His Bewitching Jewel (A Regency Holiday Romance Book 7) (16 page)

“I should sack both of them,” Finn muttered.

“Oh, no, you shouldn’t. They might sleep a little too deeply, but they are kind souls,” Ruby said.

“Yes, indeed, Uncle. Cordelia and I are fond of them, even though they do sleep like the dead. Why…why are you in Miss Massey’s room, Uncle?” Miranda asked, honestly perplexed.

“She wanted a bedtime story,” he jested. Ruby swatted at him, and he started laughing. “I am sorry, I couldn’t resist.” He gave her a wide smile that made her stomach dip.

He was a rascal. He would always be a rascal. She was deeply grateful that now…he was her rascal.

*****

“I think Miss Massey should marry me, don’t you, girls?” Finn asked softly. He watched Cordelia walk a bit over toward him. It did his heart good to see her warming up to him.

“Oh, I think that is a splendid idea, Uncle Phineas. Oh, Miss, do say, yes,” Miranda said brightly.

Ruby laughed. “I already have,” she said softly.

Cordelia had taken it upon herself to climb up onto Ruby’s bed, and she wore a grin that told him that her nightmare had faded away in her mind. It did his heart good to see her recovering so nicely.

“Does that mean,” they were all startled to hear Cordelia speak. “Does that mean that you will be ours forever and always, Miss Massey? Does that mean we will be a family?”

Finn’s stomach dipped. She sounded like a miniature Isolde.

“Aye, it does,” Ruby said.

“There is nothing I want more, Cordelia,” Finn said softly.

He smiled at them. Seeing what Cordelia had done, Miranda followed, and before he knew it, they were both under the covers with Ruby, including Joan who had climbed under the sheets and moved down to settle around Cordelia’s feet. She decided that was too snug, because a few seconds later, she came from under the covers and snuggled between Cordelia and Ruby.

“Now, then, girls? How about another bedtime story?” Finn asked.

“Oh, do tell us how the story of Queen Joan and her giant beau ended,” Miranda said, while Cordelia enthusiastically nodded her head.

“All right,” he said. “Well, the day of their wedding approached. Isolde and I were lucky enough to have come upon the planning for it in the woods. Queen Joan was quite at her wits end. I had never seen her so distraught. She had tears in her eyes. She told us that Oswald had been taken by his family who had returned from the old lands, and that they were intent upon marrying Oswald off to a princess from their world. Oswald had resisted but, since there were six of them, he could do little to fight them. He was told that once the Giant Princess kissed him, he would return to his old gigantic self. Queen Joan had fallen in love with him during that summer, and she begged us to help her. She said the giants were in a part of the woods forbidden to the pixies. She said, that if giants knew that humans were coming…they would magically turn themselves so they looked like us. She begged us to go and see if we could get Oswald away from his family.

“Queen Joan told us that giants feared pepper, as it would make them feel quite weak. Indeed, just being near the stuff made them feel quite sick. So we ran back to the house, and went to the kitchens and begged for some of the stuff. Armed with pepper, we returned to the woods, and set off on our quest.”

“Oh, did you rescue him, Uncle?” Miranda asked softly.

“Well, you know your mother, she had such a big heart that she believed it was our duty. We went off with heroic thoughts in mind, and ready to slay as many giants as we had to, by throwing pepper at them. It didn’t take us long to find them. They were all sitting in a circle around a fire, and preparing themselves to open the portal back to their old lands. Oswald was obviously there under duress, as they had him sitting between two of his brothers. Whenever he tried to get up, they made him sit back down. They told him he was a bad giant that he had allowed mortals to see him in his native form, and that the only way he could avoid being punished by their king and queen was to marry their princess…who apparently was so ugly and so smelly that they couldn’t find a husband for her. Those who saw her, would recoil in terror, and run from her. They said she had a nose like a big potato, and had hairy warts all over her face. They said it would be less disagreeable, if she would take a bathe at least once every two years, but she hadn’t taken a bathe in over ten years, she didn’t see any point, as she had been proclaimed the ugliest giant in the Realm.”

“Oh, that is so sad,” Miranda said. “That poor princess.”

He smiled, and then, continued, “And so we quietly approached them, but I stepped on a twig and they heard it. They turned to look at us, and in a flash of light, they shrank in size so they were the size of adult males. They looked at us, and one of them said, why don’t we cook them, and then another said they couldn’t do that, it was forbidden, but before any of them could take action against us, we threw pepper in the air, and they all started to cough and sneeze, and we ran forward and grabbed Oswald and ran with him.”

“How did you escape from them?” Ruby asked. She was just as enthralled as his nieces were.

