Sari Robins - [Andersen Hall Orphanage] (27 page)

“Have you forgiven him?” Edwina’s eyes searched his, the concern reflected therein warming his heart.

“I think so. I’m still upset, all is not forgotten, yet…I can’t seem to be angry with him. He’s suffered so much…” He shrugged. “I haven’t worked it all out yet. But I know, all will be well…eventually. I only wish…” A lump formed in his throat. “I only wish that
Headmaster Dunn was alive to see it. He’d have been so very pleased…”

Janelle threw her arms in the air. “In all of the excitement, I almost forgot! I came to warn you!”

“Of what?”

“The Earl of Wootton-Barrett is heading this way! And he looks mad as hops!”

P
rescott tensed. He’d known this confrontation was inevitable, but he’d been hoping to spare Edwina.

Janelle waved her hands, agitated. “The earl’s nose is as big as a cantaloupe!”

Edwina gripped Prescott’s arm, her lovely face filled with anxiety. “I won’t let them arrest you. We’ll find a way to stop it…I’ll think of something…”

“I punched an earl, Edwina. He’s not exactly the kind of man to let that pass.” And certainly not one to let Prescott marry his daughter. Still…“Devanes are fighters,” he muttered under his breath.

“A bit too much of them.” Janelle wrung her hands. “What are we to do?”

Stuffing her letters into the reticule and snapping it shut, Ginny straightened. “Do you think Sir Lee might help us?”

We. Us.
A warm feeling blossomed in Prescott’s chest and he suddenly smiled. “You ladies certainly know how to make a man feel part of your group.”

“Group?” Janelle cried. “You’re family!”

“We adore you, Prescott,” Ginny declared.

Edwina hugged him close. “We do.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Do you, Edwina? Truly?”

She looked up, her onyx eyes shimmering with tenderness. “I love you, Prescott. With all my heart.”

Joy shot through him. Could the gods have truly decided to shine so favorably upon him? “Really?”

“Yes. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.” Pulling away to look up at him, Edwina swallowed, vulnerability and determination blazing in her lovely gaze. “We needn’t marry. We can stay just as we are. I want to be with you on whatever terms you’re willing to have me.”

“I might have something to say about that, child.” The door swung open wider and the Earl of Wootton-Barrett stood in the threshold. His flushed red face was marred by a nose swollen to twice its normal size.

He’d changed into a burgundy velvet coat, eggshell Marcella waistcoat, white L’Orientale neckcloth and ivory breeches. A red watch fob hung from his waist and he fiddled with it as he eyed the four of them, each in turn. His eyes were like fiery coals, filled with challenge, as if daring any of them to cross him.

Prescott tensed, pulling Edwina close. No matter her courage, she loved her father and feared losing him, as evidenced by the taut muscles beneath the palm of his hands.

She loves me! She truly loves me!
He tempered his
joy, knowing that this was a precarious moment, for Edwina, for their future, and possibly for his hide.

“What a pleasant surprise, your lordship.” Janelle dropped a quick curtsey, then stepped over to stand beside Prescott. “I didn’t know you were going to be joining our country party.”

Ginny moved beside Edwina and dipped, stating coolly, “Your lordship.”

Prescott peered behind the big man, wondering where the earl’s minions might be. Where were the police officers or at least a burly servant or two to haul him off?

The earl’s lips formed an ugly scowl and a long moment passed. Then another. The tension in the room was so thick, Prescott felt like he was breathing it like a vapor.

Wootton-Barrett’s hand clenched and unclenched. “If you would unhand my daughter, Mr. Devane. I would speak to her. Alone.”

His grip tightened. “No. I’m not leaving her.”

Edwina pulled away from him. “Let me go, Prescott. I want to speak with my father.”

Reluctantly, he complied. “But I’m not leaving.”

“Please don’t.” Shooting Prescott a comforting glance, Edwina then turned to face Wootton-Barrett. Her shoulders were squared, her lovely face resolute, and her chin lifted. “It’s one thing to try to control my life, Father, but I will not permit you to hurt Prescott.”

Stepping forward, Edwina shook her head. “I don’t wish to cross you, but I will do everything in my power to fight you, tooth and nail, if you so much as harm a hair on his head.”

The earl’s eyes narrowed and he flinched as if
pained. “You would renounce your family…everything…for him?”

“Renounce…?” Her voice caught. “I don’t want to, no, but…”

This was the moment where Prescott was supposed to step forward, declare his intention to give up Edwina to save her place in her family, help her avoid the tragic mistakes of his mother.

