An Earl’s Broken Heart by Ella Edon
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alexander stormed into the stables. He was going to find the truth out one way or another. The only person who could settle the matter definitively was the Duke of Lichfield.
“Where is the footman?” he called but there was no answer.
There were three horses in the stable. One was a stocky saddlehorse that was a steady ride and two others with the build and breeding for speed. This was an occasion where he needed speed.
He saddled and mounted the black Percheron and set course for Lichfield House. The skies groaned with a promise of rain and soon enough the clouds parted to allow a light shower. It only made him increase his riding speed.
By the time he approached the gates of Lichfield Manor, the light shower had descended into an outright downpour. His clothes were soaked through and he knew the Duke would think him a complete fool for riding that distance on horseback with the rain bucketing down as it was.
He rode through the Lichfield Manor gates and gave the reins of his horse to a waiting footman.
“Is His Grace in?” he asked the footman.
Squinting through the downpour, the footman nodded and managed, “Yes, my Lord.”
“Good,” Alexander said as he approached the door.
Mr. Baldwin answered after he had knocked for what seemed an eternity. His eyes widened when he saw Alexander soaked through at the doorstep.
“Mr. Steward,” he said with a surprised note in his voice.
Alex had no time for quipping. “Where is his Grace?”
“Is he expecting you?”
Alexander narrowed his eyes and stepped close to Baldwin. “Was it you that stopped her? That held her down and stopped her from coming to me?”
Mr. Baldwin lowered his chin and swallowed. “His Grace is in the study,” he said, holding the door open.
Alexander trudged through, paying no mind to the small puddles he left in his wake as he approached the study. He knocked on the door and the Duke answered on the first knock.
“Baldwin, I thought I said I wasn’t to be—" He noticed it was Alexander and his sentence faltered. “Lord Carter.”
Alex’s nostrils flared. “I would like to talk to you, Your Grace.”
If the Duke was surprised to see him there, if he thought the spectacle was a strange one, he gave no indication for his face was solemn as the bereaved.
“Of course, do come in.”
Alexander stepped past him and settled on the seat nearest the wall bookshelf.
“I have come to hear the truth, Your Grace, I need to know what happened on the night Isabel and I tried to elope.”
The Duke stared at him blankly for a long moment then his face seemed to soften and he drew in an elongated breath. “Perhaps it is time I am honest with you, Lord Carter, there is much it would benefit you to know and benefit me to unload. I have been meaning to tell you this since the last time you paid me a visit and I saw in your eyes that perhaps I had been terribly wrong about you all these years.”
Alexander was impatient. His instincts were not that of the Earl of Carter, they were that of the soldier who had fought in two brutal campaigns. He tapped his foot incessantly and leaned forwards. “I am listening.”
The Duke drummed his fingers on the arm rest. “Seven years ago, I learnt that my daughter had fallen madly in love with you and was beginning to entertain the notion that you might be married.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow. “You knew?”
The Duke snorted. “Of course, I knew. I know my daughters better than perhaps they know themselves, Isabel most of all because she is the most like me. Elizabeth is not one to take chances, she looks before she steps, but Isabel has always been a girl of adventure. You were her greatest adventure and I saw that she loved you. I saw it in her eyes every time you visited the grounds, I heard it in the pitch of her voice every time she gave her sister Elizabeth a report. I knew it was only a matter of time before you both got the fool notion of marriage.”
Alexander bristled at his calling it a fool notion but said nothing.
The Duke continued. “Do not take it personally. Perhaps if you become a father, you will understand. My girls were all I had. I knew that you were not a man of means and I feared that my daughter would suffer if she managed to elope with you. I had a sister who had been enticed by one such man and he turned out to be a terrible husband and a drunk. I did not want that for Isabel. I could not allow you to take her from me. Not when I feared you did not have the means to take care of her. I lost my wife, the woman I loved, and my daughters were all I had. I wanted only to protect them and make sure they were taken care of.”
“I may not have been a wealthy man, but I would have done whatever it takes to take care of your daughter.”
“Be that as it may, I would not make a great success of the Dukedom by leaving things to chance or hope of a good heart. Some men are gamblers, others drink. I was only ever taught to protect. It’s what I do. It’s why I couldn’t let you take my daughter. Not then. Not when I knew so little about you beyond the fact you were an orphan with your only connection being to the Earl of Carter. No, I couldn’t allow that.”
“So, you stopped her from leaving?”
He nodded. “I convinced her I would be out of town, knowing she would make an attempt to elope while I was away. When I knew that she was going to make her run, I returned suddenly to scupper her attempt. Baldwin did the work of catching her and we made it such that there was no way to escape. She stood no chance of meeting you that day. None at all.”
Alexander exhaled audibly. Isabel was telling the truth. She had tried to come for him. She wanted to come for me. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. For so long, he had carried the pain of her refusal. It felt like a knot in his stomach had been slowly loosened and he was finally able to breath without its distress.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and reached slowly into his chest pocket. He produced the letter he had received on that fateful day and spread it out before the Duke.
“Your Grace, did you write me this letter?”
The Duke stared down at the letter, saying nothing at first. Then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Yes, I did.”
Alexander felt his jaw tighten. “Why? Why did you do that?”
“I had to make sure you wouldn’t try again. I had to hurt you in the worst way and set you on a course that would take you far away from my daughter. I told you, I don’t take half measures when it comes to my daughters. I wanted you to run in the opposite direction from her to reject every attempt she made to try again.”
“You made me hate her. I loved your daughter with all my heart, and you corrupted that love. You corrupted every emotion I felt for her.”
The Duke nodded. “I know. I am not proud of it. It has been my greatest mistake. It had not been one month when I learnt how the man she had married, Phillip, was treating her. He was a drinker, a cruel man. I hadn’t seen it, but I had Baldwin enquire from the staff in their home. I believed because he was a noble man, because I knew his family….”
His voice trailed off for a moment before he regained his composure. “I tried to protect her, tried everything to get him to stop but I had led her right into his clutches. Forced her into it. There was nothing I could do. All I ever wanted to do was protect. I didn’t mean for all of this. I didn’t know the pain this would cause. The other day, when you came here and told me how you would protect your family, I knew I had made a mistake. I knew I should have let her go. It should have been you.”
A look of regret touched the Duke’s countenance. “I owe you a great apology, Lord Carter. You are a good man. You deserved far better than that. I should never have tried to ruin your love. I was trying to cover my own shame. I failed to protect my sister and it led to me being overprotective of my daughters. Forgive me, Alexander.”
Alexander felt his grip on his chair go slack. It was the first time the Duke had ever called him by his name. He sank back into the chaise lounge completely stunned. All the anger within him seeped out with every moment the Duke sat there in silence.
“Forgive me,” the Duke repeated. “Please.”
Alexander sat in silence for a prolonged moment. Then he rose to his feet. The Duke stared up, expecting him to leave, but Alex crossed the distance and put an arm on the Duke’s shoulder. “I forgive you. You were trying to do your best. Trying to protect your daughter. Neither of us could have known it would come to this.”
The Duke straightened. “If only we had communicated.”
Alexander laughed. “You and I? At that time?”
The Duke gave a smile. “I suppose that would have been quite unlikely.”
“Quite.”
The Duke rose to his feet, his aura of power and dominion seemed to slowly return. “I cannot give you back the years of love you lost. I cannot soften the heart that you have hardened against my daughter, I cannot take away the pain you have suffered in war. But know this, as long as you are married to Isabel and are treating her with all the love she deserves, you are my son, and you will always be the object of my respect and protection.”
Alexander nodded firmly and clasped the Duke’s outstretched hand. “Thank you, Your Grace.”