The Duke's Cinderella Bride (19 page)

‘Who else accuses me?’ she demanded angrily.

‘Miss Olivia Sulby—’

He was interrupted by Jane’s dismissive snort. ‘She is of the same mould as her mother, and her opinion does not count.’

‘In that you are wrong,’ Hawk told her impatiently. ‘I can assure you that Olivia Sulby’s testament against you is as valid as any other. And Olivia Sulby claims that on the day prior to your sudden flight she remembers accompanying her mother to her bedchamber, and that both of them chanced upon you there, in possession of Lady Sulby’s jewellery box.’

Jane thought back to that day a week ago. It was the day the guests had been arriving for Lady Sulby’s house party. The day Hawk himself had arrived…

She remembered going upstairs to collect Lady Sulby’s shawl and noticing the jewellery box had been left out on the dressing table before being totally distracted by the arrival of the magnificent black coach bearing the Duke of Stourbridge.

Then there had been that momentous first meeting with the Duke on the stairs, followed by Lady Sulby’s scathing comment that Jane had brought her the wrong shawl and she was to return to her bedchamber at once and collect the correct one—and Jane’s own embarrassment when she had returned up the stairs and realised that the Duke had stood on the gallery above as silent witness to the whole exchange.

Jane also remembered Lady Sulby’s reaction when she had burst into the bedroom a short time later, Olivia behind her, and found Jane loitering in the room, the jewellery box still sitting on the dressing table.

Jane recalled how bewildered she had felt—how Olivia had looked at her with such triumphant satisfac
tion when the older woman had questioned Jane accusingly as to whether or not she had looked at the contents of her jewellery box.

But the following day Jane had learnt the reason for Lady Sulby’s sharpness when the other woman had acknowledged that she had hidden there the letters Jane’s mother had written to her married lover…

And now Hawk-the man who had made love to Jane so intimately the evening before—chose to believe the word of the two vindictive Sulby women over her own…

‘Jane, I cannot even attempt to help you if you will not be honest with me,’ he reasoned frustratedly.

Jane drew herself up proudly, determined not to show how hurt she was by his lack of faith in her complete innocence in this matter. ‘I do not remember asking for your help, Your Grace.’

‘You prefer to be arrested and imprisoned?’ Hawk could barely contain the anger he felt at her stubborn refusal to confide in him.

Her mouth twisted scathingly. ‘For something I did not do?’

Hawk was a local magistrate. He knew far better than Jane how the law worked. And with two such credible witnesses against her as Lady Sulby and her daughter, coupled with her own sudden flight from Markham Park, Jane would be found guilty before the case was even presented in a court of law.

He stepped forward to grasp her shoulders impatiently and shake her into looking up at him. ‘Can you not see, Jane, that it will not matter whether or not you are guilty of the crime?’

‘Of course it will matter!’ she assured him fiercely,
the glitter in her eyes not just from anger now, but also unshed tears. ‘I know nothing of the theft of Lady Sulby’s jewellery.
Nothing!’
she repeated vehemently. ‘I do know that Lady Sulby hates me, as she hated my mother before me—’

‘Your mother, Jane?’ Hawk probed softly, when she broke off abruptly. ‘Did you not tell me that your mother died when you were born?’

‘She did. But—’ Jane broke off again as she realised she had been about to tell more than she wanted him to know. Bad enough that he believed her to be a thief and a liar, without adding illegitimacy to that list of sins. ‘Lady Sulby was acquainted with my mother.’ Jane chose her words carefully. ‘She told me she did not like her—that she did not approve at all when Sir Barnaby accepted guardianship of Janette’s daughter.’ Jane paled as a sudden thought—truth?—hit her with the force of a blow.

Her mother’s letters to her lover confirmed Lady Sulby’s claim that he had been a married man.

Twenty-three years ago Sir Barnaby had already been married to Lady Sulby for two years. Lady Sulby hated and despised Jane, she had told her, as she had hated and despised her mother before her.

Could it be that it was
Sir Barnaby
who had been Janette’s lover twenty-three years ago? That Jane was
his
illegitimate daughter?

It would explain so many things if that were the case—most of all Jane being left to the guardianship of a man she had never even heard her adopted father mention, let alone one whom Jane had actually met before he and Lady Sulby had come to collect her from Somerset on that desolate day twelve years ago.

