Bedford Street Brigade 02 - Love Unbidden (24 page)

Lorna woke up early the next morning and tiptoed down the stairs. She could smell baking, so she knew Mrs. Ramesdale was up, but she didn’t think anyone else was. She’d barely taken two steps toward the dining area when Roarke Livingston’s voice stopped her.

“You’re up mighty early,” he said, stepping into the foyer with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“It’s a bad habit of mine.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s bad.” He stepped to the side of the doorway and held out his arm to show her where to go.

She entered the dining area and noticed a small sideboard laden with several dishes of breakfast items, and two decanters.

“Coffee or tea?” he asked.

“Tea, please.” Lorna walked to the table and took a chair. “My father thought all industrious men rose early,” she said when she was seated. “I thought the same applied to women.”

“Ah,” he sighed in understanding.

He walked to the sideboard and poured her a cup of tea, then filled a plate with breakfast items, even though she hadn’t indicated what she wanted.

“Hugh said you were remarkably intelligent.” He placed the items in front of her.

Lorna paused. “Did he?”

“Yes. As well as possessing several other admirable traits.”

“And are you going to share what other traits he said I possess?”

Roarke shook his head. “I think I’ll let him tell you those. Perhaps he can pen them in a love poem.”

Lorna stopped with her cup midway to her mouth. “There will be no love poems, Mr. Livingston.”

“Roarke, please. Call me Roarke.”

“Yes,…Roarke. As I said, there will be no love poems, because the party writing the poem must consider himself in love in order for his verses to be called love poems.”

“And you don’t think Hugh is in love with you?”

“I not only think he is not in love with me, I know it.” Lorna picked up her fork and stabbed into a piece of ham. “I wish he hadn’t told everyone that we were going to marry.”

“Because you don’t think you are?”

“Of course not. I’m sure he explained my situation. He thinks marriage is the only recourse.”

“And you think there is another?”

“I’m not sure if there is or not. I only know I won’t let your friend sacrifice his future because of a misplaced sense of honor.”

“Whose honor is misplaced?” Hugh said from the doorway.

“Yours, my friend,” Roarke said on a chuckle. “The lady believes that your sense of honor is misplaced, but I was just about to explain that since you are in short supply of honor, it’s impossible for you to misplace it.”

“What have you misplaced, Roarke?” Cora asked as she and Mack entered the breakfast room.

“Nothing, Cora. I was just—”

“Are you finished eating?” Hugh interrupted Roarke before he could finish his sentence.

“Yes.”

“Good, then why don’t you go outside and make yourself useful? We should have guests in a few minutes.”

The smiled faded from Roarke’s face and he slid his chair back from the table. “You were followed?”

“There are two of them. They were outside my house when I woke. They followed me here.”

Roarke left the room and Cora and Mack went to the sideboard to fill their plates.

Lorna fought the waves of panic that washed over her, but no matter how many times she told herself she was safe, she didn’t feel like it. Until Hugh sat beside her and placed his hand over hers.

“Do you think it’s my cousin?” she asked.

Hugh nodded. “Probably. He’s no doubt had someone watching my house to inform him when I returned.”

“Don’t worry, Lorna,” Cora said when she sat at the table. “The brigadesmen are very good at their jobs. They’ll handle your cousin.”

Lorna tried to put on a brave front but it was difficult.

“Finish your breakfast before it gets cold,” Hugh said, eating the food on his plate.

Lorna tried to eat, but all she could think about was how angry her cousin would be when he arrived. She could do little more than shove the food around on her plate. Finally, Hugh finished eating, then sat back in his chair and took her hand in his.

“Be brave,” he said, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “You’re safe here.”

Before she could thank him for his thoughtfulness, the front door opened and booted footsteps thundered across the foyer and into the breakfast room.

Roarke entered first. “You have a guest, Lady Lorna. It’s your—”

“She knows damn good and well who I am.”

Lorna looked at her cousin as he stepped into the room. The anger in his eyes blazed with a fury as intense as she’d ever seen from him. His hands fisted at his sides indicated a rage he struggled to control.

She turned toward Hugh, but he was already on his feet, as was Mack.

Chillbrooke took a menacing step toward her. “So, you’ve finally returned. And after your twenty-first birthday.”

Lorna lifted her chin. “Yes, I’ve returned. And as you pointed out, after I reached my majority.”

“Do you think that you have outfoxed me?”

