Mastering a Sinner (22 page)

Adam sighed. “I’m not sure how he will be treated, Alistair. It depends on the judge. What would you prefer to happen?”

“I don’t know, sir. I just know that I’d hate to be responsible for sending my own brother to his death.”

“I doubt it will come to that. This is a relatively minor issue.” Adam laid something on the desk. “I understand you were looking for these. Reading found them in Harry’s coat pocket.”

Alistair picked up the two letters, recognizing his wife’s handwriting with a sharp pang of guilt. “Yes, thank you. Did you read them, Mr. Fisher?”

“I’m sorry, but I had to scan the contents for security reasons.”

“It’s all right. I was going to ask you to look through them anyway. My wife is dead. Nothing can hurt her now.”

Adam half-turned to go and then turned back. “If I might say something, Alistair, your brother doesn’t deserve you.”

“Or you, Mr. Fisher. This must be difficult for you as well.”

Adam’s smile was sweet. “I gave up hope months ago. I’ll do my duty to the Crown, as will you.”

He went back into his office leaving Alistair in peace to read through the letters. After committing them to memory, he scrunched the paper up into a ball and threw it on the fire, waiting until it burned through and dissolved into black fragments, which he obliterated with the poker. He said a prayer for his wife and her family and then, having nothing else to do, went back to work.

22

D
iana went down to the kitchen level and spoke briefly to Maddon, who confirmed that Mr. Fisher had taken all of Harry’s clothing and his valuables and had already gone to return something to Mr. Maclean in his office. She could only hope it was the evidence Alistair sought. His revelation about his wife and Harry had shocked even her to the core. How could one brother be so ruthlessly amoral when the other was the soul of integrity? She would never understand human nature....

“Lady Theale?”

“Yes, Mr. Maddon?” She looked back over her shoulder at the butler.

“The countess was looking for you earlier. She wants to introduce you to the earl.”

“He is back, then?”

“Indeed, my lady.” Maddon smiled. “Cook is preparing a celebratory dinner for you all as we speak.”

“Then I will certainly go and find her ladyship and pay my respects.”

Diana felt a peculiar sensation in her stomach as she realized she finally had to gather her courage and decide how and when she would face the earl. Should she leave it until after dinner? She suspected Alistair might need her support when Harry was taken away during the afternoon. But was she simply avoiding the issue?

Her steps slowed on the stairs. She had to go and see Mr. Maclean and find out if he’d retrieved his letters. And if he was still hard . . . It wouldn’t be fair to leave him in such an aroused state all day.

She was being a coward, but surely the countess deserved a few hours of peace with her husband before Diana ruined everything? Damnation, this was becoming harder to do than she had imagined. Maybe Nico was right and she should simply let it go. . . .

 

Diana dressed for dinner with great care in her favorite green gown with a black ribbon trim and arranged her hair in a high knot at the top of her head. She had almost no jewelry to bolster her confidence, but she did have her pride. And whatever happened, she would never be poor. If she had to go back to earning her living at the pleasure house, she’d do it. At least it was honest work, unlike her job at the Sinners, which she’d only taken to get closer to the Earl of Westbrook.

She loved working at the Sinners....

With a sigh, Diana blew her reflection a kiss and contemplated her already packed bags. Charlotte knew she might be coming and would be there at the pleasure house to receive her. But there would be no Alistair Maclean in her bed to offer her his own particular brand of comfort. Once she’d ascertained that he’d received his letters back, she’d ordered him to sit in her office chair and made him come with her mouth wrapped around his cock.

He’d been so absurdly grateful.

“Enough,” Diana murmured to herself and raised her chin. She had to put such weak thoughts behind her and go and face her fate as she had faced everything else in her life—alone.

Alistair Maclean was not for her. She would not take his security away from him especially now. But it was difficult. She’d come to love his integrity and his ability to submit to her needs whilst satisfying his own. He was the strongest man she’d ever known and yet many would consider him weak for his sexual choices. She respected him even more for them and suspected she would never find another man who completed her so perfectly.

To her consternation, everyone had gathered for dinner, including Lord and Lady Keyes, and Nico. Even Alistair had appeared, his expression bleak and his silence evocative of his struggle to let his brother face the consequences of his own actions. He took the seat to her left, and briefly smiled at her as he laid her napkin on her lap.

