Almost a Countess by Jenna Jaxon
Chapter 17
Stunned, Dora stood stock still as Aunt Mimi came forward to hug her. Why was her aunt here?
“Dora, you look exceedingly well, my dear.” Her aunt bussed her cheeks then stood back, eyeing her up and down. “The north country obviously agrees with you.”
“Welcome, aunt.” Dora stood helpless, her thoughts spinning wildly. What were they going to do now? How could she explain Finn’s presence to Aunt Mimi?
“I don’t know if you remember me, Duchess.” Violet appeared beside them, coming to her rescue, bless her.
“Miss Carlton, as I recall.” Aunt Mimi looked at Violet curiously, but without censure. Considering that the last time her aunt had seen Dora’s friend she’d just been attacked by Simon, it would be a miracle if she’d forgotten.
“I am now Lady Trevor, Duchess. My husband and I have only just retired to his estate not far from here.”
Aunt Mimi nodded. “You look very well, my lady. Much better than the last time I saw you.”
Acting as though nothing were amiss, Violet chattered on, giving Dora time to settle. “Of course, we wanted to visit dear Dora as soon as possible.”
“Please have a seat, Aunt Mimi.” She indicated the sofa and took her aunt’s arm to lead her there. Violet took Dora’s chair opposite. “I’m sorry that we have finished with dinner, however Hanson is bringing tea. If you need something more than tea and cakes, I can have Cook send up a supper tray for you.”
“No need, my dear. I supped at the last inn we stopped at, so I will be fine until the morning.” She sat straight on the sofa, her hands resting on her gleaming ebony stick. “Although tea is desirable at any hour.”
“You must forgive me, aunt, if I am a little tongue-tied. I am simply astonished to find you here in Yorkshire. Whatever has brought you here?” A sudden premonition struck dread in Dora’s heart. “My parents are not ill, are they? I have not heard from Mamma in some time, although I think that is because Father forbids her to write.”
“In that you are correct. Although why Harriet still allows your father to bully her is beyond me.” Aunt Mimi shook her head. “I believe now she does anything he asks just to console him for the loss of your brother.”
“That is likely true.” Dora sighed in relief. The family did not need another tragedy this year. Still, that meant there was no explanation for her aunt’s presence. “But I am still mystified as to how you come to be here without warning. If this were merely a social visit, I’d have expected a letter from you that I might be prepared to entertain you properly.”
“Well, you have guessed correctly, niece, that this is not entirely a visit of my own choosing.” She nodded to Dora. “Of course, I am always delighted to see you, but I am primarily here on business from your father.”
“Father’s business?” Dread trickled down Dora’s spine, and she exchanged glances with Violet. Any business belonging to her father was likely to end up causing her pain. Had he sent her aunt to evict her from Bromley? Dismiss her servants? Anything was certainly possible. “What in the world could that be? And why send you, aunt?”
“As to why I am the ambassador of the tidings, I fear I was in the wrong place when he needed an emissary. I remained in London after your parents returned home this past spring. The atmosphere at the house in Wiltshire is very somber as it is still a house of mourning. I preferred to stay in a house I rented in Mayfair, which is quite cheerful. But it positioned me closer to you when your father made his business deal.”
How would a business deal concern her? Dora was about to ask that very pointed question when the door opened. “Put the tea on the sideboard, please, Hanson.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I have no tea about me, I’m afraid.”
Dora’s head shot up at the sound of Tristan’s voice. Dear God, and Finn right behind him. “Lord Trevor, I did not see that it was you. Aunt Mimi, you may also remember Lord Trevor?”
Tris stiffened as if he’d received a blow then he seemed to relax and directed his most charming smile at her aunt. “I will be devastated, Duchess, if you do not.” He took her hand and kissed it.
“How could I forget you, Lord Trevor?” Her aunt seemed to be repressing a smile. “Never have I experienced such excitement in a single quarter of an hour.” She then looked inquiringly past Tris to Finn.
Dora’s heart sank.
“Dora, will you introduce me to this gentleman? Surely, we have not met.” Aunt Mimi’s brows rose. “I daresay I’d remember him.”