“I think that I have avoided marriage to Lord Burlingdon. Do you think I don’t know about your scheme to share my inheritance with Burlingdon?”

Lorna enjoyed seeing the look of surprise on her cousin’s face. “Yes, Randolph. I know about how you planned to get my inheritance, with Lord Burlingdon’s help, and how you planned my death to assure Burlingdon that he’ll be free to marry the woman he loves. With my wealth, of course.”

“You’re…delusional, Lorna. You’re overwrought with…with—”

“With what, cousin? With concern over escaping your plan to murder me?”

“Mind your tongue, my lady,” her cousin said. “Words like those only confirm that you are demented. I was the one who was so concerned with your safety that I sent Mr. Baxter to find you.”

“Only so I would be returne
d to you before I turned twenty-one.”

Chillbrooke lifted his gaze to Hugh. “I see she fooled you, too,” he said.

“No, it was the other way around. Only a fool could miss how determined she was to escape you. And how terrified she was of you.”

“It’s the money, isn’t it, Baxter. You discovered how much my cousin was worth and you want it. Or is it the fact that she’s titled and you want to elevate your standing by marrying into Society?”

“I think you’ve said enough,” Hugh said in a threatening tone Lorna had only heard him use once before—the time when he’d found her after she’d run away from him.

Chillbrook barked a hostile laugh. “You intend to marry her, don’t you? Three hundred thousand pounds is worth marrying a woman as unattractive as my cousin.”

Hugh bolted across the room with such force the chair nearest him crashed to the floor. He reached Chillbrook in two angry strides and grabbed him by his neatly-tied cravat, then slammed him against the nearest wall.

“Yes, I want her. And I intend to marry her. But I have asked her to be my wife because I love her. Do you hear me? I love her! An emotion you are incapable of feeling.”

Hugh slammed Chillbrooke against the wall again, then Roarke stepped in to intervene. “That’s enough, friend.”

H
ugh released Chillbrooke, and the man dropped to the floor. He staggered before he found his footing.

“Get him out of here before I do something I’ll regret.”

. . .

It had been two days since the scene with her cousin, and Lorna took a certain amount
of comfort in the hope that she’d never see him again. She also spent endless hours contemplating what she had to do to not only keep her inheritance safe, but to protect herself from her cousin’s plan to kill her.

There was only one answer.

It was the answer that Hugh had repeated again yesterday and the day before. An answer that was precisely what she desired, too. That was to marry. He was the only person on the face of the earth that she trusted enough with her wealth, and her heart.

She simply couldn’t believe that a man as
enthralling as Hugh Baxter could fall in love with someone as plain as she. But he had.

A bubble of happiness expanded inside her chest and she smiled to herself.

That bubble burst when Mack opened the door and announced that her cousin was here to see her.

“Lord Chillbrooke is here. He insists on seeing you alone, but I won’t allow it if you don’t want to see him.”

Lorna dreaded meeting with him, but knew he’d only return if she turned him away. “It’s all right. I’ll see him for a few minutes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Very good, but I’ll be right outside the door if you need me.”

“Thank you.”

Lorna breathed in a deep breath, then watched as her cousin’s menacing form darkened the doorway.

“Thank you for seeing me, Lorna,” he said, in a tone much more conciliatory than his words had been two days ago. He stepped into the room, then closed the door behind him.

“I prefer the door stay open,” she said.

Her cousin’s eyes narrowed. “I prefer what we say remains private between us.”

He walked toward her and the threatening look in his eyes gave her pause. But not as much as the murderous expression on his face.

Her heart beat faster, but she told herself she had nothing to fear. Mack was right outside the door. All she had to do was call and he would be here in an instant.

“Since this is not a social call, I’ll get right to the point,” he said when he took the available chair opposite her. “I’ve gone over the account books several times in the past few days, and come to the conclusion that it will be impossible for me to live on the meager income the estates bring in.”

Lorna’s temper bristled. “If you think I’m going to share—”

Her cousin smiled. “Oh, no. I have no intention of asking you to share your inheritance.” He stood. “I intend to have it all.”

Lorna rose. She glared at her cousin with a bravado she didn’t quite feel. “Get out.”

“Not so fast, my lady. I haven’t told you how I intend to get your inheritance.”

“You’ll never get your hands on one pound of what Father left me. Your plan to force me to marry Burlingdon failed. And everything else you try will fail, too.”

