Beauty and the Earl Read online

  Chapter Nineteen

  Liam hated the tremble in his voice as he spoke the question. He hated the fact that his expression likely revealed far more than he would have his sister see. But Ava didn’t shy away from the raw emotion on his face. She didn’t react to it at all, except to lean forward and take his hand in hers.

  “My dearest brother, I realize I betrayed you, perhaps far more than I ever intended to do,” she said softly. “But you must understand the depth of my desperation. We have been estranged for so long. I have reached out to you over and over again, but none of my attempts met with any success. I had to get to you somehow. I had to ensure you were well by any means.”

  He tightened his jaw. When she put her feelings that way, he could see why she would reach for such desperate measures. He could also see the role he’d played to place her in that utter torment.

  “I realize I’ve hurt you by my actions. I never wanted that. But seeing you is so very difficult,” he admitted. “Because of him.”

  “Him,” she repeated, her eyes going softer and filling with both trepidation and love. “You mean my husband. You mean Christian.”

  He nodded once, unable to say more on the subject. That would have to change soon enough, he knew, but he was still adjusting to that reality for now.

  She sighed. “For nearly two years he has done nothing but love and protect me, Liam.”

  “Was sending Violet here his idea or yours?” he asked.

  She arched a brow and her mouth grew tight. “Mine, actually. He didn’t approve for a very long time, but when he saw I wouldn’t be dissuaded, he did as I asked and looked for the right woman for the job. He determined that would be Violet. He vetted her. He introduced us.”

  Liam squeezed his eyes shut. “Great God.”

  She didn’t respond, and when he looked at her again, there was a deep sadness on her face. “You cannot blame him for this, Liam,” she whispered, releasing his hand abruptly. “He is not the villain in this play.”

  It was hard to agree to that, for Christian had been the villain of every play for so long. And yet she was right. Damn her, but she was utterly right.

  “Why now?” Liam asked in order to avoid the subject of Rothcastle as much as find out the answer.

  She blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “As you said, we have been estranged for such a long time. What drove you to suddenly seek such drastic remedies to that problem?”

  Ava sighed and in answer, rose to her feet. Slowly, she smoothed her high-waisted gown down flat across her body and revealed the burgeoning swell of a child growing within her.

  His breath caught and he slowly rose to his feet and stared at her. She nodded at the unspoken question in the air.

  “I’m having a baby,” she whispered. “And you are my brother and I love you. I want you to be an uncle to this child. I want him or her to know you.”

  Liam swallowed hard as emotion rushed over him. He was shocked by the news of her pregnancy, but further shocked by his own reaction to it. Immediately and without warning he felt protective toward the baby inside of her. More to the point, he felt love for his future niece or nephew, regardless of the child’s father.

  “Do you understand now?” she asked, searching his face.

  “I understand more,” he said, retaking his seat with a thud. She did the same, though she sat on the edge, watching his every move. “But having Violet seduce me, pretend to care about me…that goes very far, Ava.”

  She shook her head. “You judge Violet too harshly, Liam. She didn’t pretend anything—it is evident she cares for you. Even if she wishes she didn’t.”

  Liam turned his face. Could that be true or was his shrewd sister perpetrating another lie in the hopes it would soften him?

  “And yet she betrayed me,” he said, his voice rough.

  “On my orders,” Ava pointed out softly.

  Liam looked at her, brow arched. “Are you trying to make me angry with you too?”

  She smiled slightly. “No. I already know what your anger can do. What I want you to do is forgive both Violet and I for our parts in the past few weeks.”

  Liam squeezed his eyes shut. How he wanted to do just that. To forget everything. But unlike his sister, he wasn’t certain of Violet’s feelings. And unlike Malcolm, he still had a great many barriers that separated him from the woman he…

  Well, how he felt about her wasn’t something he wished to analyze too deeply.

  “Forgiveness isn’t easy for me,” he finally said.

  She nodded. “I realize that. I understand it even. Our father didn’t preach forgiveness, only hate.”

  Liam flinched. “Indeed, that is true.”

  He thought of their father. A hard man, a man driven by his inexplicable feud with the Rothcastle family. A man who railed at his son until Liam had the same prejudices. Even long dead, Liam could still hear the old earl’s voice close to his ear.

  Never forgive them. Stop being weak.

  He shook the sound from his head and sighed. “He gave no quarter to anyone,” he said softly.

  She nodded, deep sadness in her eyes. “But he isn’t here anymore, Liam. He isn’t here, and I am. I’m asking you to be bigger than he was. To be better than he was. To learn from the mistakes all those generations of bitter men made, from the damage you and Christian did. Please.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. There was such hope in her stare, but even more than that there was faith. Faith that he could do this impossible task she asked of him. Faith that there could be peace.

  Faith he found himself wishing he could share. Wondering if he could share in it…

  “I want to speak to your husband.”

  He heard his voice say it and realized it was true.

  Ava’s hands gripped the arms of her chair, and she shivered from head to toe.

  “Liam—” she began, fear lighting in her eyes and trembling in her voice.