But he couldn’t.

There was no breath in his lungs for such a declaration, no selfless sacrifice pumping in his veins.
He loved her.
And, remarkably,
she loved him. She truly loved him.
He couldn’t give that up, not in a million years.

Raising her head, Edwina motioned to Prescott. “Here is a man who has cared for me when I lay ill, has championed me and my friends, has shown me how to forgive the unpardonable…He has taught me how to be the woman I want to be…”

Inhaling a deep breath, Edwina squared her shoulders. “I cannot stop you from rejecting him, or disowning me, but I will not forsake him. Not for you, not for anyone.”

Prescott’s heart swelled. Edwina was gloriously defiant, bold, beautiful and if he wasn’t already head over heels in love with her, he would be now.

The earl exhaled, his nose making a terrible whistling sound. “I’m sorry to hear that. You give me no choice then.”

Prescott’s heart began to pound as charged silence hung over the room. He knew, without doubt, that if they tried to hang him, Sir Lee would step in and try to use his influence to help. So odds of execution would
be slim. What was it to be, then? The whip? He could survive that. Just so long as he had Edwina waiting for him, he could survive just about anything.

“I have no choice”—The Earl of Wootton-Barrett jutted out his chin and tugged at his neckcloth as if it was too tight—“but to stand aside. Remove all objections to him, and to your association.”

Prescott blinked, wondering if he’d heard right.

“What did you say?” Janelle barked, much too loudly.

Coughing into his hand, Wootton-Barrett looked pained. “I said, I withdraw all objections to her association with Mr. Devane.”

“Oh, Father!” Edwina rushed to him, throwing her arms around his burly chest. “Thank you, Father! Thank you!”

“Ahh…that’s not necessary…” The earl awkwardly raised his arms, not knowing quite what to do with his impassioned daughter. “Really…Edwina…get ahold of yourself…” Something slipped from his coat and fluttered to the floor.

Prescott quickly stepped over and scooped it up, coiling it into his palm. Rising, he grasped the earl’s hand in his, the fox-colored ribbon, one just like Ginny’s, pressed between their palms.

Wootton-Barrett stiffened and when his eyes met Prescott’s, fear and defiance flashed within them. So the Earl of Wooten-Barrett had been one of the blackmailer’s victims as well. That added a new shade of color to his visit to the Kendrick manor. And gave Prescott a fresh understanding of the earl’s abrupt change of heart.

If Sir Lee was, as Prescott strongly suspected, the
man who’d nailed the blackmailer and recovered any incriminating evidence, then he’d be sure to use his “influence” to guarantee that the earl didn’t harm Prescott. Moreover, Sir Lee would do his utmost to ensure that the earl didn’t make the same mistakes Sir Lee had made with his own daughter’s marriage. His grandfather was turning out to be quite the puppeteer. Prescott didn’t mind, so long as the man didn’t let it go to his head.

Prescott squeezed the earl’s hand, pressing the ribbon into the earl’s palm. “Just so we understand each other, your lordship. I want none of your money, don’t need your connections and don’t want a damn thing from you other than your daughter. She’s the
only
thing that matters to me.”

Wootton-Barrett’s bushy brows lifted.

“And since her happiness is paramount to my own, I will do everything in my power to ensure that she is not distressed by anyone or anything.” Carefully, Prescott removed his hand, leaving the earl with the fox-colored ribbon. “That includes you…and any affront to her good name and that
of her family’s.
”

Wootton-Barrett’s face relaxed. “I see. That’s very…reassuring to know.” Disengaging from his daughter, the earl slipped the ribbon into his coat pocket. “But it brings us to the crux of the problem then.”

“What problem?” Edwina was breathless, her face exultant as she stepped into Prescott’s embrace. “If you make no issue of our association, then what problem could there be?”

“There’s the problem of your good name.”

“Sir Lee has pledged to recognize Prescott,” Janelle argued.

Ginny crossed her arms. “He’s a nobleman’s grandson—”

Wootton-Barrett shook his head, adamant. “But still, there is a matter of Edwina’s reputation—”

“But Father!”

Janelle wagged a finger. “Of all the outdated, ridiculous—”

“How can you say that?” Ginny huffed. “There’s nothing wrong—”

“Stop!” Prescott cried, holding up his hand. “Lord Wootton-Barrett is right!”