“Even if it means Mr. Baxter will die.”

Lorna’s heart skipped a beat. The malicious expression on her cousin’s face left no doubt as to his seriousness. “You are threatening to kill Hugh?”

The sneer on Chillbrook’s face left no doubt as to his seriousness. “Oh, it’s not a threat, dear cousin. It is a promise. The details have already been seen to. You are the only one who can alter the outcome.”

The knot in the pit of her stomach grew claws that gnawed at her insides. She tried to speak, but words wouldn’t come. Her legs didn’t have the strength to hold her body upright. She sank down on the chair behind her.

“In exactly four hours you will become Lady Burlingdon.”

“And how much longer before I meet with an unfortunate accident?”

Her cousin smiled down on her.

Lorna wanted to scratch his eyes out.

“Oh, you don’t have to fear that happening, my dear. Poor Burlingdon has lost his chance to marry his sweetheart. She is promised to another man. A person who has the wealth her Father demands.”

“So Burlingdon has agreed to marry me in exchange for a portion of my inheritance?”

“He demanded a larger share of the money for the inconvenience you caused him. But yes, he agreed to marry you. You have my word no harm will come to you. It only remains to be seen if you love Mr. Baxter enough to save him.”

Lorna clenched her hands in her lap and stared at the floor. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular. The tears in her eyes prevented her from seeing anything clearly enough.

“You have four hours, cousin. Burlingdon and the reverend will be waiting for you at Chillbrooke House. I thought you would prefer to be married in your childhood home.”

She heard the sound of her cousin as he moved across the room. “Four hours, my lady,” he said when he reached the door.

She lifted her head and glared at the man who’d just destroyed her life and her future. “If you harm one hair on Hugh’s head, I’ll kill you.”

Hugh returned to Mack and Cora’s later than he intended. There’d been many details that needed to be taken care of. Thankfully his father was in town and had promised to get a special license so he and Lorna could marry yet this afternoon. He wanted his father, the Earl of Winsome, and his brother, Viscount Avery, here when he married. For the first time in a long time, he’d thought of his mother and wished she was alive to meet Lorna and see them marry.

He’d also sent word to the other brigadesmen to join him. Although he wanted Lorna to meet the men in his close circle of friends, he also wanted her to meet their wives and know she would always have their friendship to rely on.

Hugh stepped up to Mack’s door, but it opened before he could knock.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Mack said, closing the door when he’d entered.

“Is Lorna all right?”

Hugh felt a niggling of concern, but told himself it was nothing serious. If something had happened, Mack would have sent for him.

“She’s fine—I think.”

“You think?”

“Chillbrooke was here.”

“When?”

“Several hours ago.”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to talk to Lorna.”

“And you let him?”

“Lorna insisted.”

“Did he harm her?”

Mack shook his head. “But she was visibly shaken when he left. I think they had words. I stood by the door, but couldn’t hear what they said.”

Hugh started for the morning room. “Where is she now?”

“In her room.”

Hugh turned and walked to the stairs.

“Cora tried to talk to her earlier, but she told her she needed to be by herself. She said she’d see her at dinner.”

The concern eating at him gnawed harder. It wasn’t like Lorna to go into hiding. The last time she’d wanted to be alone she’d—
Hugh raced up the stairs. The last time, she’d run away. The last time, he’d almost lost her. The last time—
He threw open her bedroom door without knocking. The room was empty.

He knew before looking that he wouldn’t find her there. Something had happened. Her cousin had told her something that made her run. But what? And why would she run away when she was safer here than anywhere.

Lorna wasn’t a fool. She was one of the most level-headed women he’d ever met. She wouldn’t have left here…unless she thought being here put someone else in danger. Cora? Mack? Him?

Hugh raced down the stairs. “She’s gone.”

Mack ran to his study and came back with a pistol. “What do you want to do?”

“I’m going after her.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“I’m going to try Chillbrooke House first. If Chillbrooke has her, he’s dead.”

“Wait, Hugh. I’ll go with you.”

“The rest of the brigadesmen are on their way. So are my father and my brother. Stay here until they come, then follow me.”

Hugh didn’t wait for Mack to answer, but ran out of the house and mounted his horse.

In the back of his mind, he knew why Chillbrooke had her. He knew Burlingdon would be there, too. He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

. . .

