Reckless in Innocence ~ A #Free Historical Romance story ~ Part Thirty

Reckless in Innocence

for my Historical Romance readers ❤ © Jane Lark Publishing rights belong to Jane Lark, this should not be recreated in any form without prior consent from Jane Lark

Reckless in Innocence

~ Read the earlier parts listed in the index

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth

While Elizabeth paced the floor in her bedroom, Abigail stood still at the door. Elizabeth had not needed to tell her maid what Marcus had said. It was obvious that he’d refused to give his support.

“Is there anything that I may do, Miss?”

Elizabeth did not answer, she could not, her mind was a spinning top.

“Miss?” her maid urged again.

Elizabeth stopped her pacing and looked at the younger woman, she felt as though the world had collapsed inwards, self destructing. She had brought this on herself. Touch me. What a damned fool notion that had been.

How could she blame him for denying her? She could not, she could not because all this had been her fault.

But there was one thing she could do. She had one option left. Seeing as His Grace no longer cared what she did, he could hardly hold her to her promise.

“I will write a letter to Lord Percy. You must take it to him.”

“Not tonight, Miss. It is too late tonight.”

Too late. Elizabeth quickly calculated the hours that must have passed and realised that it must be nearly midnight. Too late, Abigail was right. It was too late to send her onto the streets. “Tomorrow then, Abigail.”

Tomorrow felt like forever away, and the night endless, as she laid awake, her fingers lying over the child in her stomach – Marcus’s child. When morning dawned her eyes were shadowed and her body sluggish as Abigail came to help her dress. But she knew what she must do with a cold certainty. It was not what she would have done by choice, but it was what she had to do to give her child security. She must accept Lord Percy’s offer to keep her.

But hours later her plans had borne no fruit and Elizabeth paced the floor of the parlour, as she had paced that of her bedchamber the night before, unable to just sit.

“If you do not stop, Elizabeth, you will wear the rug to threads!” Her mother looked up from a card game of patience, irritated by Elizabeth’s constant movement.

Elizabeth sat down, but in moments stood up again, unable to stay still. “What is the hour, Mama?”

“Just past noon, I believe. What are you waiting for?”

“I asked Lord Percy to call.” Her blue woollen shawl slipped slightly from her shoulder, and Elizabeth quickly pulled it back, knowing that it hid the open buttons at the back of her dress.

“You look ill, Elizabeth. Is there aught wrong?”

Elizabeth glanced back at her mother, gripping her shawl to stop her hands from fidgeting.

Ill? No, she was not ill. Shivering, she drew the shawl about her further.

If Lord Percy took her in, as she had requested in her letter, then it would not be to help her, it would be as his mistress and there would be a debt to pay, a debt she would pay with her body, a debt she would not welcome. But what choice did she have? She had thought of no other.

“Elizabeth, did you hear me? Is there aught wrong?”

Her eyes focused on her mother. Would her mother be able to think of something else? Could she offer Elizabeth another chance? Her parents had never helped her, other than in providing food and clothing. Would they help her now? A lifetime in her father’s household had seemed like purgatory a week ago, but now… Her situation was different. Her needs were greater and the possibilities had narrowed.

She made a swift decision. Perhaps another reckless choice. She would tell her mother.

As hopeless as Lady Derwent was, perhaps there was an answer that had not occurred to Elizabeth. Perhaps her father would care for the child?

“Mama, I am with child.”

Her mother stood and the pack of cards she held slid from her grasp. The playing cards tumbled to the floor, scattering across the Chinese rug, all about her feet.

Marcus

“I have won the wager, Tay, the lady is mine.” Percy waved a piece of paper in the air before Marcus’s face, as Marcus crossed the hall of White’s. “I will be able claim it within the week.”

The wager? Marcus stopped. She’d promised. Elizabeth had sworn to him that she would have nothing more to do with Percy. “What is this?” Marcus looked at the piece of paper which Lord Percy waved. Was that just another lie too, that she had never liked Percy.

“Your ploy obviously did not work, Tay. Whatever you did to Miss Derwent at Larchfield she returned desiring me. She has written to inform me that she intends to accept my offer. Read it for yourself.”

Marcus took the letter. He did not know her writing so there was no way of knowing if it was hers. His gaze fell to her signature first. It was signed Elizabeth.

Dear Lord Percy,

I am writing to you, my Lord, as I have given more thought to your proposal. I regret that I so rashly set it aside. I have given your offer greater consideration and I find myself more tempted. I wish to accept. I would be grateful if you would call today, as early as you are able, to discuss such an arrangement in more detail. Forgive me, but I must request your urgency in this matter my Lord, and expect you before noon.

I shall await you with much eagerness, and anticipate your honour and discretion in not discussing this with anyone.

