Chapter 28
It was a celebratory mood when Rupert arrived at the Ashfords’ townhouse. He was still in shock, his thoughts still back in the office where he had learned of his uncle’s betrayal, and it was difficult, when he first stepped into the house, to understand what was happening.
People were laughing, the sound drifting toward him from the parlor. Champagne flutes were clinking. There was even the sound of singing.
And when the butler announced him, he entered a room where people were flushed, giddy, and even attempting to dance in the middle of the room.
They all looked around when he entered, and Rupert registered Theodore, Miss Carlton, Nathaniel, and a woman he did not know, who was older than the rest of them.
Beatrice, however, was not there.
“Your Grace!” Theodore cried, the moment Rupert pushed open the door. “How lovely to see you here! You arrived just in time.”
Rupert blinked in surprise at the friendly tone of Theodore’s voice. The man was also… smiling. Very widely. As if Rupert’s presence gave him genuine delight.
Rupert smiled back cautiously. “Just in time?” he repeated. “For what?”
“For the celebration of our engagement!” Theodore said, raising his champagne glass high and putting a hand on Miss Carlton’s arm, pulling her closer to him. She laughed, her cheeks very red and her eyes sparkling, although she did seem a little confused and curious as she gazed at Rupert.
“Your engagement!” Rupert blinked at him in astonishment.
He had observed a particular affection between Theodore and Miss Carlton, but he had not thought that it had progressed into an engagement and marriage.
Theodore, in his experience, moved extremely slowly, was cautious to a fault, and very uptight.
But right now, he did not seem uptight at all.
He was pink from the champagne, he could not stop smiling, and every time he looked at Miss Carlton, it was with such a sincerity of happiness and love that Rupert’s heart couldn’t help but ache.
That is how I want to look at Beatrice.
The thought startled him. He was trying not to let himself feel anything like that. Not when he was trying to prepare himself to let her go.
“You must have a glass of champagne with us!” Theodore said, grabbing the bottle and a glass off of the tea table and pouring with bravado.
Handing the glass of wine to Rupert, he clapped him on the back.
“Do not look so grim, St. James. There is every reason to celebrate today. We do not know what troubles life will bring us, which is why we must find joy when we can. Especially when we are among friends.”
“Friends?” Rupert raised his eyebrows. “Are we friends now, Ashford?”
Theodore laughed. “After what we have been through, I rather think we ought to be. And my sister, well… she thinks the world of you, St. James. And I want her to be happy, as happy as I am right now.”
She thinks the world of you.
Despite the fact he had just taken a sip of champagne, Rupert’s mouth felt very dry.
“I think the world of her,” he murmured. “Who could not? She is adventurous, brave, and intelligent. She is who I aspire to be, if I am being honest.”
Theodore frowned slightly, but it did not seem to be in anger.
He was gazing away across the room, as if lost in thought.
“Yes,” he said at last. “She is who I aspire to be as well. I should tell her that more often. I believe it is only thanks to her encouragement that I found the courage to tell Miss Carlton of my feelings. We should all aspire to be as courageous and headstrong as my sister.” He shook his head and laughed again.
“God knows I shall probably regret saying that in the morning.”
Rupert laughed and took another sip of champagne. A warm feeling was spreading through him that he knew had nothing to do with the wine. Theodore was being kind to him for the first time ever. And when he was relaxed like this, and happy, he was even pleasant to be around.
I would not mind having him as a brother-in-law, after all, he thought vaguely. It was only once the thought had moved through him that he registered what it meant.
He was truly thinking of Theodore as a brother-in-law.
Not as someone whose sister he was pretending to court. Not as an old schoolmate whom he was helping out. Not as someone he resented for keeping him from Beatrice.
But as his future brother-in-law.
When had he stopped thinking of his engagement to Beatrice as fake?
He closed his eyes for a moment, and the memory of her face the previous day swam in front of his vision, how she had looked sitting with him in the library, telling him in no uncertain terms that she would help him get to the bottom of the mystery around his title.
She was fearless. Not just fearless, but loyal. Kind. Caring. And he wanted to share his burdens with her. To feel her make everything better simply by being present.
That was why he had gone there. In the end, he hadn’t needed her help to get to the bottom of the mystery of his title, but he did want to share what had happened with her. Immediately. To feel her support and comfort but also to make sure she was safe.