As the dinner progressed, she found herself almost unable to eat a thing or reply with more than the barest of civilities to the conversation going on around her. She was aware of the countess’s concerned gaze falling on her occasionally and Alistair’s calm presence shielding and protecting her.

Beyond him, at the head of the table was the Earl of Westbrook. Diana couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was a tall man with brown eyes and darker skin than one would expect on a peer of the realm. To her dismay, he also appeared to be very nice, taking pains to speak both to her and Alistair at length and to welcome them to the Sinners. His knowledge as to what was going on seemed current as he commiserated with Alistair about Harry and joked with Malinda about her upcoming child.

She was surprised to find that she was enjoying herself, lulled into a false sense of security, that she was among people who cared about her . . . The way the earl looked down the table at his wife made her feel even worse. The love and respect between them was palpable.

And she was about to ruin everything....

Eventually Faith rose and caught the gazes of Diana and Malinda.

“Shall we leave the gentlemen to their port?”

Diana obediently stood, only to be stayed by a gesture from the earl.

“Before you go, my dear, I believe Lady Theale has a matter she wishes to discuss with me.” He turned his gaze on her, his brown eyes calm. “Lady Theale?”

She managed to swallow. “It is hardly a matter that needs to be discussed over the dinner table, my lord.”

“Why not? There are no secrets here. No one will betray you.” He glanced around the table, his gaze lingering on his wife. “In fact, I think it is time the truth came out, don’t you?”

“I don’t wish to . . . hurt you or the countess, my lord.”

“That’s very noble of you, but I hardly think your suspicions will change anything.”

“Because your wife already knows?” Diana asked, her gaze locked with the earl’s.

“Faith knows everything.” He shrugged. “But
I
would like to know what I’m accused of.”

Alistair took her hand and squeezed it hard. “Tell him. And whatever happens, know that I will be there to support you through it.”

Diana held his gaze and nodded before taking a quick breath and turning back to the earl.

“I believe you are my father.”

The earl sat back and studied her. “On what grounds?”

“I was born in Cornwall, on the Pelly estate.”

“And you believe that while I was courting my countess, I was also dallying with the local women without thought to the consequences of such actions.”

“Yes.”

“And why would you think that?”

“The woman you paid to care for me after my mother died was something of a gossip. She said you were known for your . . . profligate ways.”

A slight crease appeared between the earl’s brows. “May I ask how old you are?”

“I’m not quite sure. When I was sent to the charity school, they had my age as seven but I’m not sure that was correct. I thought I was a few years younger.”

“But you are more than eighteen?”

“Of course I am.”

“Then how can I be your father? The only time I visited the Pelly estate was in 1810, when I met my future wife.”

“If that is the case, why do the school records show that you were paying my fees?”

“I have no idea.” He held out his hand. “Do you have the records?”

“You know I do not. Nico stole them back for you.”

“I swear on my honor that he didn’t.” The earl looked down the table toward his wife and Nico, his smile dying. “Do either of you have anything you wish to say about this matter?”

Diana tensed as the countess rose to her feet. “I asked Nico to steal back the records, Ian.”

“And why was that, my love?” The earl angled his head. “Is Lady Theale your child?”

“No, but I was indirectly paying for her schooling out of the Westbrook estate.”

“Why?” Diana asked.

Faith sighed. “Because I had a sister and she . . . was rather wild when she was younger and she became pregnant.”

“Are you speaking about Margaret?” the earl asked, his expression as incredulous as Diana’s. “But she was only twenty-one when I met her.”

“And she was fourteen when she had her child.” Faith sighed. “My parents were away in London for most of the year, and we ran wild with our cousins and the local children. The Romany families who visited every summer and camped in our fields fascinated Margaret. She’d often steal away to be with them. I assume the father of the child was one because by the time we realized she was with child, he was long gone.”

Diana sank down into her chair and continued to stare at the countess.

“I did the best I could for Margaret. She hardly looked pregnant for the longest time, and when she did, I told everyone that she had become delicate and needed to stay in bed, which kept her out of the public eye. While we waited for the babe to be born, I took our old nurse into my confidence, and she agreed to help find the baby a good home.”