Your servant,

Elizabeth Derwent

She’d taken the next best option beyond him then. Marcus folded the letter in half, unconsciously, and glanced at the clock. Ten after one. Percy had fulfilled neither request. Instead of going to her, he was bragging about his luck in White’s.

Loathing was the only word to describe Marcus’s feelings. He loathed the man, and if he did nothing and let this happen Percy would have Elizabeth. Percy would sleep with her and wake with her, and spend his days idling in her company.

Marcus’s gaze reached to the ceiling. Lord, he hated her as much as he loved her. He still seethed with anger at her skills of manipulation, but no matter how many times he’d listed all the reasons why he should not, he still loved her. He could not stand the knowledge. She deserved this bloody fate; she deserved a man such as Percy, but he could not bear to think of her with him.

Marcus gritted his teeth. He would not think of it. She had seduced him for his money. The woman he was in love with was not real. The woman he loved had been a lie.

Marcus thrust the letter back at Percy. This was her choice. He wanted nothing more to do with Elizabeth Derwent – and this was her choice – if she recklessly wished to ruin herself – it was her choice. He repeated the words as a chant laying all blame on her; she deserved a cruel, sadistic bastard like Percy. They would suit each other. He’d warned her half a dozen times. If she did not choose to heed him… Yet he still could not really wish that fate upon her… Damn it.

“Within the week, Tay, within the week, she shall be mine and the wager won,” Lord Percy gloated.

There would be hours to regret his words once they were spoken, but Marcus could not stand to see Percy’s look of victory. He’d take great pleasure in wiping the satisfaction from his face. There was another way to keep Elizabeth from Percy’s clutches. “I am afraid I have to disappoint you, Percy.”

Percy looked crestfallen, his face a picture that Marcus would love to preserve.

Marcus merely stared at him, speaking the truth without words.

“You took her virginity at Larchfield… You won…” Percy paused in his speech and Marcus watched the man’s internal calculation. “But it cannot be proven. You have no proof.”

Losing a wager was a shame that no gentleman sought, and Marcus could see that Percy was measuring his desire to lie and win against whether or not Marcus would announce his own success. Marcus knew Percy too well to believe for a moment that he could bear to know that he’d lost and pretend to have won. Percy was an evil bastard but he was prideful too.

Marcus smiled. Here was the blow that would seal the Campbell family’s revenge. “There, too, you are wrong. There is proof. Take on Elizabeth Derwent and you shall take on my bastard too. Elizabeth Derwent claims she is with child, my child.” Not for one moment did Marcus believe the claim was true, but if Elizabeth could play the card then so could he…

To be continued…

If you cannot wait until next week for more of Jane Lark’s writing there’s plenty to read right now 😀 And if you have read them all already, then there’s another treat out now, you can begin devouring, The Dangerous Love of a Rogue

To read the Marlow Intrigues series, you can start anywhere, but the actual order is listed below ~ and click like to follow my Facebook Page not to miss anything…

The Marlow Intrigues

The Lost Love of Soldier ~ The Prequel #1 ~ A Christmas Elopement began it all ~ The paperback would be a lovely stocking filler 😉

The Illicit Love of a Courtesan #2

Capturing The Love of an Earl ~ A Free Novella #2.5

The Passionate Love of a Rake #3

The Desperate Love of a Lord ~ A second Free Novella #3.5

The Scandalous Love of a Lord #4

The Dangerous Love of a Rogue #5

The Secret Love of a Gentleman #6

Jane’s books can be ordered from most booksellers in paperback and, yes, there are more to come 🙂

Go to the index

For

the story of the real courtesan who inspired The Illicit Love of a Courtesan,
another free short story, about characters from book #2, A Lord’s Scandalous Love,
the prequel excerpts for book #3 The Scandalous Love of a Duke

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romance stories, and the author of a No.1 bestselling Historical Romance novel in America, ‘The Illicit Love of a Courtesan’.Click here to find out more about Jane’s books, and see Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark

Reckless in Innocence ~ A #Free Historical Romance story ~ Part Twenty-nine

Reckless in Innocence

for my Historical Romance readers ❤ © Jane Lark Publishing rights belong to Jane Lark, this should not be recreated in any form without prior consent from Jane Lark

Reckless in Innocence

~ Read the earlier parts listed in the index

Elizabeth

When the front door slammed hard against the frame, Angela jumped, but Elizabeth was calm; calmer than she had ever been in her life. She had a child, Marcus’s child. Whatever happened she would protect it; she would ensure that it experienced nothing of the life, and the lack of love, that she’d known.

“They are here.” Angela stood at the sound of voices. Elizabeth rose too as the door to the drawing room was thrown open. It was Marcus, not Jason, who stood there.

