His Christmas Nymph (6 page)

He told me I had to marry the woman I loved—that I could not allow any other woman to turn my head and seduce me. He said those acts came with frightful consequences—those consequences being me. He had to marry my mother quickly so I
would not be born a by-blow. By all accounts, at least from those I’ve heard from others and from my own dear Mama, my father truly loved your mother, and I believe he loved her until his dying day.”

This was too much. Oh, her poor dear mother! The pain she must have felt by being denied the man she loved. Dryness prickled at the back of her throat. Her head started to spin. Her hands felt clammy, and streaks of silver light crossed the blackness that swept her gaze. She felt so very lightheaded.

“I think I just might faint,” she muttered, looking for some kind of support.

She felt sick. Her world was spinning around her. Now she knew why she’d always been kept away from Whitney Park. Now, it all added up. 

Both men rushed to her side. She swatted Edward away, and sank against her father.

“Take me home, Papa. I no longer want to look upon the Duke.”

Steel entered Edward’s blue eyes. Something changed within his gaze. He looked devilishly determined. The soldier inside of him was coming out. 

She didn’t really want to leave him—she only wanted to leave him on principle. His family had wronged her mother and she couldn’t
, in all good faith stick it out with him. Even if her heart pained and she felt faint at the very prospect of never seeing him again.

“If you leave this house, your family must also leave Banbury House, posthaste. I will not have you trespassing on my family’s charity any longer.”

His words were purposely cruel, and struck to the quick, even though she could see he forced himself to say them. He was grasping now. He was trying to throw his weight around—and he would have succeeded, had she cared what happened to her family—or had she cared what happened to herself.

Her father would find a way, he always did, and she didn’t care about Gertrude. Gertrude had a strong constitution, she would
be able to weather this storm. She would moan and groan and Caroline didn’t know if she could stand listening to her go on about the whole sorry state of affairs. The woman could whine better than a petulant child.

The sound of a huge commotion met their ears. The dogs sat up and barked and ran to their master’s side.

“Where is my son?” A woman’s voice met their ears. The voice was strong and sounded faintly of a French accent.

The L
ibrary doors burst opened. Two footmen flanked the doors. The vision in vibrant red that stood in the doorway commanded Caroline’s gaze. It was as if she’d been spellbound. This woman was not quietly reserved like her son. No indeed, she was a woman who wanted the attention of everyone in the room. In fact, she commanded it!

“Teddy!” the woman cried, opening her arms. “Come and kiss your dear Mama,” she said.

The woman spoke in such an affected way that she must have been acting. Though she looked as if she didn’t have a care in the world and only adored her son, Caroline could see her assessing the tense scene she’d walked in on. She was studying her and her father most intensely.

Surprisingly enough, he obeyed his mother. She engulfed him in a tight hug and then allowed him to kiss each of her cheeks.

“Such a handsome boy.” She smiled, and patted his cheek lovingly, and in that moment, Caroline saw genuine emotion cross her beautiful features. No matter how she might seem, the woman did love Edward.

The D
uchess’ beauty put Caroline’s looks to shame. She had the face of a Goddess!

“Who are these people, Teddy? Come, you must introduce your Mama to them.”

He sighed. “My apologies, Mama. This is Mr. Griffiths and his daughter, Miss Caroline Griffiths. Mr. Griffiths, Miss Griffiths, this is my mother, Genevieve Rochester, Duchess of Whitney.”

Caroline curtsied obediently and her father bowed. In return, Genevieve delicately inclined her head to them.

“Your Grace, we shan’t tread on your kindness much longer. My daughter is quite tired, I must get her home. She’ll need her strength for when we leave Banbury House tomorrow for my brother’s Estate, Carlton Abbey.”

“I seem to have walked in on something quite important. Whatever is afoot, Teddy?” The Duchess looked at him, her vibrant green eyes dazzling with curiosity. She was fair haired from what Caroline could ascertain even though her vibrant crimson colo
ured turban covered most of her head.

“I have asked for Miss Griffiths hand in marriage.”