Could it be that Jane’s mad flight to find her real father had been completely unnecessary? That she had been living under his guardianship all along…?

It was difficult to imagine the rotund Sir Barnaby as the dashingly handsome lover who had swept her mother off her feet all those years ago, whom her mother had so described in her letters when she had expressed the hope that her unborn child would resemble him. But Sir Barnaby could have—must have—looked far different twenty-three years ago…

‘Jane…?’

She blinked dazedly as she focused on Hawk. On the condemning Duke of Stourbridge. ‘I will leave Mulberry Hall immediately.’

‘No, Jane, you will not!’ Hawk cut in forcefully, having been angered seconds ago at Jane’s sudden distraction of thought. What could possibly be more urgent for her to contemplate than the dire situation she found herself in?

And, no matter how Jane might choose to dismiss the whole incident, it
was
dire. An accusation of theft had been made against her, her arrest ordered, and mere claims of innocence on Jane’s part would not suffice to cancel that order.

But as the powerful Duke of Stourbridge Hawk did have some influence. ‘I am willing to help you, Jane—’

‘As I said before, I do not remember asking for your help, Your Grace,’ she cut in coldly.

Hawk looked down at her searchingly. Did Jane really not see how precarious her position was?

‘Neither do I ask for it now, Your Grace,’ she continued haughtily as she attempted to shake off his hold on
her shoulders. ‘Release me, sir,’ she ordered coldly when she was unsuccessful in that attempt.

He shook his head impatiently. ‘Jane, if you leave Mulberry Hall without my protection you will be exposed to immediate arrest and imprisonment.’

She gave him a pitying look. ‘I am willing to take my chances.’

Even the thought of Jane exposed to the harshness of a prison cell, to the cold and the rats and the untender mercies of the turnkey, was enough to make Hawk shudder.

She would rather suffer all that than accept his help…?

His hands dropped from her shoulders before he stepped back. ‘Then you are a fool, Jane!’ he assured her harshly.

Her eyes glittered challengingly. ‘I would rather be thought a fool than live any longer under the protection of the Duke of Stourbridge!’

Hawk flinched as if Jane had physically struck him. Was that really how she felt? Did Jane despise him—hate him so much after what had occurred between them yesterday evening that she was willing to suffer imprisonment rather than accept his help?

The defiant expression on her face, the scorn directed towards him that she made no effort to hide, was answer enough…

He drew in a ragged breath before speaking again. ‘Jane, I advise you to put aside your feelings of enmity towards me and instead concentrate on the matter at hand.’ His expression was grim. ‘I can intercede for you with Sir Barnaby. I have found him to be a kind and reasonable man, and I am sure—’

‘No!’ Jane cut forcefully across the Duke’s reasoning speech. ‘I will speak to Sir Barnaby myself, when I return to Markham Park.’

‘You mean to go back there?’ The Duke looked incredulous.

Yes, Jane intended going back to Markham Park.

She had thought to find answers to her past in Somerset, but now it seemed that Sir Barnaby might be the person who had those answers. That he might be her real father…

Whether he was or he was not, Jane knew she needed to return to Markham Park in order to clear her name as a thief. To expose Lady Sulby for the liar that she was.

For Jane became more and more convinced by the second that Lady Sulby’s jewels were not missing at all—that Lady Sulby herself had hidden the jewels away somewhere, and merely taken advantage of Jane’s flight in order to blacken her name even further.

She refocused on the Duke, her lips curving into a humourless smile at the disbelief in his expression. ‘Yes, of course I mean to go back there.’

‘Jane, you cannot—’

‘I must go,’ she assured him firmly, implacably.

And, whether she planned to return to Markham Park or not, Jane knew that she could not remain under the Duke’s roof for a moment longer. He could not be further from the truth when he said Jane had feelings of enmity towards him. How could she possibly have feelings of ill-will towards the man she loved with all her heart?

The man who minutes ago had broken that heart when he refused to believe in her innocence…

Hawk looked down at Jane searchingly, knowing by
the stubborn expression on her face that he would not be able to change her mind either by argument or cajolery. ‘If you insist on this foolhardy course of action—’

‘I do!’

‘Then I will come with you.’