There was no pleasure in his eyes. His face was like a thunder-cloud, anger oozing from every pore. Yet even so warmth surged through Elizabeth. He had been her place of security and comfort weeks ago, the feeling held. When she saw him it felt like seeing a light in a window, in the midst of a storm, a light which reached out and beckoned, calling this is the way home.

“Come, Angela, let us leave them to speak alone.” Jason appeared behind Marcus, and lifted a hand to encourage Angela to move away.

Marcus said nothing as Angela walked across the room, he merely watched her, and then, when she’d past him, he turned and clicked the door shut behind her. He did not immediately turn back, but rested his palm against the wood for a moment, leaning against it and breathing in before he finally turned back. His gaze was sharp and aggressive. She had only seen him in this mood once, and that had been the night he’d come out of hiding and dragged her across a ballroom to shout at her for flirting with other men.

She tugged at the ribbons of her bonnet as she became aware of her appearance. She was still dressed for the outdoors. Her hands shook as she pulled at an end to try to loosen the bow only to pull it into a knot. Marcus still said nothing and merely watched as she untied it.

How did a person have a conversation like this?

When she slipped her bonnet from her head her hair tumbled down her back and over her shoulders. She had merely wrapped it up and tucked it beneath her bonnet, not pinned it, because she had been in a hurry.

She gripped her bonnet firmly, terrified of how he would receive her, desperate to find the right words, yet there was no easy way to say what she must. “Marcus, I am carrying your child.”

“So Jason said.”

She had expected shock, or at least some exclamation, but nothing had prepared her for the cold indifference she faced. He knew… and he had still come in here and said nothing…

He said nothing now, merely regarded her with anger and disdain.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She wished to get away. She did not want to face this – to face the folly she had made of her life – falling in love with a man who returned no feelings for her. “I have made a mistake in coming here. You must forgive me. I should not have come. I shall go immediately. I am sorry to have bothered you.”

Marcus

The woman was still dressed in her walking attire, as he was still in his coat. She was like a damned apparition, pale, uncertain, the image of the Elizabeth he had first known, but not the Elizabeth he had first known. This woman was cold, callous and calculating, beneath that shy act she had.

Yet even so she was a sight for sore eyes. He hurt just at the vision of her. He had never seen her hair fully loose. She may be guilty of all the accusations he had made of her in the past week, and deserving of all the names he’d called her, but he could not deny her beauty. It sent him reeling, spiralling into memories he’d tried his hardest to forget. She looked deliciously dishevelled, vulnerable and in need of him, as no one had ever needed him. His heart ached as though it bled. But then he remembered how this woman had deceived him – how she could play him. This was just another ploy to win him, his title and his fortune…

Winding up her hair into a coil she slid her bonnet over it again and tucked the wisps away with shaking fingers.

A ploy, he told himself again. He had never seen her hair down, she had only revealed it to entice him further.

“If you will excuse me, Your Grace,” she mumbled, turning.

“Not yet. Not so quick, Elizabeth.” He stood in front of the door. “I have things that I would say to you before you leave.”

She froze at that, looking at him as though she did not understand his anger.

“I do not excuse you.” Marcus pressed. His irritation and disgust growing with each moment – he could not believe that she was still trying to play with him… He leaned towards her face with scorn. “I heard, Elizabeth. I know everything.”

She took a step back, looking at him as if he were mad, and reacting as if he’d raised a hand to slap her.

He straightened to his full height and his hands lifted to clap her, briefly, then fell to his sides. “I applaud you. You have led me a merry dance, and I have believed every bloody word, every look. All of it. All of this act to obtain my wealth. Did it begin with that adorably quiet girl? Or that dress? That dress, that night, the one which no other debutante would ever wear. I was duped completely, Elizabeth, entranced. If you had not begged you knew that I would never have touched you. Wonderful.” He put his hands together again for a second ovation. “Beautiful. You should become an actress. It would suit you in so many ways.”

Her chin rose, expressing defiance as she stood against him, her body denying that she’d done wrong.

“It was not planned. None of it was planned. That is not true. You spoke to me. I never approached you.”

Marcus shrugged. “What mother would take their innocent daughter to a gambling den? You went there deliberately after that night, and last week you said, no, in your room as though you were innocent and then like the coquette came to me dressed only in your nightgown. Perfectly timed, Elizabeth. So tempting. I nearly took you as my wife. You even admitted to me you only chased after others to make me jealous.” He laughed loudly, with detest for his own weakness. It had a bitter, not a humourous, sound

She walked forward and reached about his hip, to grip the door handle. “I would never have accepted you.”

Perhaps she thought, or hoped, that he would move out of her way. He did not.