“We thought they would catch us for certain, as the pepper didn’t seem to be weakening them the way it should have been. Then, a portal opened, and a man stepped through. He was the largest giant I had ever seen, and he wore a huge crown on his head, made with large red and purple gemstones. He said that he would take another of Oswald’s brothers to marry his daughter, and that Oswald was banished to Earth, and that he had forbidden any of his other giant subjects to come to Earth, as they were afraid of Man hunting them. The Giant King took Oswald’s family back through the portal, and that was the last we ever saw of them.”

Finn looked over at Cordelia. She looked about ready to nod off. They laid cuddled on either side of Ruby. The heartwarming scene made him want to do whatever he had to do to keep Ruby.

Mrs. Brant had to go.

“And…and Oswald married Queen Joan and lived happily ever after, didn’t he?” Miranda asked sleepily.

“That he did. Isolde was asked to be one of Queen Joan’s bridesmaids, and I…well, I was asked to be the ring bearer. They had a beautiful wedding filled with love, dancing, and laughter, and I will carry that day in my heart until the day I die.”

“Oh, Uncle that was lovely. I do so like it when true love wins,” Miranda said sleepily. Cordelia’s even breathing filled the room. She had fallen asleep. Miranda smiled, and snuggled down under the bedclothes, and fell back asleep. Morning would come sooner than any of them wanted it to.

Ruby looked at him sleepily. “Goodnight, sir,” she murmured.

“Goodnight, Ruby,” he said, peace in his heart. He finally had everything that he had ever wanted.

He left Ruby’s bedchamber, and went back to his bedchamber, where he had a restless sleep. He hadn’t tossed and turned so much in his entire life. The only thing he could focus on was making Ruby his wife, and banishing the bitch that had almost ruined everything for him.

The sooner he saw the last of Mrs. Brant—the better. 

*****

It was morning, and Finn had left Ruby’s side to go and take care of Mrs. Brant. He would remove her from his house once and for all. Rapping on her door, he impatiently waited. She wasn’t going to answer the door, instead, he heard her say in her imperious manner, “Come.” He walked stiffly into her room, and looked at her. She looked dreadful. Was this how she had always looked in the morning? He was quite taken aback by how she appeared. She looked so bitter, and the calculating gleam in her eyes made his hackles rise. What had he been thinking to give that a good tupping? He had to have been mad—or blind—or both.

“You must leave this place today, Mrs. Brant,” Finn said, attempting to control his anger.

“Oh, Finn, darling, I do not feel like leaving today. I am ever so tired from traveling. It is not an easy ride from London to here. You should know that better than anyone,” she said, in her simpering sweet way, making his gut twist.

“I don’t care about any of that. You have to go. And that is that. Pray, do not call me Finn. We no longer share that sort of a relationship. You can call me, Your Grace, or Sir.”

“I could…but then, again, darling…I don’t want to.” She batted her eyelashes at him. He snorted.

“You can look coyly at me all you want, Mrs. Brand. I am not going to be pulled back into your seductive web. I have moved on. I am over you.”

She sat in front of him, still in bed. “I don’t think I even want to leave this bed. It is so warm and soft, and this bedchamber while it could be nicer is almost as big as the one I have in London. Why don’t you come and join me?” she asked, throwing back the bedclothes, and in doing so, she showed him that she was naked.

He looked away. “Try all you want, Mrs. Brant. You will not affect me.”

She pouted. “Oh, come on, Finn, darling. Don’t be so angry. You look rather grim. Come and have a bit of fun with me. London wasn’t any fun without you. No one else knows how to party like you do. They are all such tightly wound it is shameful. Why, they are so cheap, they squeak.”

“No one else is probably gullible enough to want to spend the money on you. Most likely, they have all grown wise—and I…I was a bloody dunderhead. I was so stupid. I never should have fallen victim to my lust the way I did with you. You were a passing fancy, nothing more.”

“So, you think you can really cast me aside? Is that it?” she asked coldly, anger skipping through her eyes.

“That is what I have been saying since you got here. Why do you bloody well think I left you behind in London? You are not a part of my life anymore, Mrs. Brant. You cannot be a part of any respectable gentleman’s life, and certainly not a part of mine. I am a duke.”

“You proposed to me, Finn. You…you wanted me as your duchess,” she said. Giselle was so well trained, her eyes had started to fill up with unshed tears. She was a bloody talented thespian. She should be on the stage, and maybe, if she couldn’t find another man to keep her that was where she could go.

“I did that in the heat of the moment, Mrs. Brant,” he said tiredly. “You were…you were pleasuring me, and I was grateful. Mindlessly, it slipped out of mouth. That is all. It was not a serious proposal whatsoever.”