‘No, you will not! ’she refused with a vehement shake of her head. ‘I am grateful for the help you have given me thus far, but whatever happens next I must deal with myself. Do you not understand, Hawk, that I do not want you to come anywhere with me?’ she continued impatiently, as he would have once again protested. ‘As you have mentioned on more than one occasion—’ a slight, self-derisive smile curved her lips now ‘—you were forced into the role of my protector by my own impetuous actions. It is an obligation I now release you from.’

He gave a weary shake of his head. ‘Have I not just explained that it is not as simple as that, Jane?’

‘I assure you, Your Grace, our conversation has made several things clear to me,’ she said enigmatically.

Hawk grimaced his impatience at her stubborn refusal to listen to him. ‘Perhaps you are right, Jane, and we should talk of this again later. When you have had more time to think the matter through?’

‘Perhaps,’ she responded unhelpfully, giving a slight inclination of her head before turning to leave.

Hawk’s expression was one of brooding frustration as he watched her cross the study to the door, her movements elegantly graceful, her head angled proudly.

But how long would Jane maintain that elegance and grace, let alone her pride, if Lady Sulby had her way and Jane was imprisoned for theft…?

‘J
ane…?’

Jane did her best to ignore the curricle—and its driver—as it drew alongside her, and walked determinedly along the lane that would take her to the road to London.

‘Is it you beneath that bonnet, Jane?’ The query was repeated impatiently.

She turned her face to the curricle, her smile rueful as she looked into the frowningly handsome face of Justin Long, Earl of Whitney, where he sat atop his curricle in complete control of a pair of lively-looking greys. ‘It is indeed I, sir,’ she confirmed dryly as she continued to walk.

‘What the deuce are you doing wandering around the countryside unchaperoned?’ he demanded disapprovingly.

Jane raised mocking brows. ‘Our conversation yesterday evening led me to believe that you are the last person to be concerned with the proprieties, sir.’

He looked irritated by the jibe. ‘Some of those proprieties are unavoidable, Jane. The unsuitability of
a single young lady roaming the countryside unchaperoned is one of them,’ he added with a frown. ‘You—Jane, will you stop marching along in that military style and tell me what the devil you think you are doing?’

‘Partaking of the air?’ she returned tauntingly as she continued to ‘march’.

Blond brows met over censorious blue eyes. ‘I do not believe my question was an invitation to facetiousness, Jane.’

No, Jane was sure that it was not. It was only that if she didn’t answer him in this offhand manner she knew that she would in all probability burst into the tears that had been threatening since she had packed her small bag and departed from Mulberry Hall an hour ago.

And she didn’t want to cry—was sure that once she started she would not be able to stop.

‘Jane, have I not instructed you to cease this infernal marching?’ the Earl reminded her sternly.

Jane came to an abrupt halt in the lane and turned to glare up at him, an angry flush to her cheeks. ‘I no more take orders from you, sir, than I do the Duke of Stourbridge!’

‘Ah.’

Jane bristled at his knowing expression. ‘And exactly what is meant by
that,
My Lord?’ she demanded resentfully.

His expression was mockingly derisive. ‘Argued with the young Duke, have you?’

‘And what business is it of yours if I have?’ Jane eyed him challengingly.

The Earl gave a rueful smile. ‘Only that I would dearly have liked to witness that unusual occurrence!’

‘Because you are still annoyed at his conquest of your Countess?’

The Earl gave an appreciative shout of laughter. ‘Please tell me that you and the Duke did not argue over dear Margaret?’

‘We did not,’ Jane snapped, deeply irritated by his amusement at their expense. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, My Lord, I must be on my way—What are you doing?’ She frowned as he secured his reins before leaping agilely down from the curricle to stand at her side, looking as rakishly handsome as ever, in a tailored blue jacket that matched the colour of his eyes, breeches so tight in fit it was obvious that he owed none of his physique to padding, and a pair of highly polished Hessians.

‘My dear Jane,’ the Earl drawled, ‘you do not seriously think that even the Earl of Whitney, having been made aware of your lonely state here on a public byway, would simply continue his journey back to London as if nothing untoward had happened?’

That was exactly what Jane had been hoping. Although the Earl’s mention of his destination changed her thoughts somewhat…

She forced a smile. ‘If you really wish to be of help to me, sir, then you will offer me a seat in your curricle to London.’

