Enchanting the distant e.., p.1
Enchanting the Distant Earl, page 1
enchanting the distant earl
Regency Romance
Grace Fletcher
Copyright © 2019 by Grace Fletcher.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1 A Debt to Pay
Chapter 2 A New Life
Chapter 3 – Politics
Chapter 4 Arrival
Chapter 5 Empty Spaces
Chapter 6 Politics
Chapter 7 Quick &Terrible
Chapter 7 A Dinner Guest Too Many
Chapter 8 Accusations
Chapter 9 Unwelcome Advances
Chapter 10 To a Head
Chapter 11 Revelation
Chapter 1
A Debt to Pay
Abraham Thomson was a gambler.
Though he was a well-respected man, he was also prone to a good wager and could often be found placing money on any number of things, but most likely to be found at a card game.
Benjamin Lodge, the Earl of Sudbury, was a keen card player himself. He had little need to put money down, given his status and own profession, but he was not above the occasional wager. Though he had little time for Thomson as a person, he was more than willing to take the man’s money.
After a few bad wagers—and equally bad hands—Abraham Thomson was several hundred pounds in debt with Sudbury.
“I will be collecting the debt,” Sudbury met and held Thomson’s gaze. His expression was hard, holding every ounce of power and promise that he possessed.
“Lord Sudbury,” Thomson said, swallowing around the obvious lump in his throat. “I have a family.”
There was the familiar clench of Sudbury’s stomach when he thought about putting any family in danger, even if it was through another man’s greed and weakness. However, he could not be seen to let Thomson out of his debt lest he lose all respectability of society.
“Perhaps you should have thought of them before placing such a large wager.”
Thomson rubbed at his face. The remnants of the evening’s entertainment were still spread out on the table. The cards were stacked in a neat pile, but the ashtrays were full and there were several discarded tumblers with half-consumed drinks. Thomson looked at each of them in turn before meeting Sudbury’s gaze.
“I have nothing to give you,” Thomson protested. He tapped his fingers on the table nervously. “I have little left to my name, we have to vacate our house before the month turns.”
Sudbury was not accustomed to hearing a man’s sob story and finding himself affected by it. True, he was not swayed by the emotion in Thomson’s voice. More by the family he had left behind.
“You have a wife?”
“And a daughter,” Thomson said, wiping at his brow. He was definitely a man of little means, and Sudbury’s heart went out to his wife and child. They were the ones suffering, of course, though he had little recourse to help them.
“How old?” Sudbury asked. He might have been a cold man, but he was not completely heartless.
There was a familiar look of intrigue on Thomson’s face, though Sudbury could not place why.
“She is of age,” Thomson said. “Turned nineteen a few months ago."
“Indeed,” Sudbury said, picking up his own tumbler and swirling the liquid around the bottom. He could feel his brow furrow as he contemplated his options. There was always demanding whatever money Thomson made from now until his debt was paid, something that would be long-lasting and would not suit Sudbury at all. If Thomson was to be without his house at the turn of the month, then Sudbury could not take that either.
With no parents left alive, and a house that was fast turning cold and lifeless, what Sudbury was in desperate need of he could not seem to acquire. Until Thomson had landed at his table.
“Your debt,” he began, sliding his tumbler across the table and standing abruptly, towering over Thomson. “It shall be void if you give me your daughter’s hand in marriage. Likewise, I shall pay to relocate you and your wife to a house in the country that I no longer wish to claim ownership of.”
It was, perhaps, a little more than Sudbury would otherwise have offered, but he was determined.
“You have yet to meet her, my lord,” Thomson said with a little concern.
“It is of no consequence. She is young and hard working?”
“Yes,” Thomson said, voice wavering. He looked white as a sheet, but there was no hint that he was going to run and refuse Sudbury’s offer. It was just as well; Sudbury would hate to have to call on the law to corral Thomson and bring him to justice for running out on a debt.
“Very well.” Sudbury nodded his head once, sharply. “Then she will make an adequate wife.”
Sudbury sounded disinterested even to himself and he winced internally. It was not that he longed to be despised by those around him. He had a family once before they were struck down with illness. Now that he was immersing himself in politics and the running thereof, it would be a wonderful thing to have a companion to share his life with. Thomson’s daughter would no doubt be looking for a suitable match herself, especially with a father who had little regard for her future.
Sudbury could offer her a life she would not be afforded with her father in control.
Thomson did not answer for a long while. He seemed to be caught staring at the cards, brow furrowed as if they were to blame for his own atrocious attitude and decisions. “I will have to talk to my wife.”
Sudbury sighed. “I suggest you do it soon. With no house and this debt,” he said, indicating the table Thomson was still sat at, “it would be a shame if I had to drag you back here to pay up.”