“Liar.” His fingers gripped her chin, pulling her straight and lifting her gaze to meet his. “If that is true, why did you come here tonight? What good would there be in telling me that you have my child if you do not intend to make me care for it?” He smiled, the same threatening grimace he’d earlier thrown at his brother. He was cold inside, and the look he gave her felt like he cast ice at her. “You should not lie, Elizabeth, it does not suit you. You should not lie about your intent, and you should lie about the existence of a child… I will not be tricked.”

With that he’d had enough. He would let her go, let her walk from his life, and this time he was determined to forget her.

Letting his fingers fall from her chin, he stepped aside with a callous glance to the door. “Now you may go.”

She did go. She fled. Not looking at him as she opened the door and rushed out.

And that was an end to it.

He walked across the room, his breathing hard and fast, as his heart pounded out a heavy rhythm in his chest. He gripped the mantle over the hearth with one hand and leaned over the fire, holding his other to the heat, with his head bowed.

Someone opened the door behind him.

“You sent her away?”

Angela.

It was not an end then; there was still the recrimination from his family to be faced.

Marcus looked back. Angela was standing before the open door. “The girl is a liar.” He turned around and straightened his back to meet her disapproving gaze.

“At least you have a brother who has a heart. He has sent for the carriage to take her and her maid home.”

“Then you married well, Angela.” Marcus was unmoved. He knew the truth, Angela did not. Damn it, there was no point in remaining here. He walked across to the door. “I should leave.”

“Jason will wish to speak with you.”

“That is why I should go.” He gave her an uncertain smile, as he moved to pass her, but Jason appeared behind her.

“Coffee, Angela, please. I believe my brother does not have a clear head.”

When Angela turned and left, glancing at her husband, Jason entered the room.

He closed the door.

Marcus felt as though he was being penned in.

“You said you will do nothing for her…”

“She told you…”

“It was easy to guess from her expression.”

“It is a lie, Jason, I can assure you. I overheard her father. The whole seduction was planned. The girl’s family is poor. Her father used her to fish for a gullible, wealthy man, and I was he. Hooked, Jason, that was I. Well I will not be landed and left to bloody flounder.”

“I see a frightened young woman, Marcus, not a temptress, nor a schemer, and you are not as indifferent as you act.”

“Quite so, dear brother. Did I say that I was indifferent? I admit I am not indifferent at all. Unfortunately, I am madly in love with Elizabeth Derwent, but I am not about to be duped. Do not look at me that way, like you despise everything that I have done.”

“Not everything, just this. You are not the man I thought you were, not the elder brother I looked up to. Perhaps mother was always right. Perhaps you have the same wastrel character as our father after all. Mayhap it is Elizabeth who will be glad that she has had a lucky escape this day?”

Marcus glared at his brother, he was deliberately wounding him. “You know how to drive a blade in. I had not realised how harsh you could be. But it will not change my view, because I know what I heard, and I know I am right in this.”

“Angela has been patient with you, and the way that you have lived your life. I am lucky in my choice of wife that she has loved my brother as much as I, but she cannot forgive you this. You know that this is close to her heart. She will not stand by and watch you destroy that girl. You will not be welcome in our house again.”

Marcus shut his eyes for a moment, shutting his bother out. He’d always thought that nothing could come between himself and Jason, but Marcus’s will for self-destruction through debauchery had achieved even this supposedly impossible feat in the end. He opened his eyes and looked at Jason. It did not matter. He would not change his mind. “As you wish.” He nodded, in a formal harsh solute. “This is goodbye then.”

Jason did not respond, he merely stared, looking his disgust, and the lack of softness in his gaze told Marcus this break was irreparable.

Another fault he could curse Elizabeth with for the rest of his life. There was no more to be said. Jason stepped aside.

They shared no parting words as Marcus walked past and out of his brother’s life. Marcus should have always known this was where it would end. His mother had prophesied it and now it had come true. He was an outcast, not respected and not loved, not even by his own family. He was a self fulfilled prophesy.

To be continued…

To read the Marlow Intrigues series, you can start anywhere, but the actual order is listed below ~ and click like to follow my Facebook Page not to miss anything…

The Marlow Intrigues

The Lost Love of Soldier ~ The Prequel #1 ~ A Christmas Elopement began it all ~ The paperback would be a lovely stocking filler 😉

The Illicit Love of a Courtesan #2

Capturing The Love of an Earl ~ A Free Novella #2.5

The Passionate Love of a Rake #3

The Desperate Love of a Lord ~ A second Free Novella #3.5

The Scandalous Love of a Lord #4

The Dangerous Love of a Rogue #5

The Secret Love of a Gentleman #6

Jane’s books can be ordered from most booksellers in paperback and, yes, there are more to come 🙂

Go to the index

For

the story of the real courtesan who inspired The Illicit Love of a Courtesan,
another free short story, about characters from book #2, A Lord’s Scandalous Love,
the prequel excerpts for book #3 The Scandalous Love of a Duke