,” Evan growled. “He would have been better off letting Lady Katherine run away to Gretna Green with the stable boy than hurting you the way he did. But I’ll make sure she doesn’t suffer along with him.” He turned to her. “The better question is, are you all right?”
She nodded. “I am so sorry,” she said. “When he threatened me at the opera, I refused, because I saw how happy you were with Miss Thorne. But he persisted, and I got scared. I should have been truthful with you from the start instead of pressuring you into an unwanted marriage. And I hate that Miss Thorne got hurt as well.”
“So you approve of her after all?” Evan could not help but ask.
The dowager duchess smiled. “Approve of her? My dear boy, I would not care if you married the scullery maid as long as you were happy. Of course, I approve of her. She’s a wonderful young woman, and I know she will make you very happy.”
He smiled. “Good. I would hate to throw you out of the manor because you could not get along with my bride-to-be.”
Her eyes lit up. “Has she said yes, then?”
He nodded. “At least she came here today at my invitation. She’s in the library.”
Martha’s expression turned sad. “I must apologize to her. I hope she will be able to forgive me for all the trouble I have caused.”
He smiled at her. “I am sure she will be more than happy to forgive you once she listens to your story.”
His grandmother took Evan’s arm and the two of them walked together to the library, where Joanna was pacing around the room while her chaperone stood quietly at attention. She turned to look at Evan and then the dowager duchess. The anxiety was clear on her face.
Martha teared up at the sight of her, and she walked over and grabbed Joanna’s hands. “Oh, my dear. Could you ever forgive me?”
Joanna looked stunned. “Y-yes? Of course. Can you please tell me what happened?”
The three of them sat down at the table while a servant brought tea for all of them. The dowager duchess explained everything, starting from her defending herself from assault to Evan throwing Oliver Preston and Lady Katherine out of the manor.
By the time it was over, both the dowager duchess and Joanna had tears running down their faces. Evan drank his tea quietly to keep himself composed, even though part of him wished he had strangled the marquess with his bare hands.
“I am so sorry you went through that!” Joanna declared when the dowager duchess had finished her tale. “What a horrible man!”
“Do you forgive me?” Martha asked. “I never wanted you to get hurt, and I am so sorry that it happened.”
Joanna stood up and pulled the dowager duchess into a hug. “Of course I forgive you!”
The dowager duchess breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled apart from each other. “I think you would be an excellent match for Evan. And I know he loves you very much.”
Joanna turned to look at Evan with a smile that took his breath away. “I love him too, very much.”
He stood up and stepped forward. “Does this mean you will marry me?”
She nodded quickly. “Yes.” Her voice cracked, and he knew she was on the verge of tears again. “Yes, I will marry you.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her into an embrace. His lips crashed down on hers with the urgency of a starving man tasting food for the first time in years.
She belonged to him, and he could not wait to give her everything she could possibly dream about. He knew, as he kissed her, that he belonged to her just as much.
Somehow, this clever, strange woman had stolen his heart away, even though most of London thought he never had one to begin with. And he would not have it any other way.
They kissed until the dowager duchess cleared her throat loudly to announce that she was still in the room. Joanna pulled away, blushing furiously and giggling as she looked at the older woman with an apologetic expression.
But Evan could not take his eyes off Miss Thorne—his fiancée. “I love you,” he whispered to her.
She looked up at him with a shy smile. “I love you too, Evan.”
With those words, he felt like he had died and gone to heaven. Because as far as he was concerned, Joanna was no less than an angel.