The frown returned to his brow as he eyed her speculatively. ‘And what happens then, Jane? Does your guardian challenge me to another duel? Or will you settle for those damned matriarchs of Society demanding that as I have compromised you I must now marry you?’

Jane gasped. ‘I wish for neither of those things, My Lord! I care nothing for the demands of the matriarchs of
Society. The Duke and I have—parted ways. It is my belief that he is no longer concerned with what becomes of me.’

No doubt Hawk, once he got over his anger at Jane for having disobeyed him once again, would actually be relieved at having her disruptive presence removed from his household. Especially as she was now accused of being a thief!

‘Then, my dear Jane, it is
my
belief that you do not know the Duke of Stourbridge as well as he might wish.’ The Earl eyed her pityingly. ‘The man is enthralled by you, you little goose!’ he added impatiently at Jane’s blank expression.

She could not deny that the Duke found her physically appealing—that would be impossible after the events of yesterday evening!—but he most certainly was not ‘enthralled’ by her. If Hawk had felt any affection for her at all then surely he would have believed her earlier this morning, when she had assured him of her innocence concerning the disappearance of Lady Sulby’s jewels?

‘I assure you that you are mistaken, My Lord,’ she said flatly.

He smiled. ‘And I assure
you
that I am not,’ he drawled, staring at her wordlessly for several long minutes before giving an impatient inclination of his head. ‘Very well, Jane,’ he murmured slowly. ‘For you I will break the rule of a lifetime and allow a woman up into my curricle with me.’

Her face lit up with pleasure. ‘Oh, thank you, My Lord! You will not regret your decision, I promise you,’ she vowed, as she plucked up her skirts in order that he might help her climb into the elegance of his open carriage.

‘Believe me, Jane, I already do!’ the Earl muttered, his expression grim as he moved to climb in beside her and take up the reins once more.

Jane smiled happily as the greys moved forward, completely unconcerned by the Earl’s sarcasm now that he had agreed to take her to London with him. Although she did seem to be making rather a habit of accepting lifts in the carriages of unmarried gentlemen, she acknowledged ruefully. Rakishly handsome unmarried gentlemen.

‘I may rethink my decision if you do not cease looking so smugly self-satisfied, Jane!’ the Earl warned her with a scowl.

Jane at once lowered her head to look at him demurely from beneath her bonnet.

The Earl raised scathing brows. ‘If anything, that is worse!’

She gave a relaxed laugh. ‘You are very difficult to please, My Lord.’

‘Am I…?’ He easily maintained control of the greys as he continued to look at her frowningly.

‘Yes…’ Jane found herself disconcerted by that look. None of the consummate flirt of the evening before was now evident in the seriousness of the Earl’s expression. Her smile faded. ‘Why do you look at me so intently, My Lord?’

He turned sharply away. ‘It is of no matter, Jane.’

Jane continued to look at him for several long seconds. ‘It is my belief, sir, that you are not quite as others see you…’ she finally murmured slowly.

His gaze was puzzled as he glanced at her. ‘What can you mean, Jane?’

She shook her head. ‘You would have people believe
there is no more to the Earl of Whitney that the flirtatious rogue.’

His mouth twisted. ‘But Jane Smith does not believe that to be so?’

‘I know it is not so, My Lord.’ She nodded. ‘There is a kindness in you—the same kindness as coming to my rescue just now—that you do not like others to see.’

His mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘You are far too astute for a young lady of such tender years, Jane Smith.’

‘So I have already been informed, My Lord.’

‘By Stourbridge, no doubt.’ He nodded knowingly. ‘Poor devil.’ He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘You seem to have succeeded in shaking him from his pedestal of untarnished superiority.’

She shook her head. ‘Not so untarnished, My Lord, considering that the two of you appear to have recently shared a mistress!’

The Earl gave a shout of appreciative laughter. ‘Far too forthright, Jane!’

She shrugged. ‘I am merely stating the facts. It is you and the Duke who must take credit for the contents of that truth.’

The Earl’s attention was drawn to the greys for several minutes. ‘I believe, Jane,’ he said grimly, once he had the lively greys under control, ‘that we will save the rest of this conversation until I can give it—and you—my full attention.’