“So…so…all I was to you was a kept whore?” she asked, her eyes wide with indignation, as her mouth slanted into a sneer.

“You did your job quite well,” he confessed, walking to her door.

“If you don’t give me what I want, Finn…if you don’t give me at least twenty thousand pounds…I shall tell your little innocent jewel, exactly what services you paid me to do for you. I will tell it all to her. She shall be innocent no longer, and she will know you for the awful wretch you are. You, sir, are a deviant!”

“Get out of my house, Mrs. Brant. Get out now! You can take your things and go. I will tell my grooms to make ready your carriage. I do not want to see you ever again. Do I make myself quite clear?” he demanded angrily.

“She will never be your bride. That little chit is hardly suitable enough for you. She probably comes from a family of ill-repute. I warrant she is nothing like me. She wouldn’t know how to act in the circles you frequent. She would stumble over her words, and she wouldn’t know what to say to a duchess, let alone conduct herself as one, if it hit her in the face. No, she is not good enough for you. She will never have you. I shall make certain of that. If I can’t have you, Finn, no one can. I will make you the bloody talk of the ton, you mark my words.

“You murdered your own brother-in-law. I saw how enraged you were when you read that missive from your sweet saintly Isolde. You forgot to burn it before you left. I read every single sordid detail in it. I thought you were quite heroic to run to your poor sister’s aid and dispense of her blackguard of a husband. I thought you were my hero, but now…now I rather think that the proper authorities should know that you murdered Lord Sefton. Don’t you?

“I daresay that justice should be served, and once you are made to pay for what you have done, your dear little nieces shall be cast out into the street with no one to protect them. They shall be faced with a lot in life that is worse than mine, and the little bitches…the little well-bred bitches deserve it,” she said cruelly. “They won’t be able to be a mistress—they shall be relegated to becoming a common bit of muslin. They won’t be ladies anymore—they will be beneath every respectable gentleman’s touch. Their reputation will be utterly ruined, and I shall sit by and clap and rejoice at it all. And when they need a friend in this harsh world, I shall shut the door in their stupid little faces.”

Rage boiled through him. He had to leave her room before he did the unthinkable and put his hands on her. “You will leave directly after you have had your breakfast. If you don’t go willingly, I shall have you escorted out, do you understand?”

“To hell you will. I am here to stay, Finn, my boy, or else your nieces will be looking at a life of hell, and I shall be the one to give it to them.”

“You seem to have forgotten which one of us is the master of this house,” he said coldly.

“Oh, I know exactly which one of us is in control, sweetie,” she said serenely.

Finn left Giselle’s bedchamber, and slammed the door behind him. Contempt rolled within him. She was a horrid woman. What a bloody harridan. Never before had he seen such soulless eyes. Giselle would do whatever she had to keep her claws dug into him, even if it meant throwing threats around.

She couldn’t touch him—and she couldn’t touch his nieces, so why be so damn worried?

He had to rid the house of Giselle’s poisonous presence, before she caused any further damage. He just hoped he could do so before she found Ruby and told her everything.

Sighing, he made his way to Ruby’s bedchamber. Knocking on her door, he stood and waited until she answered it. She was already dressed for the day, in a lovely emerald green frock, and looked much better than she did before, though he noticed her walking with a slight limp, as she stepped away from the door.

“Good morning,” he said softly. “Where are the girls?”

She smiled. “They have gone back to the nursery to dress, play, and have their own breakfast.”

He smiled. “Thank you for letting them stay with you last night. You will never know how much that meant to me.”

She smiled. “It was no trouble at all. I have come to love them dearly.”

“I…I thought you might like to take breakfast with me in the Morning Room.”

She looked conflicted. “My breakfast was just brought up to me.”

“Leave it. Mrs. Chegwin won’t mind.”

“I…fine, Finn,” she relented at last. He had to keep her within his sights today. He couldn’t let Giselle tell her what she wanted to tell her. What if she thought ill of him? She knew he had kept a mistress, but with her innocence, she probably wouldn’t know exactly what sort of a role a mistress played.

“Come along,” he said, offering her his arm. “You needn’t look so worried, my love. I shan’t ravish you in the Morning Room.”

“Do you promise?” she asked softly, amusement glittering in her eyes.

“I do,” he said.

“Ah, such a pity,” she said, smiling.

As they walked down the steps, they heard a hell of a commotion coming from the Entrance Hall.

“My lord, you simply cannot go in unannounced. It is not done,” one of his footmen protested.

“I am not a lord, son. You can call me Mr. Somersby.”

“Oh, no, they have found me. Hide me, Finn,” Ruby said. Though she was doing her best to walk down the steps with her sore ankle, he had noticed that she was leaning rather heavily on the railing and on him.

