The Caversham Chronicles ~ the Beginning

Chapter Four-2

The impressment gangs’ manner of abducting young men repulsed him, because some of the men charged with the power to impress had no care for whom they took. Which was why his son was going to remain where Cav could at least protect him. With his sailing skills, Ren was a prime candidate for impressment. And Ren was his only son and heir to the dukedom. Just as Harry was all the family Amelia had left.

“I am sorry for… everything. If there was a way I could bring your brother back, I would.” Perhaps he could at least discover which ship the young man was on, and whether he was still alive. Cav, with his connections through his shipping company, had men with eyes and ears all over the various docks in London.

“My father was so upset when the investigator returned with the details of what had happened that he was dead within days. You see, the boys fought back and Harry was unconscious—but alive—when he was carried away.”

“If you can give me the date and location from which your brother was taken and any other information the investigator presented to your father, I will see what my connections can discover.”

“You can do this?”

The surprised awe in her voice made him wish with all he had that he could make this miracle happen for her. So many families never saw their loved ones again. “I will try. I cannot promise anything.”

“But how?”

He gave her a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders. “I know some people in that world.”

Cav thought he witnessed the weight of all her worries fall away from her shoulders and a small, heartfelt smile formed on her beautiful face. He could never tell her that some of the people he knew were the ones, who on occasion, did the abducting. The men were not friends, but they respected Cav enough to warn him to keep his only son away from certain areas at certain times. Too, he had connections at the Admiralty. Eventually impressed sailors got listed on a ship’s roll because even impressed sailors were paid and collected their prize shares. Both were resources he could press upon to search for his soon-to-be brother-in-law.

“I would appreciate nothing more in the world, Your Grace.” She seemed to consider her words carefully before speaking again. “You never answered me when I asked why you are doing this—demanding we marry. I obviously have nothing to give you in return. I have no dowry, no property or even servants. Why do you want me when so many others are a much better match for you?”

“The other day in the maze, you didn’t know who I was, friend or foe. And you spoke to me as an equal. I was intrigued. Only one other woman treated me as an equal in my entire life, without speaking to me in that deferential tone everyone else uses. She called me to task when I needed it. I didn’t realize how much I needed her until she was gone.” Cav wondered how it was possible that two women who were so similar in personality, behavior and attitude could possibly have crossed his path during his lifetime. How could a man be so lucky? “Last night you knew I’d been hiding from your aunt. While I might have initially kissed you to silence you, there was so much more in that kiss.”

While he and Lizzie might not have started off with a deep affection, it quickly grew into one. With Amelia, Cav knew there was the potential for more than just affection almost immediately upon meeting her. This didn’t mean he loved Amelia more, he felt he could love her differently. And he knew in his heart that Lizzie would understand.

“Then you slapped me. You called me on my unconscionable rudeness, just as Lizzie did when I needed to be brought back to my senses.” He met Amelia’s gray-green gaze and knew he was quickly losing his heart to her delicate strength. “Sometimes, I feel as though everyone is one sentence away from asking me for a favor, or else they’re hangers-on wanting to be in an inner circle of some sort. For that reason, I don’t allow many close to me.”

His future wife gave him a sympathetic half-smile and it warmed his heart. These were things he hadn’t said, hadn’t even thought about, since before his wife’s death. And they were topics he wanted to bury before they wed. He needed to enter a relationship with Amelia free of any mental encumbrances remaining from his previous marriage and his extended bachelorhood.

“You ran away from me, wanted no part of me, and I realized I had to have you.” He stepped forward and lightly traced the backs of his fingers over the satin-soft skin of her cheeks. “I would take you as my bride today but I have no license, and you deserve more than a hasty marriage with gossips whispering as to the reason why.”

“Thank you. Your offer is very generous. But…” The quaver in her voice told him yet again how vulnerable she was. It made him feel needed, and he wanted nothing more than to protect her, though her hesitation was beginning to cause some concern.

Quickly Cav took any choice she might make away from her. He wanted her to know he was not going to take any refusal of his proposal. “I would like to leave for London today.” He reached for her hand, lifted it, and kissed her palm. “There is much to do to prepare for a wedding in one month.”

She looked as if she contemplated the greatest problem in all the world, the way her eyes squinted and her lips scrunched into a tight little line. “I cannot leave for Town yet,” she said. “You see, I made plans to go with some of the other women today.”

Cav smiled. “Are you the ape-leader of that excursion?”

She gave a soft chuckle. “I’m no ape-leader. I merely arranged an outing for the rest of us—all companions not required to accompany their employers—to see the stone circle. We thought it sounded like an interesting outing for a summer day. Mrs. Harlan has asked cook to pack us a picnic luncheon and if we hurry, we can be back before our employers return from their excursion.”

Cav didn’t understand. He offered her the world and she wanted to picnic with servants in a cow pasture with standing stones.

