Page 87 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
She smiled tentatively, tears on her cheeks. ‘It was not your fault, John. I never wished to speak of this with you. But it was not your fault.’
He kissed her cheek. ‘I am glad I know, Mama, so I can understand.’
She nodded, her tears spilling over again. She wiped them away. ‘I shall go and freshen up and then return to Mary. I will not have her know something is wrong.’
John nodded.
She looked at Edward.
‘I will be with you in a moment,’ he said. ‘I have something else to say to John first.’
When the door closed behind her Edward looked at John.
‘Will she be well?’ John asked.
‘I will ensure she is.’ Edward rested a hand on John’s shoulder. ‘I know this news must be hard for you to hear, son, I understand your anger, but the shame, and her memories, make it too hard for your mother to speak of it.’
His hand fell away.
‘How long was it after you met her that you came to fetch me? I remember you married as soon as we reached Uncle Robert’s.’
Edward gave him a sour smile. ‘A month or so, not long. I did not even know you existed until that night. She would not leave Lord Gainsborough. It was not until I saw you that I understood why. What your report probably does not tell you is that Gainsborough had forced her to stay with him by threatening you. He told her he would abduct you if she ran away, and blackmailed your grandfather with the threat of revealing her existence.’
John’s eyebrows lifted as shock lanced through him.
‘Now you know a part of it, you may as well know it all. Though, do not speak of it to your mother. Gainsborough beat her too. But she was too afraid to run and she had nowhere to run to until I met her. She had felt trapped.’ Edward glanced up at the old man’s portrait. ‘We fought hard to get you back.’ He looked back at John and drained his glass of brandy, then added, ‘For God’s sake, stop modelling yourself on him. And take that bloody picture down. I have too many awful memories of both him and this room.’ Then the muscle in his cheeks set hard. ‘Now you may tell me where to find Wareham, and I’ll settle this. I presume you know where he is.’
John nodded, smiling slightly as he watched the change from amiable family man to formidable leader. No wonder Edward had won out against John’s grandfather.
John had been forced to follow his grandfather’s education, but surely the better role model stood before him. ‘I will come with you.’
‘No,’ Edward said, firmly. ‘You would be missed. Go back to our guests, keep Mary happy.’ Too emotional to argue, John gave Edward the address.
Edward looked back before he left. ‘If your mother asks, do not tell her where I have gone. I will return quickly.’ Then he added, ‘Would you ask your Uncle Robert to meet me in the hall? I will take him with me.’
John agreed but before Edward could turn away again, he asked, ‘What happened to Lord Gainsborough? Should I…’
Edward smiled. ‘Your Uncle Robert killed him. It was self-defence, though. He tried to kill your mother.’
With that, Edward left.
John looked at the old man’s portrait.
His father was right, John would take it down and the one at Pembroke Place.
‘You bastard!’
If John wished to marry Katherine, he would marry Katherine. Sod the opinions of others. She was what mattered. Everyone else could go to hell.
30
John ran up the steps to the house and smiled at Finch as he passed through the door.
The special licence he had obtained was burning a hole in his breast pocket and every fibre of his being wanted to be gone and en route to Ashford. But he needed to speak with Harvey before he left tomorrow.
John was in such a benevolent mood he had even kissed Mary and his mother when he had greeted them at the breakfast table. His family had stayed the night following Mary’s ball and, feeling in charity with his mother, he had asked them to stay on this morning and not return to his uncle’s.
He had not yet had a chance to ask Edward what had happened with Wareham last night. He had been too emotionally bruised to care about Wareham, and this morning his focus had been on obtaining the marriage licence. But now Edward was in the hall…