“Duchess,” Tris cut in smoothly, “allow me to make known to you Lord Aberfoyle, a friend of mine from London. Aberfoyle, this is the Duchess of Ostroda, Dora’s aunt.”
“I am pleased to meet you, my lord.” Her aunt cut her gaze toward Dora and shook her head. And Dora could have sworn she heard her aunt mutter, “Such a shame.”
“I too am pleased tae meet ye, Duchess.” Finn smiled his widest and followed Tris’s lead by kissing her hand.
“Please make yourselves comfortable, gentlemen.” Before she could say anything else, the door opened to reveal Hanson, a full tea tray in his hands, followed by James with a tray laden with pastries. Thank goodness for the distraction. The butler set his tray on the table to her left, while James put his on the sideboard. “Thank you, Hanson. That will be all for now. Is Mrs. Carlyle preparing a room for my aunt?”
“At this moment, the Bromley room is being readied.” The most elaborate of the guest bedrooms, created in the event of a visit from royalty or foreign dignitary. As her aunt was a duchess from Poland, the choice was indeed admirable.
“Very good. Thank you, Hanson. That will be all.” Dora lifted the teapot and began to pour. The familiar ritual helped calm her frayed nerves. “Aunt Mimi was just about to tell us how she comes to make this surprise visit, weren’t you, aunt?”
“Indeed. Make mine with the tiniest bit of milk and sugar. Just enough to take the bitterness out of the tea, please.” As if Dora didn’t remember how her aunt took her tea. “Well, I was telling Dora that because I was in London, and therefore the closest relative who could travel here, her father insisted that I come fetch her home.”
“Fetch me home!” The teapot crashed onto the tray, rattling all the teacups in their saucers. “What do you mean you are to fetch me home?” This was worse than the fear of Finn’s discovery. “Why?”
With her mouth pressed in a straight line, Aunt Mimi looked her squarely in the eyes. “He’s arranged another marriage for you, Dora.”
A peculiar roaring filled her ears, and Aunt Mimi’s face wavered, turned to black.
Coughing, Dora opened her eyes on four faces peering anxiously down at her. Violet held her vial of smelling salts. “What happened?”
“You swooned, dear.” Violet tucked the vial into her pocket. “Can you sit up?”
Nodding, Dora came upright as the others backed away.
“Are you all right, my dear?” Aunt Mimi peered keenly at her. “I am sorry to have caused you such a shock, although I didn’t believe the news would elicit quite that amount of consternation. You must have known your father would not let you linger here long, like a fallow field, before finding you the most advantageous match possible.”
“But he assured me I was ruined when I jilted Lord Trevor.” That had been her one saving grace, to know she was unmarriageable and therefore had escaped her father’s machinations.
“Apparently with the correct incentives, one is never too ruined.” Aunt Mimi sniffed. “I told him he would not find you easy to convince. When you thwarted your father by refusing to marry Trevor, you showed me you were made of sterner stuff than we’d anticipated.” Her aunt gave her a smug smile. “Your father saw it as a childish fit of pique, but I knew better. But he’s been obsessed recently with finding you a husband. Any husband, it seems. I visited with your parents often when they were in Town, and Melchior was constantly writing to one gentleman or another to see if he could entice them to marry you.” She sighed and sipped her tea. “Apparently, at last, he has done so.”
“Well, I won’t do it.” Dora glared defiantly around the room. “I won’t go home, and I certainly won’t marry whoever it is he wants to force me to wed.”
“Do you know who he’s trying to betroth Dora to, Duchess?” Tris had stepped up to her aunt, his voice low and strained.
“No one grand, I think. I didn’t know the name when he told me. Sir Harry Walters of Cambridgeshire.” Her aunt shook her head. “Do you know him, Lord Trevor? Lord Aberfoyle?”
Dora had avoided looking at Finn during this ordeal, but now she did meet his eyes. She fancied the pain in her eyes was reflected in his.
Why couldn’t they have had the chance to court properly, then for Finn to finally apply to her father? Even if he wished to ask for her now, it would not be too late, except Finn could not ask for her hand while he was an escaped prisoner. By the time his troubles were straightened out, her father would have her married off if he could have his way. Well, he would not succeed. According to the law, she had to consent to the marriage, and she simply would not do it.
