Page 81 of An Earl Like You
He waved one hand, and she came in. She tried to close the door behind her, but Edith and Henrietta protested loudly. “Let them come,” he said wearily.No more lies.Not to anyone.
“Is Eliza well?” asked his mother.
“Where is she?” Edith burst out. Her eyes were red. “I never should have let her leave alone last night, never! I am so sorry, Hugh!”
“I don’t know where she is.” He looked down at his hands. “I don’t know if she’ll come back.”
Rose gasped. Henrietta’s eyes were about to fall from her head. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t she?”
It took effort to lift his head. The three of them were so anxious, so concerned for Eliza—they who had objected violently to her from the start. All it took was Eliza’s quiet charm, her openhearted warmth, her determined desire to be friendly, and all three of them had fallen in love with her—just as he had done. “When I began courting Eliza, you all wondered why. Not the sort of girl you pictured for me,” he said, looking at his mother. “Not the family connection you wanted,” he added to his sisters. “Not even the girl I pictured for myself, in all honesty. But I had little choice in the matter, because I was almost bankrupt and Eliza is an heiress.”
His mother’s mouth fell open. “What? No—no, that can’t be true. Your father—”
“Father left me little but debts and mortgages and delinquent loans. He spent his capital. He turned off most of the tenant farmers and converted profitable farmland into park and gardens.” He glanced at each sister in turn. “He wagered and gave away and spent everything, including all the funds that should have been dowries for Edith and Henrietta.”
Edith gasped. Rose looked like she might faint, both hands clutched to her throat. “I don’t understand! He always promised me he would provide for us—for the girls, for you, for the estate, for me...”
“He lied.” Hugh lifted one shoulder. “To everyone. I should have asked questions, but I never dreamt it could be so bad.” He sighed as his mother stumbled into a chair, her face white. “Eliza’s father wanted her to wed a gentleman. He decided I was a likely candidate, so he bought all the mortgages and debts of honor and unpaid bills... every scrap of paper Father ever signed pledging payment to anyone. I now owed Mr. Cross a fortune, and he made it clear to me that if I were to marry his daughter, all those debts would be forgiven. If I didn’t marry her, well, he might have to call the bailiffs on me.”
“That’s blackmail!” burst out Henrietta.
Hugh stabbed one finger in the air as affirmation. He was beginning to feel a bit drunk from lack of sleep. “So you see, I really did have to court her. But she...” He sighed, remembering how Eliza’s eyes had lit up when he called on her, how delighted she’d been even as she blushed in astonishment. “She was not what I expected. She was gentle, kind, sensible... She cut flowers from her own garden for her maid’s sister’s wedding. She’s as unlike her father as anyone could be. And so even in the face of unified opposition, I married her.” He paused. “I fell in love with her.”
“But then... what happened?” whispered Edith. “I’m sorry, Hugh, for how I behaved toward her—toward you—”
He waved his hand. “I know, Edith. Someone told her at the ball last night. A dear old friend of Father’s, actually. Sir Richard Nesbit.”
“Nesbit!” His mother lurched out of her chair, furious. “That scoundrel! He was never your father’s friend, such a putrid little mushroom of a man,how dare he!”
“He’s vile,” agreed Hugh.
“He... he’s also a friend of Lord Livingston,” said Edith, her voice quavering. “Mr. Benwick told me.”
Hugh merely nodded at this confirmation of what he’d already guessed. “I don’t know where Eliza’s gone. I suspect she’s with her friends, Lady Georgiana, and probably the Duchess of Ware as well. She sent a note to Lady Georgiana before she left last night.”
“Is she coming back?” Henrietta cried. “What are you going to do, Hugh?”
He rubbed his eyes. They felt gritty. “I don’t know.” He was too tired and heartsick to think right now.
“Oh, but you must go after her,” his mother exclaimed. “If you love her, you must.”
“I don’t know where she’s gone,” he pointed out again. “And I don’t know if she wants me still.” An image of his wife’s face, white with shocked horror and humiliation, flashed through his mind. “What if she no longer loves me?”
“No!”
“Of course she does!”
“You mustn’t think that, Hugh!”
He propped his elbows on the desk and rubbed his eyes again. “She knows I lied to her, all those times I called on her, courting her. Could you forgive someone that?” He looked at Edith. “It’s not far off what Benwick did to you.”
She flushed angrily. “It’s not nearly the same.”
Hugh hung his head. He had hurt Eliza deeply, which was exactly the same.
For a moment all was silent. Fuzzily Hugh wondered if he had been any better than Reggie Benwick. When he jilted Edith, everyone had agreed he no longer deserved her, and now his sister despised the man she had once believed she loved. And Eliza had thought her exactly right to do so...
His mother’s hand landed on the nape of his neck, cool and gentle. “Chin up,” she said softly. “Face forward.” Just what his father used to say. Hugh raised his head. Rose was pale but her expression was determined. “Eliza loves you, dear. It is clear in every word she says, every glance she sends your way. You must give her a chance to forgive you. You must go after her.”