His uncle, he was realizing with horror, was capable of anything.
He opened his eyes again. At once, he saw that Miss Carlton was watching him. Her brow was furrowed, the earlier giddy smile gone.
“Where is Beatrice?” he asked, and her frown deepened.
“What do you mean?” She asked. “Did she not come with you?”
“Why would she have come with me? I came here to speak with her.”
“But…” Miss Carlton looked between him and her fiancé, who was only just beginning to register what they were saying. “She left an hour ago to see you. There was a note. You summoned her.”
“What is going on?” Theodore interrupted, all the joy draining out of his face at once. “Did not Beatrice go to pick up a dress from her modiste an hour ago?”
Vivienne hesitated, then hung her head. “No, dearest,” she murmured.
“Beatrice went to go see the duke. He sent a note asking her to come see him about everything that has been going on. She asked me not to tell anyone, but she dropped the note on her way out. When I saw the duke here, I assumed she had come with him, that she was right behind him.”
“What note?” Rupert asked loudly, his heart beginning to hammer. “I did not send a note! I just came from my solicitor’s office to speak to Beatrice. I thought she would be here.”
The room had gone quiet now. Everyone was staring at Rupert. He had raised his voice, but he was not sorry. Fear was beginning to burn through him. Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding… Perhaps there was no reason to be alarmed.
But after everything he had learned about his uncle, and after what Reginald had attempted in the last few weeks, he was on high alert.
“The note… it is here.” Miss Carlton reached into her reticule and drew out a piece of paper. She handed it to Rupert, who read it quickly, his heart sinking with every word.
With shaking hands, he looked up at Miss Carlton. “I did not write this,” he said.
“Let me read it,” Theodore said at once, and Rupert handed it over, his fingers numb. Theodore read it with wide eyes, then covered his mouth with his hand. His eyes found Rupert’s.
“If you did not write this,” he muttered, “then who did? And what does it mean?”
“It means,” Rupert said slowly, “that your sister’s life is in danger.”
The reaction was immediate and extreme. Miss Carlton gasped, the older woman Rupert didn’t know covered her mouth and let out a wail, Theodore went very pale, and Nathaniel leapt to his feet, his hands balling into fists.
“What are you talking about?” Theodore asked swiftly, and Rupert explained, as quickly as he could, what he had discovered about his uncle.
“He is after my title, and he will stop at nothing to get it,” he said, when he had finished. His body felt very cold. “Even harming Beatrice.”
Theodore drew himself up. “Then we must go and rescue her. Now.”
“We must call the magistrate as well,” Rupert said, thinking quickly.
“So far, there has been no hard evidence tying my uncle to the attempts on my life and the forged letter about my lineage. We must not let that happen again. We must catch him and lock him away for good before he can hurt anyone else.”
“If he harms Beatrice then I will kill him,” Theodore snarled.
Rupert let out a cold, mirthless laugh. “That will not be necessary,” he said. “As I will already have torn him limb from limb.”
Theodore’s eyes met his then, and a current of understanding passed between them. For the first time, Rupert felt as if he and Theodore finally understood one another, and it was not brought on by a glass of champagne or a temporary joy at having gotten engaged.
They were bonded now. Bound together by their love for Beatrice. And Rupert knew, with an instinct he could not have explained, that Theodore would never again stand in the way of their marriage, if that was what he wanted.
And he did want it.
He knew it now with such a need that it almost brought him to his knees.
Her life was in danger, and she might die not knowing how he felt, not knowing that she was loved with every fiber of his being, that he thought she was the most perfect, beautiful, wild, and incredible creature that had ever been born on this earth.
If she died without knowing that, if she was harmed in any way before he could tell her how he felt, he would regret it all his days. Because a woman like that deserved to know how loved she was, and deserved to be married, without hesitation, and honored and adored for all her days.
“We have to go,” he gasped, his feelings overwhelming him. “Right now. To the address listed on the bottom of the letter.”
Before he could move, however, the door to the parlor opened, and a footman came in carrying a tray with a letter on it.
“It is for the duke,” the footman said, holding the tray out to Rupert, who ripped the letter open and stared down at the words, rage making it difficult to see straight.