“I dinna ken the name, Duchess.” Finn spoke calmly, though his body was strung tight as an archer’s bow.
“I know Sir Harry.” Tris crossed his arms over his chest, his face drawn. “He’s not a bad man. A middle-aged widower with two children. A steady, capable man. No vices other than smoking a pipe or two and enjoying a drink once in a while.” Tris shrugged. “I’m not sure what your father wants from him, other than for him to take Dora so he can wash his hands of her.”
“He can wash his hands of me without saddling me with such a husband.” Dora’s stomach roiled at the thought of marrying some stranger. “You can tell him, Aunt Mimi, or I will simply write and inform him that under no circumstances will I marry that man.”
“I told him you would refuse to cooperate, my dear.” Her aunt patted her hands. At least she seemed to be on her side and not Father’s. “He seemed to think the threat of being turned out into the hedgerows was enough to bring you in line.”
“Well, it isn’t.” Dora met Finn’s gaze, a thoughtful if peculiar look on his face. “I will not be bullied by that man again. It’s not as though I have nowhere to go.” She was certain she’d be welcome in Tris and Violet’s home until she reached her majority and inherited her fortune. Or until she married.
“Mo ghràidh.” Finn reached across and took her hand, startling Dora greatly. That odd look was still on his face. “I think ’tis time we made yer aunt privy tae our little secret.”
Finn’s voice sent a shock through her. What on earth was he talking about?
Tris and Violet exchanged a knowing glance.
Did he wish to tell Aunt Mimi that he’d spent the night here without a chaperone? Or that he’d kissed her out at the folly? Her aunt’s reaction to that revelation might be better than Tris’s. At any rate, their indiscretion would make it impossible for her to wed Sir Harry. “Yes, I suppose it is best, Finn.”
Finn straightened in his chair but kept tight hold of her hand. “Duchess, when Lord Trevor introduced me as Lord Aberfoyle and his friend, he dinna give ye the most pertinent information about me.”
Terrified, Dora squeezed his hand hard enough to turn it to jelly. The fool was going to tell her he was an escaped prisoner, a fugitive from the law. How in God’s name did he think that was going to help her at all?
“He did not?” Aunt Mimi frowned at Finn then at Tris. “Well, what did he omit?”
Finn looked at Dora and smiled devilishly. “The fact that I am Dora’s husband. And as she is my wife, she canna marry anyone else.”
****
“Finn!”
“Aberfoyle! What the deuce—”
“Dora, what is he saying?”
“But, Dora, is this true?”
The pandemonium that erupted was loud and long-lived. Finn decided to wait until most of those present had calmed down before addressing his statement, which he was actually beginning to regret.
“Finn!” Dora’s eyes had grown wide and round as the moon. “Why did you say that?” she whispered under the cover of the others shrieking around them.
“It seemed like the best idea at the moment.” He stared into her eyes. “Trust me and follow my lead.”
“Aberfoyle, by God, what have you done?” Trevor had shot to his feet and looked ready to jerk Finn to him so he could pummel him. He needed to appease the man and persuade him to play along with his subterfuge as well.
“If ye’ll give me a chance tae explain, Trevor, I think ye willna feel the need tae call me out.” He tried, probably unsuccessfully, to send the man the same message he’d given Dora. Since he’d done it with his eyes alone, he doubted it had gotten through.
“Dora, why did you not tell me?” Lady Trevor seemed the only one not bent on terrorizing him.
“It was rather sudden, Violet.” Dora hung her head. Good girl. She was playing along. “We decided to keep it from everyone, so I was sworn to secrecy.”
The boom, boom of the duchess’s cane on the floor caught everyone’s attention. One by one, they all went silent and turned to look at her. “If I must break heads in order to be heard, I have no compunction.” She glared at Finn in particular. “Doubt it at your peril.”
“I would never mistrust yer word, Duchess.” Finn bowed to the older woman. If they could convince her of their marriage, they might buy themselves some time to free Dora from the blasted betrothal her father was trying to saddle her with.
“You married my niece out of hand? Without benefit of the consent of her guardian?” The duchess’s shocked countenance had given way to one of stern indignation. Unfortunately, the lady was intelligent and did not mince words. “Was it also without benefit of clergy?”