  He shook his head. “You want this to end, you want me to be part of your life again, you want me to learn this forgiveness you claim is possible…but I’m afraid all those wishes are tied to Rothcastle. We must speak at some point in order to grant you those things you desire.”

  Ava considered that a moment. “May I stay?”

  He drew a deep breath. Having Ava in the room would complicate things between he and Rothcastle. Sisters had always tended to do that.

  “Let me see him alone,” he insisted.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “Fine. I will stay away, but only on your promise that you won’t hurt him, Liam.”

  He stared at her, quivering with worry, hands clenching at her sides reflexively, bright eyes sharp with emotion.

  “The time for that has long passed, Ava,” he said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t do that to you, to your child. I swear it on my life.”

  And for the first time, he found he meant it.

  “I’ll fetch him,” Ava said, moving toward the door.

  “Good,” Liam murmured as she stepped away and down the hall to her husband. To a man he had called an enemy his entire life.

  Only now he didn’t know what to call him. And he could only hope he might figure it out before they came face to face in a showdown that had been coming from the moment each man had been placed in a cradle.

  Violet sat in the window seat at the home she had left only a few days before. It felt like a lifetime, but somehow it wasn’t. She stared toward the long road that led from Bath and toward Liam’s estate, just a short ride away.

  So close. So far.

  A servant came in quietly and Violet glanced over. She had been without Rachel almost since her arrival in London. The Duke of Rothcastle had helped her find a place in Romwell, a pretty cottage judging by the sketches. She had offered on the place and Rachel had been sent ahead to prepare it for her and for her son.

  That was how quickly the duke could arrange things. All done to convince her to come here, to come back to Bath and be near a man
she loved. A man who hated her.

  “Would you like tea, miss?” the young woman asked with a smile.

  Violet shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  When the girl left, Violet looked at the clock. It had been over an hour since the Rothcastles had departed for Liam’s estate. They would long be there by now. Had Ava been able to see her brother? Would Liam look past his anger to accept her into his life again?

  Violet hoped so.

  “He needs them,” she whispered.

  Of course, people needed people every day and couldn’t or wouldn’t see it. She knew that keenly enough.

  The door to her chamber opened a second time, and now Violet had to force her smile at the intrusion. “No tea,” she reiterated.

  “Yes, miss,” the same little maid said, with flaring cheeks. “But you have a visitor. Miss Olivia Cranfield.”

  “Olivia!” Violet said, jumping to her feet and moving for the door.

  At the same moment, the servant stepped aside and Olivia burst into the room and rushed to embrace Violet. She heard the door close to give them their privacy but hardly registered it. Not when her best friend was here.

  She drew back and Olivia urged her to the window seat where they perched together.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?” her friend asked.

  Violet shook her head. “I didn’t know where you were. When we arrived and we were told you’d left this residence, I didn’t have a thought of where to write. And I didn’t dare send a message to Liam’s home in case you were there.”

  Olivia’s expression wavered slightly. “No, I’m not there. I let a smaller place almost as soon as you departed. I didn’t want Malcolm to see me staying here, in case he thought I was still under the direction of the Rothcastles. Of you.”

  “Of course,” Violet said with a shake of her head. “And has he decided that is true? Will he see you?”

  Olivia nodded. “Yes. He comes to me every night.”

  “Excellent!” Violet clapped her hands together. “Then my actions didn’t permanently damage his regard for you. I feared I had destroyed your chance for happiness.”

  Olivia cleared her throat. “He comes to me, but he is changed. I feel him holding back. And when I try to explain myself, when I try to tell him my heart, he only distracts me in the most pleasurable ways. And then leaves me before the night is over.”

  Violet lowered her hands at Olivia’s brokenhearted expression. “He wouldn’t come if he didn’t feel something for you. He is conflicted.”

  “Yes, I’m certain that is true,” Olivia said. “But what side of the conflict he will come out on is another story entirely.”

  Violet caught her hand. “I never meant to catch you up in my difficulties. Not after the true friend you’ve been to me.”

  “I was happy to be caught up,” Olivia said with a smile. “If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have even met Malcolm. And I cannot live with that idea, even if he never comes back to me again.”

  It was funny. Her friend had just expressed the same feelings Violet had. Despite the ending, she was happy she had come to Bath. Happy she had met and made love to Liam. Loving him was worth the fall. It was even worth the pain.

  “I doubt he’ll never come back,” Violet reassured her friend.

  Olivia smiled. “Yes, I intend to simply break him down. Wear him out until he can do nothing but love me back.”

  Violet laughed at her friend’s teasing, but she couldn’t deny the pain of it.

  “Does he tell you anything of Liam?” she asked softly.

  Olivia shook her head slowly. “No. That subject is off limits between us, I’m afraid. But the fact that they have remained in Bath rather than departing to avoid Lord and Lady Rothcastle’s arrival certainly says something, doesn’t it?”

  Violet pressed her lips together. “You are right,” she finally said. “Before Liam would have done anything to escape the confrontation Ava has brought down upon him.”