Faith dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief that Nico passed to her. “I thought all was well. You were well cared for by a couple who had desperately wanted a child, and my sister became an acknowledged beauty and married an aging viscount.”

“Did she ever ask after me?” Diana asked.

“I’m sorry to say that at first she didn’t. I took care of paying your new family to keep you from the Pelly housekeeping money, which I managed for my mother. Your new mother wrote to me once or twice a year so that I knew you were thriving and happy.”

“Then how did I end up living in London and being thrown out in the gutter when I was fourteen?”

The countess’s eyes filled with tears. “As I said, my sister married well and hoped to provide the viscount with an heir. She suffered through several miscarriages and began to ask me about you, where you were, whether you were thriving. I was . . . concerned about why she wanted to know such things and refused to tell her much, but then I became ill myself.”

“You were more than ill, my love,” the earl said. “You lost a child and I almost lost you. You took months to recover.”

The countess gave her husband a grateful look. “Which meant that I neglected my correspondence and the outside world for far too long. Eventually, I found a letter from Margaret dated several months previously, saying she’d decided to find you and bring you to London. Her plan was to have you educated in one of the charity schools and then to take you into her house as a companion. Unfortunately, she died not long after that, and I didn’t know where you were.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I tried so hard to find you, Diana, but even with all the resources of the Sinners behind me, I could not discover where she’d placed you, or what had become of you. I am so sorry, I failed you quite
dreadfully
.”

The earl cleared his throat. “I wish you’d told
me,
love. I have resources even you cannot guess at.”

“I promised Margaret I would tell no one. I
hated
deceiving you.” The countess sat down with a
thump
and burst into tears, making the earl curse and leap to his feet. He practically ran down to the bottom of the table and picked his wife up, cradling her against his chest.

“It’s all right, Faith.”

“No, it is not!” She kept crying against his chest, her voice muffled. “I lost her and her mother, Ian. I failed them both.”

“But Diana found us, love, which indicates what a fine and intelligent woman she turned out to be all by herself.” He looked over at Diana. “Isn’t that true, Lady Theale?”

Diana could only nod as she tried to make sense of the countess’s words.

“And now that we have found her, Faith, we will give her whatever she needs from us, and make sure that she is never lost or alone ever again.” The earl kissed the top of his wife’s head.

“But she must hate me.”

Diana shook her head. “No, I . . . really don’t. You must forgive me. This is just not what I expected at all. I thought—”

“That I was a conscienceless rake who had abandoned a young pregnant girl to her fate?” The earl held her gaze. “When you get to know me better, Diana, you will understand why I could never be that man.”

She nodded, aware that Alistair was still holding her hand and that felt as important to her as the earl forgiving his wife was to her newly discovered aunt.

The countess blew her nose and fixed her gaze on Diana. “I suspected you were my niece when you came for your interview, but it has been extremely hard to discover much about your past. It was only after I persuaded Nico to tell me what he knew that I began to believe you might be who I hoped you were.” She sighed. “I was waiting for Ian to come home so that I could tell him about you. I didn’t realize you were determined to find out the truth for yourself.”

“I’m not sure why you are surprised, my love. She is your niece,” the earl said and kissed his wife’s head.

“If you don’t mind, Diana, the countess and I would like to retire to discuss this matter further so that we can have as many answers available for you tomorrow as possible.” The earl stood up and tucked his wife firmly against his side. “But rest assured, we are more than willing to belatedly welcome you into our family, and hope that we can make up for everything we have missed.”

Diana managed a nod, and the earl and countess left the dining room. Benedict Keyes whistled and went to get the port and brandy bottles from the sideboard.

“I think we all need to have a drink after that. Adam, will you help me?”

Diana suddenly became aware of everyone else around the table as Alistair scooped her up and placed her on his lap. A large white handkerchief appeared in front of her nose, and she took it gratefully.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she murmured to him. “I couldn’t bear to upset the countess.”

“Then I’m glad the earl did it for you.” He kissed her wet cheek and searched her face, his expression serious. “Are you happy about all this?”

“I’m still rather surprised,” she confessed, and blew her nose again.

Alistair gave her a glass of brandy, and they both sipped at their drinks.

“Di?”

She looked down to see Nico sitting in her vacant chair.