To Love and Protect (16 page)

***

Dumbarton was a town located on the River Clyde.
 
The air on the docks smelled of fish and unwashed bodies, making Clarissa’s stomach churn.
 
Justin paid some of the dockworkers to help get her father off the boat and into a rented wagon.
 
She watched as he shook hands with Captain Jack, and she waved to the old seaman.
 
People bustled everywhere.
 
He lifted her into the back of the wagon, and she halted his movements with a soft touch.

“Southerby, I don’t think Papa will make the trip.
 
He’s too weak.”

Justin looked in the back of the wagon and studied the old man.
 
As much as he wanted to argue, he had to agree with Clarissa’s assessment.
 
Hamilton looked as if he might not even make it through the night.

“Wait here,” he patted her hand and walked off into a group of men that hovered around the docks.
 
Clarissa watched as Southerby approached a youth among the group and began talking intently to him.
 
The boy nodded enthusiastically.
 
Justin walked the lad over to the stable where he had rented the wagon.
 
A man led out a sturdy looking horse by a pair of reins.
 
Clarissa watched as Justin helped the lad to mount bareback and put a few coins in his hand.
 
The boy nodded his head in understanding as Justin gave the last instructions and slapped the rump of the horse.
 
Horse and rider took off down the street.

Justin walked back towards the wagon and its occupants.
 
“He’s going to get Grams.”

“Do you know him?”

“No, but he needed the money and he knows there is more available when he returns.”

“How long will it take your grandmother to come here?”

“A day at the most.”

“Where are we going now?”

“My parents’ house.”

“What?”

“My parents have a home here in Dumbarton for when Da’ has business meetings.
 
It is close to the waterways making his travels faster than by land.”

“I see,” she said somewhat haughtily.

“No, I don’t think you do.
 
I didn’t tell you about it because I thought your father could make the journey to Grams.
 
Grams and Gramps hate the city, but they will come if it is an emergency.
 
I wanted to spare them the journey.”

“Will your parents be present?”

“They are in Italy,” he said, becoming silent and pensive.
 
She quietly observed the change in him.
 

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“More than you know.”
 
He climbed into the wagon beside the driver.
 
The horses began their slow journey to his parents’ small manor house.

 
They pulled up a half hour later in front of the house.
 
Justin had just climbed down when the door to the house crashed open and a young woman flew out the door, her raven hair sailing behind her.
 
“Justin!” she squealed in delight.
 

“Meggy!” he called back as he caught the creature as she flew into his arms.
 
The woman had dark hair and fair skin.
 
Clarissa found herself jealous of the woman he held tight in his arms.
 
Who was she?
 
“What are you doing here?
 
Aren’t you supposed to be at finishing school?”
 
The young woman looked sheepishly at him.
 
“Megan,” he groaned.
 
“Please don’t tell me you were kicked out of another one.”

“I think I’ve been kicked out of the country of Switzerland this time.
 
I only lasted a month this time,” she said impishly, her Scottish brogue thicker than Justin’s.

“Megan Elizabeth Southerby, where did ye hie yourself off too?” a female voice with a thick Scottish burr called from inside the house.

“You better go.
 
There’ll be time enough to tell me all about it later.”

“Justin, you just don’t know...”

“Later.
 
I am hazarding a guess that both Mamma and Da’ are home as well?”

“Yes.
 
When I got sent home, they picked me up and came home too.
 
I think I have been reprimanded in every country in Europe.”

“Tell Mamma I’m home and have company.
 
Also, have her send several footmen out here please.”
 
For the first time Meggy looked in the back of the wagon.
 
Her eyes widened at the sight before her.
 

“Oh, dear.”

“Go,” he turned her and gave her a little shove towards the house.

“Mamma,” he heard her yelling at the top of her voice.
 
Hell, most of Dumbarton probably heard her as well
, he thought ruefully.

“Your sister?” Clarissa asked, a smile flitting across her lips, the jealousy finally dying a slow death as she made the connection.

“How did you ever guess?”
 
He grabbed her around the waist and helped her out of the wagon.

“Justin, what are you doing back from London?”
 
A tall, statuesque woman with beautiful auburn hair emerged from the house, taking Justin into her arms and hugging him tightly.
 
Her Scottish brogue finished off her looks perfectly.
 
Clarissa watched her surreptitiously wipe away a tear before pulling away from him.

“Gertie,” Justin said in one word.

“Oh, dear.
 
What happened?”

“Can explanations wait until we get inside?
 
This is Clarissa Blackerby, and her father is in the wagon.
 
Are the footmen coming?”
 

“Yes, but I have an idea.
 
Come with me Miss Blackerby.”
 
Clarissa followed the woman into the house, feeling as if she had been struck mute.
 
The Countess of Southerby stopped the two footmen who were going outside.
 
“Take the parlor door off the hinges and take it outside with you.
 
It will be easier to manage your father that way,” she said.
 
Clarissa had difficulty making out her words.

“Hampton, please ready two guest chambers immediately.
 
After that have one of the maids ready Mamma and Papa’s chamber as well.
 
He did send for them, didn’t he?”
 
Clarissa nodded mutely.
 
“Good.
 
Come with me and we will gather some things that will help until Mamma can get here.”

“What about Justin?”

“His bedchamber is always kept ready,” the woman waved her hand airily.
 
