Lord Cavendish Returns (27 page)

“
He cannot have cut you out of the will entirely, surely to
God?” Edward growled and frowned ferociously across the room at
Harry, who nodded.

“
No, he has given me the business, which I run anyway. Other
than that, everything else goes to him,” he nodded toward Harper.
“The huge mansion in London, the bank accounts full of money,
bonds, everything, are all his. I have worked all of my life doing
a job I hate in the hope that my father would at least notice me
but he never has. As soon as I knew my father was changing his
will, I knew that if I could get my hands on the register, I could
refute the latest change in the contents of his will citing lack of
evidence.”

“
So you stole the register,” Harper whispered. While he could
understand the man’s actions, he didn’t agree with them. “Why
didn’t you sit down and speak to your father about this? I mean,
why just break the law and actually resort to theft to protect your
future?”

“
It is hardly as though you have no job or home to go to.
Unless I am mistaken, solicitors are paid well for the work they
do,” Dominic drawled with a sigh. Now that the threat of danger was
seemingly over, he rested his shoulders against the wall behind him
and crossed his ankles in a casual pose that was at odds with the
seriousness of the situation.

“
I did try to speak to him, but he kept saying over and over
that he should have done more to provide for you himself. He has
purchased the house here and arranged for people to look after you.
Apparently he has visited on a number of occasions throughout your
childhood to see how you were getting on, and has also been
overseeing the maintenance of the massive mansion your mother left
you in case you decide to live there, but to him it is still not
enough. He regrets that you went into the army and weren’t educated
and able to undertake a worthwhile occupation, and so decided that
he needed to make it up to you even more.”

Harper
snorted at that. As far as he was concerned, the work he did with
the Star Elite was far more commendable than the work of
solicitors. “I have no regrets about my life choices.”

“
You may not, but father doesn’t know that. I have worked all
of my life to get that man to at least be fair to me but the
bitterness that has grown inside him over the choices he made over
you is something that has haunted him. Now that he has the chance,
he is going to make sure that you have a home and enough wealth to
make sure that you don’t have to be in the army
anymore.”

“
I am not in the army though. I left years ago.”

“
You work for the War Office,” Harry countered. “As far as he
is concerned that is still the army.”

“
I thought the work I did was confidential.” Harper shook his
head and studied the Cavendish brothers. For a so-called ‘secret’
organisation, an awful lot of people knew about the Star Elite now
and he wondered how the men who worked undercover had survived for
as long as they had.

“
Father has moved heaven and earth to keep track of you
throughout your life apparently. He struggled to contain his fears
when you disappeared into the army and has been using his contacts
to find you as soon as it became clear that you had left the army
and vanished. I don’t know if he managed to locate you or not but,
as soon as the Cavendish brothers appeared, he seemed to have more
drive and determination to provide for your welfare than he ever
had for me.”

“
You know this for a fact, do you?” Dominic drawled
casually.

“
Father told me,” Harry replied carefully. “After your visit
he asked me to call at his house for a visit because he had
something to discuss with me. He told me everything.”

“
Look, as far as I am concerned, my father will always be the
man who raised me, Bartholomew Lawton,” Harper sighed. “Whatever
issues you have with your father are something you need to discuss
with him, not me. My concern is your illegal activities in Hambley
Wood. Taking the register is theft, and is illegal.” He glanced at
Arrabella. “Why tie Arrabella up? I mean, what is she to you? What
are you even doing here?”

“
I didn’t want her to run for help. There are two women and
only one of me so I had to do something. I wasn’t going to hurt
her. I just wanted to give her a warning to pass on to you to make
you stop looking for the register.” Harry walked past him and sat
wearily in a chair before the fire. He stared at the floor for
several moments before he turned his attention to Mrs Able. “But
then the lady here started to get troublesome and I was faced with
a dilemma. I could either leave and hope that I got out of the area
before they raised the alarm, or stay and speak to you directly. I
just didn’t know that your brothers – your other brothers – had
turned up.”

“
This is important to us,” Sebastian sighed around a
yawn.

“
Harper is our brother. He is a Cavendish. We needed to know
whether he is Lord Cavendish, the Earl of Hopswich, or merely Mr
Harper Lawton from Hambley Wood,” Edward added.

“
There is a lot riding on the truth. Not just your father’s
change of will, but the entailment that is now his, and the future
of the estate his mother set aside in her will for him,” Dominic
added. “We knew nothing of the provision our mother made for him
either, but we don’t bear any grudges over it. She saw to our
welfare too in her own will, although my father provided the most.
We are all self-sufficient and just grateful to have a new brother
whom we can now get to know and spend some time with.”

Harper
studied the floor at his feet. He was strangely touched by the calm
certainty in Dominic’s declaration and felt his world begin to
settle a little more.

He
sighed and turned to Harry. “I didn’t ask your father to change his
will, nor do I want any of his fortune. I am sorry to tell all of
you but I have amassed more than enough to keep myself in luxury
for the rest of my days. I have the house in Hambley Wood that has
been mine all along, and don’t really need anything from anyone
else. Harry, I would strongly suggest that you speak to your father
about how you feel. It seems that it isn’t just your father who has
bitter regrets about the past. I cannot condone your actions;
attacking an unarmed man who is only trying to uncover the truth is
a cowardly way to behave. I could get you thrown into jail, for
terrifying the lady if nothing else, but I am going to order you on
your way instead. I don’t know who you are, but I don’t really want
to right now.”

The
kinship he felt toward the Cavendish brothers had nothing to do
with their matching stature, it was more their attitude toward the
man before them, as well as the protectiveness they had shown
toward Anabella. He glanced at Dominic, who nodded.