“Actually, it was.” Finn grinned and seemed to relax. “Would ye like the whole story?”
As one, the little group nodded.
“Very well. It began last autumn.” He drew in a deep breath and sent a prayer up that he didn’t end up digging his own grave with this scheme. “I was in Town for the Little Season and at some entertainment or the other, Trevor introduced me tae Miss Harper.” He’d not had much time to work out the details of the story, so he hoped Dora could volunteer some bits to it here and there. “I knew she was betrothed tae Trevor, sae I thought naught o’ it, other than tae wish them happy.”
So far, so good. “Earlier this summer, I found I had business tae conduct in York. I came down from my estate near Aberfoyle in Stirling, bringing a horse for me tae ride along the way. And well,” Finn shook his head, “the rest rivals Shakespeare’s Comedy o’ Errors. One day, I’m not quite certain how, the coachman got completely lost and we ended up near Brompton. When he stopped for directions, I elected tae ride, sae I sent the carriage ahead tae York. I was taking a short cut, directed by Mrs. Jameson at The Green Tree Inn, and my horse put his foot in a hole. Flipped me end over teacup intae a ditch.” He hoped Dora would chime in any time now to make this thin tale a bit more probable. Finn nudged her hand. “And that is when…”
“That is when I found him.” Dora smiled at him, and Finn blessed her once more. She rose to the occasion beautifully. “Gretchen and I were out riding, and the horse shied at something that turned out to be Finn. I managed to get him home on Gretchen then I had the doctor fetched, who pronounced him sound save for a sprained ankle.” Dora seemed to warm to her tale. “When he came to—I will tell you he hates sal volatile even more than I do—he turned out to be Tris’s friend I had met last year.”
“And they say coincidences never actually happen.” Trevor’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but at least the man seemed willing to go along with the scheme. For now.
“Go on, Dora. I am fascinated at how you and Lord Aberfoyle have been brought together.” Violet smiled broadly at Dora. “Almost as if the Fates had taken a hand in it, don’t you think?”
The duchess looked around the room at all of them, her stern face softening a measure. “It certainly does sound fortuitous, doesn’t it? Although I suppose stranger things have happened. I would never have met my husband had I not eaten some bad lobster patties at a ball.” The duchess chuckled. “I had to run out into the garden to cast up my accounts. Ostroda found me out there, wretchedly ill, and assisted me so easily, without any embarrassment at all, that I fell in love with him on the spot.” She nodded her head so vehemently the feathers on her hat waggled. “I am the Duchess of Ostroda only because Lady Hawthorne happened to serve bad fish to her guests.” Tapping her cane on the floor, she nodded. “Proceed.”
“Well,” Dora seemed a bit steadier now, “as I said, I brought Finn here and had the doctor fetched. He pronounced a sprained ankle and said it could take a month or more for it to heal.” She squeezed Finn’s hand, sending his heart rate soaring. “Before the month was scarcely begun, we knew we were in love.”
“Imagine that.” Lord Trevor apparently could not help himself from contributing snide remarks.
“We took my carriage and made a dash tae Gretna Green.” Finn lifted Dora’s hand and placed a kiss on it. “We were married over the anvil o’ a blacksmith’s shop about a month or sae ago.” He grinned at the duchess. “Sae although we were without benefit o’ clergy, we are married just the same. When we heard that Lord and Lady Trevor had arrived in the county, we invited them here for dinner and had agreed tae wait until we gentlemen joined the ladies after dinner tae announce our nuptials.”
“Do you see now, aunt, that I cannot obey my father’s wishes, even if I wanted to?” Dora’s plaintive voice would have touched the hardest heart. “What do you say, Aunt Mimi? Will we have your support against my father when he hears about my marriage?”
“Well,” the duchess stared first at Finn then turned her gaze on her niece. “I will have many questions for the two of you later,” she wagged her finger back and forth between him and Dora, “and some of my words may not be quite fit for Polite Society, but I do have one thing to say at present, Dora.” She went from face to face, her stern visage singling out each of them before pronouncing, “For this to be a true celebration, you must break out the champagne.”