“I never know when my son might appear,” she said breezily, as she wrapped a wool knit shawl around her shoulders.
 

Clarissa followed Justin’s mother through the kitchens and to the herb garden in the back.
 
Green leaves showed valiantly through the dusting of snow.
 
Lady Southerby picked several herbs and handed them to Clarissa.
 
The countess picked a few more items and then directed Clarissa to follow her back into the kitchen.
 
She instructed Cook to boil several of the herbs into a tea and steep the rest for a poultice.
 
“Mamma will be coming, so be prepared to lose the rights to your kitchen.”

“We’ll see ‘bout that,” the old woman harrumphed.

The countess laughed huskily and walked out of the room.
 
“Mamma and Cook have been the best of friends for ages.
 
Now let’s see if they have your father settled, shall we?”
 
Clarissa followed her up the stairs to the room indicated.
 
The men were rolling her father off of the door and onto the bed.
 
He looked so weak that Clarissa could not hold back the tears that gathered in her eyes.
 
The countess pulled her into her arms and whispered comfortingly to her.
 
She had not realized until that moment how much she missed having a mother.
 
“Justin, your da’ is in his shop tinkering.
 
Go get him to help you with Miss Blackerby’s father.
 
I’m going to take her to her room so she can freshen up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said obediently giving Clarissa a little wink before disappearing from the room.

“Papa might wake.
 
He might need me.”

“If he does, I promise to send for you.
 
Right now, you are exhausted and of no help to anyone.
 
I promise I will call for you.”

Clarissa walked over to her father and bent down to brush a kiss on his clammy forehead.
 
“Hold on just a little longer Papa.”

He opened his rheumy eyes and looked at her.
 
“Love you,” he said weakly.

“I love you, too, Papa,” she cried, happy to have heard his first words in days.
 
“Justin’s grandmother is going to help you and everything will be better, I promise.”
 
She leaned over and brushed a lock of silver hair off his forehead.
 
The duke fell asleep once more.

The countess put her arm around Clarissa and gently led her from the room.

Chapter 8

Justin entered the study clean and refreshed.
 
His mother, Maureen, and father, Edward, were sitting on the settee together talking and calmly waiting for him.
 
Justin cleared his throat announcing his arrival.

“I’ve already poured you a glass, son,” his father announced in his booming English voice.

“Thank you,” he walked over to the chair the glass sat by and lowered himself into it.
 
Not for the first time, he watched his parents and their actions.
 
They were not the typical
ton
match by any means.
 
His mother’s parents were Scottish clansmen who had fallen on hard times, and his father had been the son of an English merchant who accidentally inherited a title.
 
Edward had been overseeing business for his father when he met his future wife, Maureen, at a ball in Edinburgh.
 
Her parents had scraped together the last of their coins in order to try to win their daughter a wealthy Scottish husband who could save the clan from bankruptcy and poor management.
 

Maureen and Edward had set up clandestine meetings since their first encounter, because her parents did not approve of her being courted by an Englishman.
 
Finally, after weeks of covert assemblies, Maureen defied her parents, eloped, and married a Sassenach.
 
Justin’s parents claimed it had been love at first sight.
 
Edward had worked hard to get in the good graces of his in-laws.
 
He assisted them by figuring how best to use their land for investing, while allowing them to retain the rights to it.
 
It had not been automatic, but it had worked, and the clan had been saved.
 
That along with the birth of Justin and Jonathan within the first year of their marriage had forever won Edward the grudging respect of his father-in-law.

Seeing his parents show their affection for one another had always been prominent in Justin’s life.
 
Never, in all his time growing up, had they been ashamed to touch one another, to show their love and affection for one another.
 
They each had their eccentricities but neither seemed to mind, in fact it only seemed to make their love stronger.
 
Even now, his mother sat cuddled against his father, one of his arms wrapped around her, holding her securely to his side.
 
When he had to marry, that was the type of marriage he wanted.
 
He found his mind drifting to his blonde traveling companion that was even now, somewhere in this house, stripping out of her traveling clothes, and…

“Well, are you going to just sit there, or are you going to tell us what happened?” his mother asked breaking him out of his reverie and deflating the desire that had caused him to have an erection only moments earlier.
 
“She seems to have been through quite a lot.”

“Yes.
 
She is exhausted and deserves the rest.”
 
He took a drink of the stout Scotch whisky his father always kept on hand, willing the blush he could feel on his neck and cheeks to go away.
 
Justin leaned his head back and let the liquid burn a path down his throat to his stomach, enjoying the revitalizing feeling it left radiating from his very core outward.
 
“Mamma, I’m not even sure where to start.”

“You said Gertie started this.”

“Yes,” he quickly told them about the missive Gertie had sent and what had happened when he arrived.

“You mean that is the Duke of Hamilton upstairs?” his father asked.

“Yes.
 
Haven’t you met him before?”

“Yes,” his mother said, “but that was many years ago when we were in finishing school.
 
Hamilton had been on his Grand Tour and stopped by to see his favorite sister.
 
He married not many months after that visit.”

“To Clarissa’s deceased mother.”

“Yes.
 
He is much changed from the charming man that came to see his sister,” his mother mused.
 

“He has suffered, we’re just not certain how much.
 
It took us well over a week to locate him and then we just stumbled upon him.
 
He had been missing a month before that, so who knows how long he suffered at their hands?”

“How did you two find him?”