“
Go home, Harry, but I warn you now that I shall have no
qualms about using
my
contacts amongst the
Ton
to end your days as a solicitor if you endeavour
to ever pose any threat to anyone in my family, especially the lady
here. She has been an unfortunate victim in all of your schemes and
machinations, and I don’t take that lightly.”

“
I haven’t done anything to her,” Harry argued with a frown.
“I am not the kind of man to behave like that toward any woman. I
am sorry I hit you on the head with the candlestick, Harper, I was
angry and confused. I don’t know what came over me.” He seemed more
than a little befuddled about his actions but Harper didn’t really
care.

“
What do you mean you didn’t do anything to her? You locked
her in a crypt with a stranger,” Harper countered sharply. “She was
damned lucky that it was me in there with her, and not some
lecherous lothario who would be more than happy to ruin
her.”

Arrabella felt her cheeks burn, but she was shaken out of her
discomfort when Mrs Able spoke.

“
It wasn’t him,” Mrs Able declared quietly and looked
Arrabella in the eye. “It wasn’t him who locked you into that
crypt. It was me.”

“
You!” Arrabella cried. “Why? You know I hate the dark, and
spiders. He was a stranger; you could have destroyed my reputation
if anyone found out about it.”

“
I was hoping you would be hideously compromised, but those
blasted cleaning ladies didn’t turn up when they should have done.
Mrs Boulter took poorly and they decided to leave cleaning the
church until she was well again. When I realised that nobody was
going to let you out I came back and did it.”

“
You tried to ruin me?” Hurt filled her words and she fought
the urge to cry.

Mrs Able
had been someone; the only one of late, whom she thought she could
rely on. She had no idea how much Mrs Able had been behind any of
what had happened to her and Harper, and struggled to focus her
thoughts on anything other than the fact that the housekeeper – her
friend – had betrayed her.

“
Of course I did dear. You are stuck here in this God forsaken
little village with little hope of a decent future. That idiot
Joseph,” she glanced at Harper. “Sorry, but he is; didn’t make any
advances when he should have done. Instead, he just stands and
stares at you with those calf eyes. It hardly bodes well for a
lasting relationship, does it? If the stupid man doesn’t have the
courage to approach you, how in the hell do you ever expect to get
married?” Her voice grew louder and louder and was heavily laden
with frustration.

“
I don’t want to marry Joseph. I never have. He is a nice man
but he is one of the villagers; he is as familiar as the bench that
sits on the village green. He is part and parcel of the area. I
have never been inclined to see him as someone who is
marriageable.”

“
Why not? He is a man,” Mrs Able challenged. “What are you
waiting for?”

Arrabella lifted her brows. She was aware of the avid gazes
of the men who watched the interplay with stunned surprise. A part
of her wondered if she should ask them to leave while the other
part of her wanted to get this out into the open so they could all
go and leave her in peace. Even Harry seemed to have forgotten his
own problems in favour of hers.”

“
I am not waiting for anything,” Arrabella countered. She
couldn’t bring herself to even look at Harper, but could feel his
gaze burning into her.

“
Well you should get a move on then,” Mrs Able snapped. “Your
mother has gone to take the sea air for a reason, Arrabella. You
know she is not well, and left without making any arrangements to
return.”

“
She said she would be back in a few weeks,” Arrabella argued.
She didn’t like what Mrs Able was suggesting.

“
Yes, but she is poorly Arrabella, and has declined steadily
over the last few months, you know that. Don’t put blinkers on in
the hope that this is all going to go away if you ignore it for
long enough. It won’t. Even if you discount your nearly bed-ridden
mother, what about your father? Hmm?”

“
He has gone to York,” she replied weakly. “What is wrong with
that?” She knew before Mrs Able spoke what she was going to
say.

“
He has been away with the fairies for long enough. We all
know it. You know that the villagers come to you if they want
anything because if they ask your father, he gets no more than six
feet away from them before he has completely forgotten having even
met them.” She pointed one long finger toward the church. “You have
to hand him his sermons and lead him up to the pulpit so that he
can conduct the service for God’s sake. Even then he has to be
guided through it all. Heavens above Arrabella, think about it.
What are you going to do when it becomes obvious to the Bishop that
your father can no longer carry out his duties? Your father is
getting to the point where he is unsafe to be let out on his own.
He went to Moldton the other week to conduct the service there only
once he got there he came straight back and completely forgot about
the service, and the church full of worshippers who were waiting
for him! What if the Bishop gets wind of it? Your father, God bless
him, will be out of a job and, when that happens, you will be out
of a house, without any source of income and will have not one, but
two people to care for but no income to do it with.” Mrs Able took
a breath and shook her head sadly. “Although the villagers will do
what they can to help, they cannot provide you with a home and a
steady income.”

Arrabella couldn’t argue because she knew that Mrs Able was
right. Humiliation, embarrassment and fear swept through her in
rapid succession. She had never felt so defeated in her life and
didn’t quite know what to say, especially in front of the
others.

“
He,” Mrs Able pointed to Harper. “He is the best thing since
sliced bread. He is strong, capable, determined and more your age.
I saw him growing up and have known him since he was a young boy.
You will not get a finer man than that one.”

“
But -”

“
No buts. As soon as I heard that he was back in the village,
and saw the way he looked at you, I knew that you wouldn’t get a
better man in your life than him. You, however, are so wrapped up
chasing around after that father of yours, and doing things for
your mother that she should be doing for herself but cannot be
bothered to, that you wouldn’t have noticed him if he had walked
around under your nose stripped to the waist. So I admit it,” she
held her hands up in a helpless gesture. “I locked you into the
crypt with him. I hoped that having some time alone together would
force you to talk to him and recognise him as a man. I had hoped
that the cleaning ladies would find you, and you would be hideously
compromised into marrying him so that someone can look after you
for a change.”