She looked taken aback by this announcement. “Are you in jest, my son?”

“No, Mama, I am gravely serious.”

“Ah, you love her?” she asked softly, studying Caroline from head to toe. She didn’t seem disappointed by her assessment but her scrutinizing made Caroline feel as if she were a racing filly instead of a young woman. 

Edward nodded his head and looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was at the moment. Caroline had the exact same sentiment.

“He cannot have her,” Benjamin said vehemently. 

“Who are you to say that my Teddy can’t have what he wants?”

“I am Caroline’s father. I will not let her marry this man. Your son is a scoundrel, Madam.”

“Are you a scoundrel, Teddy
, darling?” she demanded, her eyes twinkling merrily.

“I suppose I am,” he admitted ruefully.

She tittered out laughter. “So, drool. I am so very entertained. I worried I would be bored in the Country, Teddy, but Town wasn’t the same without you there, and I couldn’t bear the thought of spending Christmas without you! You might like to know that Lady Myrtle missed you desperately.”

“I am not acquain
ted with this Lady Myrtle, Madam, but she is welcome to this cad—this blackguard! Come now, Caroline, we are leaving!” Benjamin announced. 

Her father
started to make his way to the library doors, with her in tow, and they found themselves quite blocked by his mother. She made a better wall than a door. Her dazzling eyes hardened.

“I found you calling my son a scoundrel amusing, Mr. Griffiths, as my son needs to be
a bit wild every now and then. Why he doesn’t have half as much fun as I think he should have. However, when you called him a cad and then a blackguard, I was not amused, you shall apologize this instant!”

“I stand by what I said, Madam
.”

“Then, Mr. Griffiths, you may leave Whitney Park, and never return. If I see you I shall have you forcefully removed. Go now with your pretty little daughter.
Good day to you, Miss Griffiths. I am sorry you had to witness such a sorry scene.” The Duchess nodded solemnly at Caroline, scowled red hot daggers at Benjamin and then gestured to the Library doors. “Leave at once!”

Her father obeyed and she walked stiltedl
y behind him. As they left the Library, she glanced once behind her and met Edward’s gaze. He looked as miserable as she felt.

They quickly left the grand house. She climbed into the carriage in a daze and stumbled as she reached the inside. She settled back on the seat and closed her eyes against the dull pain radiating at her temples. Her energy had completely left her. She was fagged to death. And now she had a fit of the blue-devils. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up in her bed. She would sleep her troubles away.

Her father’s insistence that they leave Banbury House vexed her greatly. The thought of leaving the house she’d grown up in and spent so many happy hours in made her want to cry. The fact that they would leave that house to go to her miserly uncle’s Estate made her want to ball her eyes out. She couldn’t go there. She had done everything else that her father had commanded of her—but she would put her foot down at going to her uncle’s place.

Her father sat opposite her. They regarded each other in stony silence. She resented her father for keeping so much from her all of these years and he, in turn, probably resented her for allowing him to walk into what he viewed as a trap.

“You should have confided in me, Caroline.” His voice was soft and completely lacked the anger she believed he felt toward her.

“I don’t have much chance to talk to you the way your wife hovers around you so much, and quite frankly, I didn’t thi
nk you would find offense at a duke asking for my hand. I believed you thought me worthy of such a match.”

“Of co
urse I do. You are worthy of a prince’s hand…nay a king’s hand, but you are not worthy of that man’s hand. Or to be more to the point, he is not worthy of you. You are far above him in the world, my dear. You are an unblemished jewel.”

“I don’t want to go to Uncle Harold’s place. He won’t be pleased to see us, he never is. He likes to rule over that little Estate of his like an autocratic monarch. His tenants live in abysmal conditions and that poor wife of his looks absolutely done
in every time we go to visit. No, he makes Gertrude look like a saint!”

“He might not like seeing us, but he will give us shelter unti
l I can figure out our next course of action. He is, after all, my brother. I will have to give notice to those who live in my house in Wales. Nonetheless, Gertrude will not be pleased. She will not like living in Wales. It might as well be on the other side of the world according to her.”