As far as Jane was concerned they could continue the rest of their journey in silence. Her only interest was in reaching London and from there continuing on to Norfolk. Talking of Hawk only caused her pain. Discussing his most recent mistress with the man who had been the
Countess’s previous lover only reminded Jane of her own immodest behaviour with Hawk the previous evening.

From there it was only a short distance to remembering their conversation earlier this morning.

And the disturbing conclusion she had made during that conversation.

Could it truly be that Sir Barnaby was her real father? All the evidence—the previously unknown Sir Barnaby being appointed her guardian, Lady Sulby’s hatred of her and her mother—pointed to that being the case.

In those circumstances it had perhaps been unwise of her adopted father to have made Sir Barnaby her guardian, but the fact that there had been no one else he could leave Jane’s future care to had probably meant he had had no choice in the matter.

No, any mistake must lie at Sir Barnaby’s door, by his even attempting to introduce his illegitimate daughter into his own household, let alone expecting her to be accepted by his wife and legitimate child…

‘This is not the way to London, My Lord!’ Jane realised frowningly as they passed a sign at the side of the road that indicated London was in the opposite direction from the one in which they were now travelling.

The Earl gave an abrupt inclination of his head. ‘It really is most unsuitable for you, a woman alone, to go to London with me, Jane.’

She glared at him fiercely. ‘It is for me to decide where I will go and who I will go with, My Lord!’

‘No, Jane, it is not.’ He gave a firm shake of his head.

‘Where are you taking me?’ Jane demanded. But she already knew the answer to that question. The countryside about the Stourbridge estate was familiar to her…

‘I am sure that you believe your reasons for leaving Mulberry Hall to be valid ones—’

‘They most certainly are!’

‘Perhaps,’ the Earl allowed grimly. ‘But I somehow doubt Stourbridge would agree with you.’

‘I believed you to be a man who was not frightened of the high-and-mighty Duke of Stourbridge!’ Jane scorned.

‘I am not, Jane,’ the Earl assured her softly. ‘It is you that frightens me,’ he added enigmatically.

‘Me?’ she echoed impatiently, her desperation rising as she saw the mellow outline of Mulberry Hall in the distance.

‘You.’ He nodded frowningly, his mouth twisting derisively. ‘Did you not fear what might happen to you once you found yourself alone and unprotected in London?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘That is precisely the reason you frighten me, Jane,’ he said grimly. ‘You are too innocent, Jane.’

‘I am not such an innocent, My Lord,’ she assured him dully, fully aware that yesterday evening she had all but given that innocence to Hawk St Claire, Duke of Stourbridge.

The Earl pulled his greys to a halt before turning to study Jane, and her cheeks coloured under the intensity of that experienced gaze.

‘Stourbridge made love to you last night?’ he finally rasped harshly.

Jane gasped. ‘That is none of your concern, sir—’

‘I am making it so, Jane!’

She was tired, so very tired, of the Duke of Stourbridge and now the Earl of Whitney taking such an
interest in the innocence that was surely hers to give where she pleased.

‘I will find some other way in which to travel to London,’ she dismissed impatiently, and she turned to climb from the carriage.

The Earl moved swiftly, already on the ground at her side as she stepped down from the curricle. Steely fingers grasped her arm. ‘You are not going anywhere until I have got to the bottom of this situation.’

‘Can you not see that I do not require your help, My Lord?’ Jane demanded impatiently, glaring up at him as he refused to release her.

His mouth twisted derisively. ‘I do not believe that I asked for your permission to help you.’

Jane’s brows rose disgustedly. ‘Heaven preserve me from interfering, over-protective men such as you!’

He gave a humourless smile. ‘And Stourbridge?’

‘I neither wish to speak of nor see the Duke of Stourbridge ever again!’

The Earl shrugged. ‘That is rather unfortunate.’

Jane eyed him suspiciously. ‘Why?’

The Earl’s gaze moved over and past her flushed face to a distance over her left shoulder. ‘Because, unless I am very much mistaken, we are about to be joined by the man himself,’ he drawled pointedly.

Jane turned sharply on her heel to look at a horse and rider some distance away, the colour draining from her cheeks as she recognised—as, obviously, had the Earl of Whitney!—that rider to be none other than Hawk, Duke of Stourbridge.