Without waiting for the reply, Sudbury left the room, indicating to his housekeeper, Mrs. Reeves, that she should clear up when he was gone.
“And have Mr. Thomson shown the way out.”
“Indeed, my lord,” Reeves said, her mouth quirking up at the corner.
It was not the kind of familiarity other houses would tolerate, but the Reeves family had been with Sudbury’s for as long as he could remember. He would often hear his father talk of Mrs. Reeves’s grandfather taking tea up to his grandparents. Mrs. Reeves had been a staple of the household and she was yet another reason Sudbury was content with his choice.
Though she could not possibly know what Miss Thomson would be like, nor what her name could be, he had every faith that she would guide and instruct the young lady on the proper etiquette and behavior befitting a lady.
Sudbury had no interest in throwing a party to find a suitable wife. With Thomson’s debt in hand, he would lose little in the way of public opinion and may even rise in estimation if he came out of a card game with a wife.
It was, he supposed, not a terrible turn of events.
Chapter 2
A New Life
Miss Caroline Thomson could hear her mother crying.
It had been barely an hour since the door had opened; her father coming home from another card game with little to no money left in his pockets. Caroline loved her father dearly. He had once been a proud and successful man, but when Caroline’s brother had been killed during the fighting, both her father and mother had seemed to lose what little hold they had on a semblance of a normal life.
Turning to drink and gambling, her father squandered the family money. Her mother grieved almost endlessly, seeming to forget that she had a daughter, barely turned seventeen when her brother had been killed.
Caroline did her best to be a model daughter, but it was difficult when she had little to call her own and had parents about whom society would often gossip and deride. Caroline was desperate to find work and often found herself turned away for lack of experience. She had discovered that it had more to do with her lineage than her skill level. It was difficult; she thought uncharitably, to gain experience when you were barely of age.
“We cannot,” her mother was saying when Caroline took a seat on the top step. She did not often spy on her parents, nor listen in to their conversations, but she was aware of how few days they had left in the house, and how close she was coming to losing everything she held dear.
“We do not have a choice,” her father said. Even he sounded close to heartbreak. At her mother’s sob, her father seemed to sigh. Caroline wished she could see what they were doing. “I have no choice. I have made some grave mistakes, but none such as this.”
Her mother didn’t say anything for a long while, and Caroline wondered if she should retire to bed. Her parents would tell her if it was something she needed to know, or if she pressed them to tell her. Before she could make up her mind, her mother sighed. “Perhaps if I were to speak to him.”
“Mary,” her father said, sounding apologetic. “I would never have left that house if I thought I could talk him out of it. It’s the Earl of Sudbury. He is not the kind of man you can dissuade.”
H
In the sitting room, her mother was sitting on the sofa next to her father, the two of them barely touching. It was not strange to see. Caroline could not remember the last time they had been as close as they used to be. Since Nicholas had died.
“Mother,” Caroline said, hovering in the door way. She could see the tear stains on her mother’s cheeks, the handkerchief she was clutching in her fist. “Whatever is the matter?”
“Caroline.” Her mother’s eyes widened, before her face seemed to crumple and she once again started to sob.
Her father, with more of a hold on his emotions, raised his head and met her gaze unflinchingly. “Your mother is upset,” he began, as if Caroline could not see that for herself. “I am afraid I got into a spot of bother this evening.”
Caroline nodded. “A card game.” Her father looked momentarily surprised, then ashamed. Caroline did not know how he could. “Father, it is not as if I do not hear what people say. I know we have very little money and that you owe many a man a debt.”
Her father flinched, and though Caroline might have taken it back a few years ago, and despite the love she carried for him, there was little love there that was not consumed with anger.
“What have you given away this time?”
Her mother stared at her, looking distraught. “We had little else.”
“It is alright, Mary,” her father said, squeezing her mother’s hand and looking up at Caroline. “I am afraid I had but one thing of value to the Earl of Sudbury.”
“What could a man like that possibly want from us?”
Caroline had expected any manner of things; perhaps what little possessions they had left to their name. He could not take the house, of course, for that no longer belonged to them. He could not take the horse in the backyard, fit now only for the knacker’s yard. “Am I to work for Lord Sudbury?”
“No,” her father said slowly, though he looked intrigued, like he had not thought of the possibility. “He has asked for your hand in marriage.”
Stunned, Caroline did not know what to say. Though she was of age, she had never allowed herself to think about the concept of marriage. She had once or twice when Nicholas had still been alive. Since her father’s incessant gambling, and her mother’s grief seemed to consume her energy, Caroline had little time to think of anything but keeping the house in order.
The idea of being the bride to an Earl, and one who was as politically minded as Sudbury, was almost too much to consider.
“When?” Caroline asked, unable to comprehend what was being asked of her.