“He might be your brother but he’s never treated you like a brother. Alas, we have few options at our disposal, but I’d rather boar
d a ship bound for the Colonies then be forced to languish in that depressing place he calls a home, even if it is for a short amount of time! I don’t even think I can bear to live with Gertrude in Wales. She will wail so much, Papa. She will never let you live it down!”

“I know, Caroline,
” he said softly.

“We might have had other options, had you not married someone who draws the bustle too freely. We were purse-p
inched before you married her. After you married that woman we have been brought very low. We have been brought to a point of non plus, Papa. We are in an absolute hobble! We have absolutely no other options except for one. I could have unburdened you. I could have given you your freedom from being my parent.”

“Is that what you think I want?” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “I have lost your mot
her, I lost your brothers. Do you honestly believe I want to free myself of you? Why do you think I frown on you going to be with your aunt in Boston? I can’t bear to have you so far away and I can’t bear to have you away from my protection. I won’t outlive you, Caroline. You are the only precious thing I have left in my life!”

“You have Gertrude,” she pointed out sullenly, looking away from him to stare through the carriage window at the scenery that rushed past them. 

“Fiend seize it! Gertrude be damned straight to hell! That infernal woman is a bloody shrew. I never should have married her. There I’ve said it. I had a moment of weakness, and she exploited it. I should have married a better woman, but she is a shark, and she had her sights set on me. I am not used to navigating such dangerous waters, Caroline—I had your mother. She didn’t think like most women. In fact, she thought like you. Honest and true to the very core. The duke is a rake like his father! I won’t let you marry someone who won’t stay faithful to you. I won’t have you go through that heartbreak.”

“How do you know that the d
uke is like his father? You barely know him.”

“I could say the same thing about how well you know him. You don’t know him as well as you should. You met him yesterday, he has not courted you the way that most young men court the women they set their caps on.”

“We might not have enjoyed a long courtship, but we have a connection. It sizzles between us and we can’t deny it. I confess, Papa, I can’t explain it to you, there are just no words to convey what I felt when I first was in his company. I just know that we share something impossible to define.”

He looked away from her. “We shall not speak of this agai
n. You will obey me, Caroline. You are my daughter. I’ve never asked anything else from you. You owe me this much.”

She wanted to say that she owed him nothing and yet, she couldn’t. He had been a loving father. He’d never raised his hand to her in anger, or been hard with her in any way. Loathe as she was to admit it, she did owe him, and she would stay with him until she could convince him to let her go. She wouldn’t take another man, not after seeing the way Edward had looked when he thought he was losing her.

The myriad of emotions storming across his face had affected her deeply. She could still see the look of anguish in his beautiful blue eyes. She closed her eyes against the pain, and hated herself when hot tears started to trickle down her face.

They hit a bump in the road, and she grimaced as she bounced on the seat.

“What in the world?” Her father sounded astonished. She couldn’t understand what could give him such a shock, after all, hadn’t they been through enough today? It had to be pretty impressive if it was affecting him so.

  “What is it?” she asked.

“It’s someone I thought I wouldn’t see this Christmas,” he grumbled.

“Who is it, Father?”

“Georgia. It’s your Aunt Georgia.”

* * * * *

“Cheer up, Teddy. It could be worse, you might have had that awful man as your father-in-law, perish the thought!”

They sat eating their luncheon. Edward looked at the crystal on the table and resisted the urge to start smashing it all.

She must have seen the look of high dudgeon on his face. “Pray, do not abuse the crystal, Teddy. If you must, vent your frustration and go and shoot something. It’s just what your father would have done. You can take the hunting dogs and go and have fun. Or you could go for a ride—you do so love horseback riding.”

“I don’t want to shoot anything, Mama, and I don’t want to go for a ride. I only want to explain myself to Caroline. She believes me to be a loathsome liar.”

“From what I saw on her face, she does not hate you, Teddy. You must not think so much of her. She is a passing fancy, you will move on…maybe with Lady Myrtle…”

He slammed his hand done on the table, causing everything to rattle, and his mother to jump in her seat.