Lorna sat in an oversized chair in her father’s library and stared at the two men at the front of the room. Her cousin and Lord Burlingdon were discussing something in private. No doubt determining how long it would be before her money transferred over to her new husband.

Burlingdon said something her cousin didn’t approve of and there was a hostile bite in Chillbrooke’s answer.

Lorna doubted Burlingdon noticed. He was already drunk, and hadn’t stopped filling his glass since she’d arrived. Hopefully, he’d be too inebriated to come to her bed tonight. After what she and Hugh shared, she wasn’t sure she could allow another man to touch her.

They were waiting for the reverend to arrive and her cousin was getting angrier the longer they had to wait. He’d already sent out one of the staff to see where he was and bring him right away. Lorna couldn’t help but pray that there had been an emergency and the clergyman wouldn’t arrive to perform the ceremony. Not that that would prevent it from happening. Her cousin would just find another man of the cloth. And she’d have to agree to the wedding if she wanted Hugh to live.

“Where the hell is he?” Burlingdon bellowed. “Let’s get this farce over with so I can take my bride home.”

A chill raced down Lorna’s spine.

“He’ll be here any moment. But if you don’t stop drinking, you won’t be sober enough to say your vows.”

“Ha! I can’t afford to be sober. Liquor is the only thing that’s giving me the courage to marry your cousin. You’re not the one who’ll have to look at that face for the rest of your life, Chillbrooke. I am!”

“You’re being well paid for making the sacrifice. Not every man marries a wife who comes with a dowry of one-hundred-fifty-thousand pounds.”

Lorna tried to ignore their comments, but couldn’t. A little piece of her heart died inside her.

The door opened and the butler announced the arrival of Reverend Cunningham.

Her cousin wasted no time in showing the Reverend to the front of the room, then grabbing the glass from Burlingdon’s hands and shoving him where he needed to stand.

“Take your place, cousin,” Chillbrooke said, towering over her.

Lorna slowly lifted her chin. She didn’t want to evaluate her feelings for her cousin. The hatred she felt, along with disgust and revulsion weren’t emotions she was proud she let consume her.

“I want your promise in writing,” she said.

“What?”

“You heard me. I want your written promise that you won’t hurt Hugh if I marry Burlingdon.”

“That’s absurd!”

“It’s my demand! If you want me to say my vows, then you will give me your word that nothing will happen to Hugh. In writing!”

“This is ridiculous!”

Lorna stood. “Do it! I want your promise in writing!”

With an angry growl, Chillbrooke stormed to a writing desk and took a piece of paper and a pen, then wrote. When he finished, he returned to where she stood and shoved it at her.

She looked at it. Read his promise. Saw his signature. Then, took it to Reverend Cunningham and waited until he witnessed it.

“Are you satisfied?” her cousin said after she folded the paper and held it securely in her hand.

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Nothing would satisfy her other than escaping the nightmare her life had become.

Her legs trembled beneath her, but she forced herself to stand next to Burlingdon.

Her cousin barked an order for the clergyman to begin the ceremony, and Reverend Cunningham opened the book in his hands and began.

Lorna blocked out the words while her mind screamed for her not to repeat the vows. Not to allow Reverend Cunningham to reach the portion of the service where she would be required to promise to love and obey. How could she promise to love the Earl of Burlingdon? How could she promise to love anyone except Hugh?

But it was too late. The reverend said that she was to repeat after him.

“I, Lady Lorna Willis…”

She opened her mouth, but the words refused to come.

“My lady,” Reverend Cunningham whispered, “please. Repeat after me. I Lady Lorna Willis…”

Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them away. Crying wouldn’t help. Nothing would. If she wanted to make sure no harm came to Hugh, she didn’t have a choice.

“I Lady Willis,” she said in a pain-filled voice.

“Take thee—”

“No!”

There was a commotion at the front door, followed by a crashing sound, then Hugh burst into the room with a loud angry bellow.

“No! Lorna, come here!”

Lorna turned to run to Hugh, but her cousin gripped his fingers around her arm and pulled her back.

“You’re just in time, Mr. Baxter. My cousin was about to become the new Lady Burlingdon. Weren’t you, Lorna?”

Lorna looked at the violent expression on Hugh’s face. She knew he would do everything in his power to stop the wedding. She also knew she couldn’t allow it. She didn’t doubt her cousin’s threat to kill Hugh. Three hundred thousand pounds was too great an amount for someone as greedy as her cousin to let slip from his fingers. He’d kill Hugh to get it.