“He did not specify a date,” her father admitted. “I said that I would return here and speak to your mother.”
“You think he will change his mind?”
The ensuing silence was perhaps enough to know for sure, but then her father shook his head, white in the face and apologetic. “I fear that he has come to a decision and will not be moved from it.”
Chapter 3 – Politics
Sir Thomas Reed, a lord in his own right and one seated within the House, was a regular visitor at Sudbury’s estate. Sudbury had no particular opinions on the man himself. If they had not been political allies, he doubted they would ever have cause to meet and form a friendship. They had like minds about certain aspects of the government, however, and if Sudbury was going to climb the political ladder, he needed Reed on his side.
“So, you’ve bagged yourself a wife,” Reed said, before he’d fully stepped through the door. He shrugged off his coat, holding it out for Mrs. Reeves to take, and Sudbury caught the raised eyebrows of his housekeeper, but said nothing. He often trusted her advice and opinions, and the fact that she didn’t like Reed was worth noting, though Sudbury wasn’t about to cut the man off completely.
Sudbury wasn’t enamored with the choice of words himself. “We are to be wed.”
Though he would not be meeting Caroline until the day of their wedding, Sudbury was content with that. Most people wouldn’t, especially given the circumstances of their marriage, but Caroline had requested it be that way and Sudbury had been inclined to agree. He had little reason to doubt she would back out; he trusted the circumstances of her family would be reason enough, and despite how he might come across, he was determined to have her looked after.
“Come,” Reed said, drawing Sudbury back into the present and leading the way to Sudbury’s own drawing room. It left a bad taste in Sudbury’s mouth, but he followed, aware that Reed was his way into the party’s upper echelons. “There are things we must discuss regarding the party and its direction.”
Sudbury fell into step with Reed easily, the conversation between them swift and informative. It was always exhausting, talking politics, and though it was a world that Sudbury was both keen to get into and interested in, sometimes he found himself relieved when Reed was too busy. Thankfully, it was mostly money that Reed relied on to get him where he needed to be, but unfortunately, there was also a lot of public appearances and words on record that needed to occur to have the public appreciate and support him as a peer.
“It all seems rather convoluted,” Sudbury said, seated behind his desk, fingers steepled in front of him.
“Perhaps it would have been better were you born into the House,” Reed said, waving a hand. “Though it is not impossible to get you what you want.”
“Provided you are likewise supported?” Sudbury asked, raising his eyebrows.
Reed’s smile was all teeth and promise. “It cannot be helped now, of course, but a political wedding might have helped your cause.”
Sudbury was not concerned with that. There were few women he would have wanted for a wife before Caroline became his best candidate. No child of a current lord sitting in the House was as appealing. True, he had not yet seen Caroline in person, and it would take some burying to keep the true circumstances of their match from the press, but it was not impossible.
“No matter,” Reed said eventually, when it was clear Sudbury was not going to answer. “We can use your marriage to this–”
At the pause Sudbury inclined his head. “Her name is Miss Caroline Thomson.”
“Miss Thomson—we can use your match to our advantage. It will not matter what she does, or her father does, it will not matter who her relations are. By the time we have spun the stories with the press, she will be a media darling.”
Sudbury wasn’t altogether sure he wanted a media darling for a wife, especially one a stranger to the world, let alone the life of a politician’s wife, but that would come later. There was no guarantee that he would make the party, so it could still become a moot point.
“Very well,” Sudbury said.
“When does she arrive?” Reed asked, leaning back in his chair, cigar dangling from his fingers. Sudbury didn’t normally allow it in the drawing room, but he knew to pick his battles.
Sudbury gave Reed the necessary information about Caroline’s arrival and their wedding plans, surprised when Reed started to take notes, his expression thoughtful. It seemed like a lot of work to get Sudbury into the House, though when he mentioned it, Reed laughed gently.
“There is nothing too pertinent for me to know about your situation. The party will go far, providing we are both supportive and kept up to date on the other. Together we can drag the party, kicking and screaming need be, into the future.”
It was more, perhaps, than Sudbury wanted. A politician, yes, but he had little drive to become a person of note within the party. He knew that being a member would aid the ailing estate in the long term, but he had to be careful before then. Making enemies, even though it would aid his own cause, was not going to help Sudbury’s situation.
“Well,” Reed said eventually, when he had clearly exhausted Sudbury’s goodwill and patience, “I must get back to London.”
Sudbury would have to start going into the city himself, eventually. As he had yet to advance to the party itself rather than just a benefactor, there was nothing for him in London that he could participate in. Politics really was a murky and confusing business.
Mrs. Reeves was waiting in the entrance hall with Reed’s cloak. She was standing stiffly, her smile the wrong side of polite, but Reed didn’t seem to pick up on it.