“And I never agreed to marry you, Your Grace. You assumed I would, but I have not yet decided.”

“What is there to decide?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Why would she refuse? Surely she wouldn’t humiliate him like this, in front of his friends?

“Whether I should give up my independence.” She turned away, as if to leave. “However, if we could leave tomorrow, that would be preferable to me. And while I am with the other women today, I will think of nothing but your assumption that we will marry.”

“Why do you call it that?” He was beginning to become annoyed. He was not used to having things go against him, either in a relationship or anywhere else.

“Because you have not asked me, Your Grace.” The smile on her face told him she was teasing him.

Admittedly he was somewhat embarrassed that he’d not asked the lady yet. She must think him dim-witted. He had to rectify this soon, though he wanted it to be memorable for her. The proposal would have to be as special as the lady.

If remaining behind one extra day would please his new wife, Cav would of course wait. With one concession. She would dine with him tonight. Alone. When he told her his price for waiting an extra day, she simply smiled and left him there in Merivale’s study. And Cav could have sworn she swung her hips a bit more than normal as she walked away from him.

With his mind made up, Cav decided he would ask Amelia to marry him tonight—after first seeking Merivale’s help with making it a special evening. One his new wife would never forget.

After a delightful excursion to the standing stones nearby, Amelia arrived back in her suite of rooms just in time to find her temporary maid Gertie waiting with fresh hot water in a hip bath. “His Grace has sent word that you will share dinner with him at the pavilion in the maze, one hour after your return from your outing. He has seen to all the arrangements.”

“He does appear the type to make those kinds of decisions and expect them to be carried out, doesn’t he?” She thought back to the groom wearing Caversham livery who accompanied them during their outing today. The man stayed an appropriate distance behind them, but always within a reach should there be an emergency of any sort. She’d asked the other women if the man was a sweetheart of one of them, and they’d all said no. Amelia knew then that His Grace had sent a protector to watch over them—as if Lord Merivale’s grooms were not sufficient protection.

“I cannot say, Miss,” the young maid said. “I am Lady Merivale’s personal maid’s assistant. I am unfamiliar with the duke’s habits.”

“Gertie, it was a rhetorical question,” Amelia said. Gertie gave her a curious tilt of the head, and she explained, “I really wasn’t expecting an answer.”

The maid helped Amelia shed her walking dress and damp boots, then her undergarments. Her feet were chilled to the bone after having walked through a damp pasture to see the ancient stone circle in Stonehenge, and she couldn’t wait to step into the tub to warm them. The arrangement of cut stones was worth the trek—and the cold feet—though in her opinion it was rather underwhelming in appearance. They were just stones. Some standing, some not. They were enormous stones in a cow pasture as the duke had said.

“Gertie, do you know if my aunt has gone?”

“Yes, Miss. She and her maid left right after breakfast.”

Amelia frowned as Gertie helped her bathe, realizing she was truly alone here. Her aunt had actually left. Left her here, with a stranger who said he wanted to marry her. How could she trust his word when she didn’t know him?

Perhaps that second slap had knocked some sense into him.

Only now she worried about upsetting him or alienating him. What would happen to her then? Where would she go? The only person aside from Gertie who knew His Grace intended to marry her was Aunt Katherine, and she was no longer here to support her. Not that it was likely she would have supported her anyway. Caversham could change his mind and it would leave her ruined, and her aunt would never accept her back in her home, nor would any upstanding family should she seek new employment. Not after word of what happened in Merivale’s library got out.

And word always got out. Gossip such as this—the nobody who landed a duke—was too juicy a tidbit to keep quiet for long.

She could refuse to marry him. After all, he’d not asked her. She could return to London and try to eke out a quiet living as a book binder. Surely some of her father’s former colleagues could use an assistant in their shop.

That might work.

She decided to tell His Grace that she was grateful for his offer but felt uncomfortable accepting it. No matter that she was attracted to the man, becoming his duchess would change her life significantly, and some of it not for the better. As her aunt had reminded her this morning, that life was something she had never been prepared for.

People would laugh at her every misstep and foible, and they were likely to happen. She wanted to return home, but didn’t think that was possible either. And if she could get work in London, then she could put the word around on the docks for Harry, should he return. This might be the better way for her—even as unfamiliar with the city as she was.

“Miss, His Grace will be waiting.” Gertie held a towel out to hurry her along.

Five minutes past the hour His Grace set for their dinner, Amelia arrived in the center of the maze, escorted by a footman who apparently thought she might lose her way in the evening twilight.

She smiled at His Grace, who returned the unspoken greeting and dismissed the footman. Standing near the outdoor bench, she lifted her gaze into the pavilion and saw two servants near the sideboard laden with covered platters and two bottles of wine. A small round table set for two was in the center, and colorful, cut, hot-house flowers filled the outdoor room everywhere with their scent. Four candelabras lit the inside of the marble structure with just enough candlelight.