  “So you see,” Olivia said, squeezing her hand. “You saved him.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Violet got to her feet and smoothed her dress, still watching out the window toward that long, lonely road. “And even if I did, he will hate me for it for the rest of his days. The disdain on his face a few days ago told me that better than any words he could ever speak.”

  “I’m sorry,” Olivia whispered. “You have been hurt, and I wish I could repair your heart.”

  “You can’t.” Violet smiled even though she felt no joy. “That is the way of broken hearts. They only heal with time and distance.”

  In that moment, she realized what she had to do.

  “I’m leaving,” she whispered.

  Olivia jolted. “Leaving?”

  “Yes. I believe there is a stage leaving for Hertford in a short time. I could make arrangements there for transport to Romwell.”

  Olivia shook her head. “But what of the duke and duchess? Did they not make some arrangement with you?”

  She nodded. “They did. But I will break it. They will understand, I think. And it isn’t as if I had much to do here at any rate.”

  “Don’t you want to see Liam again?” her friend asked, her expression softening.

  She stiffened at the inquiry. “Of course I do,” she said softly. “I want to see him so much that I ache whenever I think of it. But he doesn’t want to see me. And if I forced that issue, I would only find ruin and deeper heartache. It is time for me to forget this folly. To go to my son and live the simple life I was meant to have.”

  “And there is nothing I can say to dissuade you?” her friend asked, searching her face.

  Violet laughed a hollow laugh. Unless Olivia could tell her that Liam loved her, that he would forgive her and welcome her and her son into his life…well, there was nothing else to say.

  “No,” she answered softly. “I never should have returned to Bath in the first place. I let my heart lead me when it was time to put my head in charge. I must remedy that now.”

  Olivia looked as though she might say something more, but at that moment a flash of movement caught Violet’s eye from the road outside her window. There was a man, riding hard up the road toward the house.

  “Malcolm,” Olivia gasped, pressing her hand to the glass.

  “Has he ever come to you in the middle of the afternoon?” Violet asked softly as they watched him turn toward whatever place Olivia had been staying at before Violet’s arrival.

  Olivia’s breath was short. “N-No. Not since the first day.”

  “Then it seems you might have worn him down far faster than you thought.”

  Olivia’s stare jerked to her and Violet smiled. “Go to him. Write to me in Romwell in a few days and let me know all the news.”

  Olivia briefly embraced her. “I wish you would stay.”

  “I can’t,” Violet insisted as she turned her friend and pushed her toward the door with laughter. “Now go!”

  Olivia didn’t have to be asked again. She hustled from the room, her eyes bright with excitement and love that wouldn’t be stopped by anything in the world.

  Violet turned and looked around her. She hadn’t unpacked, so it would be easy enough to slip away to the coach and make her escape. And now that she knew Olivia would be happy there was no other reason to stay.

  “No other reason at all,” she said, gathering up her reticule and ringing for the little maid to make arrangements for her departure.

  Chapter Twenty

  Christian came to the entryway to Liam’s office and stopped there, his bright blue eyes flicking over the room and analyzing all he saw in an instant. Liam felt him stare at the scar across his face, the way he held his arm. They were the remnants of the accident that had stolen Matilda’s life that horrible winter night.

  Liam’s first reaction was to clench his fist, hating how he was being judged by a man who had no room to do so. After all, Christian bore his own scars. He still leaned on a cane from his inju
ries, though perhaps not as heavily as he had before Ava came into his life.

  Liam pushed the anger in his reaction back, trying to remember why he was doing this.

  Slowly, he nodded to the other man.

  “Rothcastle,” he said.

  Christian met his stare with an even one of his own. “Windbury.”

  That was all that was said for what seemed like an eternity, until Liam pushed cleared his throat.

  “Come in, won’t you? This is getting ridiculous.”

  To his surprise, the corner of Rothcastle’s lip tilted slightly in a smile.

  “Some would say our entire feud has been ridiculous,” he said as he did as Liam asked and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.

  “A lot of people with opinions who don’t understand,” Liam said with a shake of his head. “My sister, for one.”

  “And mine.” Now Christian’s smile was gone, replaced with pain. But to Liam’s surprise, no anger any more.

  His own pain returned at the thought of Matilda. And yet it had faded a little with time, with Violet’s entry into his life. He had never thought that would happen.

  “Yes, neither of them wanted to be party to what was between us,” Liam whispered.

  “And we made them party to a battle we didn’t even understand,” Christian said, his tone heavy with regret.

  Liam stiffened. “What do you mean we didn’t understand? I understand exactly how I feel about you.”

  Christian’s mouth went tight and Liam could see he was fighting to control his emotions. After a moment, he spoke again, his voice frustratingly calm.

  “Obviously over the years, you and I developed our own reasons to hate each other,” he said. “But I only mean that our fathers and grandfathers instilled that hate in us from birth. And no one knew the cause of it. Why did our families despise each other?”

  Liam paused. Had his father ever shared that information with him? All he could remember were the admonishments to despise, to battle, to never trust.

  “I have no idea,” he finally admitted with a shrug. It felt like he was giving over the upper hand to Rothcastle and he didn’t like it. Old habits, it seemed, died hard.