“Let her go, Chillbrooke,” Hugh demanded.

“I can release her, but she won’t go to you. She’ll marry Burlingdon because it’s what she wants to do. Isn’t it, Lorna?”

Her cousin gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed.

“Isn’t it, Lorna? Tell Mr. Baxter that you have no intention of marrying him.”

Lorna looked at Hugh. She would remember his powerful stance and determined expression for the rest of her life. Just as she would never forget the desperation she saw in his eyes. The love he felt for her, and the agonizing fear that he was going to lose her.

“Come here, Lorna. I won’t let him hurt you. You know that. I promised that I’d keep you safe.”

Hugh’s face swam before her eyes.

“Trust me to keep that promise, Lorna. Please.”

“I can’t,” she whispered.

Her heart was breaking. Her world was crashing down around her.

Before she could utter her final words of rejection, the room filled with a crowd of strangers. First to enter were five broad-shouldered men who formed a line on either side of Hugh. Mack Wallace was there, as was the other investigator she’d met, Roarke Livingston. The other three must be the men Hugh had called Jack, Briggs, and Quinn.

Two more men crowded in behind them. Lorna assumed these men were Hugh’s father and brother. Their dress indicated they were nobility, and Hugh’s resemblance to them both was undeniable.

“What’s the meaning of this?” her cousin bellowed. “I demand you leave my house immediately.”

Mack Wallace stepped forward. “I’m afraid we have no intention of leaving without Lady Lorna.”

Her cousin laughed, but the sound of his laughter held no humor. “Then by all means, have a seat. You’re just in time for her wedding. Lady Lorna is about to become Lady Burlingdon.”

Hugh took a step closer. “Lorna?”

The agonizing sound of that one word pained her as if gnawing fingers ripped at her heart.

“I can’t, Hugh. I…can’t.”

“There, you’ve heard it from the lady herself. Your scheme to elevate yourself beyond your station won’t work. Nor will your ruse to get your hands on my cousin’s inheritance.”

“My son doesn’t need to marry the late Lord Chillbrooke’s daughter to elevate himself. He is the son of an earl, and the grandson of a marquess.”

Chillbrooke’s face paled and his eyes blinked as if he just realized who his guests were. “Lord Winsome? I didn’t realize you were here.”
Chillbrooke stuttered. “D…Did you say son?”

“Yes, Chillbrooke. I said son. And I resent the accusations you made that impugn his character, as well as his motives for wanting to marry the Lady Lorna. As he explained to me, he loves Lady Lorna and intends to make her his wife.”

Winsome turned his attention to Burlingdon. “Unlike the esteemed Lord Burlingdon, who is swaying like a drunken sailor. In his current condition, my guess is that he is incapable of repeating his vows.”

“I assure you, my lord
, Lord Burlingdon is quite capable of getting married today, and that is exactly what will happen.”

Her cousin roughly pulled her back to him, then gave her arm a painful squeeze. “Now, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask all of you to leave. Lady Lorna has indicated her desire to be married.”

Hugh stepped forward. “No! Lorna, come here. Your cousin can’t make you do this. I don’t know what he’s holding over your head, but I’ll settle it. He can’t hurt you.”

“I haven’t threatened to hurt you, have I, cousin?”

Lorna fixed her gaze on Hugh, then shook her head. She loved him so much. More than she thought it was possible to love another human being. She would die if something happened to him.

Lorna slowly shook her head, then turned her back on Hugh. She had no choice if she wanted to keep him safe.

“No!” Hugh bellowed, then came up beside her and turned her toward him.

The paper in her hand fell to the floor and she bent to retrieve it. She couldn’t let him see what was written on it.

But Hugh was faster. He swiped the paper off the floor and unfolded it.

Lorna knew the exact moment he realized what Chillbrooke had done. Hugh pulled his arm back and swung it forward. His fist connected with Chillbrooke’s jaw with a force that dropped Chillbrooke to the floor.

Before Lorna could react, Hugh had her cocooned against him in a protective hold.

Hugh handed the paper that proved Chillbrooke was blackmailing her to Mack, then turned to her. “Don’t you ever frighten me so badly again, Lorna. I couldn’t have survived if I’d have arrived too late and you were already married.”

“I was so afraid. He said he’d put a price on your head if I didn’t marry Burlingdon. I couldn’t let anyone kill you.”