The three ladies started, shocked as their heads all turned to him. “What?”

“Edwina’s father is correct.” Lowering his hand, Prescott faced Edwina. “Your name is too good to be coiled in an affair with me.”

Edwina blinked, looking crestfallen. “But…but…”

“I love you, Edwina, too much to see you entangled in a casual dalliance. You deserve, much, much more.”

Dropping down onto one knee, Prescott grasped her hand and held it to his heart. “I don’t have a lot to offer you, Edwina. But I finally have a name—”

“You have much more to offer than that, son.” Sir Lee swaggered into the room, swinging his gold-topped cane. “You have my money. Every last shilling of it.”

Prescott’s eyes widened, overwhelmed. “That’s very generous of you, sir—”

“And don’t worry.” Sir Lee waved a hand. “No matter what I said before, I’m quite well-off. I wasn’t about to advertise my fortune when I wasn’t sure who you
were or what you were about. But what’s mine is now yours.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“There’s no need to thank me.” Sir Lee beamed. “There’s no one else I’d rather see have it. Besides, I’m simply protecting my interests.”

“Interests?” Janelle raised a brow.

“Those of my grandson, and of my great-grandchildren, of course.” Sir Lee motioned to the earl with his cane. “Wootton-Barrett’s grandchildren.”

Prescott’s heart thrilled. Children. With Edwina.

Clearing his throat, the earl shifted restlessly, his face flushed a familiar shade of cherry. “Yes, ah…which brings me to the matter of a dowry.”

Edwina’s eyes met Prescott’s and the stupefaction in hers could only be matched by the utter shock reflected in his.

“Dowry?”

“Well, I’m certainly not having my grandchildren rely on the meager earnings of an employee from the Foreign Office.”

Instead of being affronted, Sir Lee’s smile only widened.

Wootton-Barrett waved a hand. “So I’ve decided to settle a substantial dowry on my daughter to ensure that she and her children, my grandchildren, are well taken care of.”

“How wonderful!” Ginny beamed, clapping her hands.

Janelle nodded approvingly. “That’s quite magnanimous of you, your lordship.”

“I am most appreciative of all of your support,”
Prescott declared, still kneeling on the floor. “But I’m trying to propose here!”

“Well, you’re certainly taking your time about it,” the earl complained. “There’s not much to it. Just ask and be done with it.”

“There
were
certain matters to be clarified.” Sir Lee raised his bushy gray brows meaningfully at Wootton-Barrett.

Prescott’s eyes narrowed; he was definitely going to have to have a little chat with his grandfather.

“And you only just got to the subject of the dowry,” Janelle interjected.

“Oh, how I love a happy ending!” Ginny wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “So much celebrating, so much joy!”

Edwina smiled down at Prescott, her face radiant, her eyes bright with happiness. “Family. Do you think we’ll be able to endure it?”

“Oh, I think we’ll survive. I know just how to handle them.”

Rising, Prescott approached Ginny and Janelle. “Ladies, if you will please inform our hostess that we will have something to celebrate over dinner?”

“Dinner!” Wootton-Barrett started. “I promised Lady Kendrick I’d escort her!” Motioning to Sir Lee, he remarked, “We’ll talk more later.” Then he rushed from the room.

“Ladies.” Sir Lee offered Janelle one arm and then Ginny the other. “I believe our presence is no longer required.”

“I know when I’m not wanted,” Janelle huffed, but her eyes were twinkling as she accepted his arm.

Ginny leaned forward whispering, “Pray, don’t be too long, Prescott. I want to toast to your happiness. You will let me, of course?”

“Of course. And we’ll need yours and Janelle’s assistance with the wedding arrangements.”

“I get to help plan another wedding? Glorious!”

“I envision doves,” Janelle pronounced as the three of them headed out of the chamber. “And we must have that famous pastry cook, ‘Little Tom,’ make the cakes. He’s simply the best.”

Prescott slammed the door closed behind them, then turned to face the most beautiful woman he’d ever known, the woman of his heart. “Where were we?”

Licking her lips, Edwina motioned to the floor.

“Oh, yes. The proposal.” Striding toward her, Prescott swept Edwina into his arms and kissed her soundly. “I love you, Edwina. With every inch of my being. I want to marry you. As soon as possible. Will you have me?”

“Yes! A thousand times yes!”

He hugged her close. “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve you—”

“Shhh.” Edwina pressed her finger to his lips. “Let me show you what you deserve, Prescott Devane.”