“Now, lead me through this grand old house to my precious Ruby. I want to see her at once!”

She stopped, and Finn almost pulled her along with him. “I don’t want to go any further, Finn. I can’t face my mother. She will tear me away from here, and if she sees Mrs. Brant…You don’t know what she will do…she will make quite a scene, and she will scream her head off at me. She will mortify me, Finn.”

“Say no more. Maybe you should go back upstairs, and I will see if your uncle has brought along his dreadful sister.”

“Ruby, Ruby? You come out from wherever you are hiding, and see your darling uncle.”

*****

Ruby felt like running, and yet, she could barely move with the way her ankle throbbed. She wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to hide, and she wouldn’t be able to dash back up the steps before her uncle found her, as his voice was drawing nearer and nearer.

“What is all of the hullabaloo going on? It sounds like a gaming hell in here. What sort of a bloody house is this, Finn?” Mrs. Brant said, dashing down the steps, so she stood in front of Finn and Ruby.

She wore a sheer muslin dress that Ruby didn’t at all approve of, and it was cut so low, it was a very wonder her bosom wasn’t hanging out. She wasn’t wearing a chemisette or a fichu. She looked quite scandalous in it.

Why was she still here?

“Ruby,” her uncle said again, his voice booming throughout the house. He strode into view, and visibly relaxed. “Ah, there you are, my sweet little girl. And, there is good old Camblesforth…you found yourself another duke, I see, and I hope you have caught him, or did he catch you? Either way, you do rather have a knack for attracting dukes, don’t you? Good girl, and…oh, I know you, Madam, although I have no idea why you are here,” Thomas Somersby said disapprovingly, his gaze settling on Mrs. Brant.

“Alas, sir, I do not know you,” Mrs. Brant said coldly.

“You were this chap’s mistress, weren’t you? I hope you are no longer keeping that position, Madame.”

“Indeed, she is not,” Finn said curtly.

“Jolly good, because I rather thought better of you, Camblesforth. You have always come across as a decent fellow, not all like some from your ranks.”

“He has found someone to replace me. Your darling little Ruby is doing what I once did. She is giving him the favours I used to provide,” Mrs. Brant said coldly.

Ruby closed her eyes, and sighed. Mrs. Brant had just sunk her own ship. She didn’t know who she was dealing with. She was playing with fire, and her uncle was about to burn her. Her uncle would only stay nice to people that were civil with him and his relations. If you weren’t…well, you were in trouble. He was uncommonly protective of his family, and he would use his rather large mouth to exact his revenge.

Ruby heard Finn let out an enraged roar, and she reached for his hand, and pulled him back. He looked back at her with murder in his eyes. “Do not say a word. Let Uncle do what he does best. He shall dispose of her much better than you could ever hope to. He will destroy her.”

“Do you refer to my innocent little Ruby? I think the boot is quite on the other leg, there old girl. My Ruby is above reproach. The only way she would jump into the Duke’s bed, is if she were married to him. Now…you, well, you are known in some circles as the Whore of Babylon. I have heard it said, Madam, that you have the widest legs and the biggest mouth out of any of your competition. Some also said you would take it, any which way you could. They said you had a voracious appetite for…men.”

“You, sir, are a bloody bastard,” Mrs. Brant said.

“That I am, that I am,” Thomas agreed. “And you, my dear, are my equal in that regard, aren’t you? Now, why don’t you take you scurry back to London? I am quite certain you could find another lord to pleasure, who would be willing to keep you in a comfortable little townhouse there. I heard that Lord Lacock was on the hunt for a woman such as you, and if not…you could always see if they would give you a spot in one of the scandalous establishments on King’s Street. Oh, you could retire yourself and put yourself out to pasture—you are rather like a cow. Ah, here you are. For your troubles,” he said, throwing a purse at her filled with coins.

“I am too proud to get down on my hands and knees and take that, sir,” Mrs. Brant said haughtily.

“Ah, you have come up in the world, old thing. I thought you were used to getting down on your hands and knees in order to take something that a man had to offer to you. My mistake. I always thought you were quite obliging and invited them rather readily into Mrs. Fubbs’ parlour. I rather thought you were quite accustomed to it. I have heard tell that you quite liked it. I heard there was nothing you liked better than to take a man’s silent flute and play it, and from all accounts, you were quite a talented musician. Why your petticoat lane probably has had quite a few Cyprian scepters driving through it.”

“Uncle Thomas,” Ruby gasped, her face mottling red. “You have gone far enough.”

Thomas looked over at her and gave her a wink. “Have I, dearest? Alice would probably say I was being crude, and she would be quite right. You needn’t worry, Ruby, I am just having a bit of fun. Mrs. Brant is used to men wanting to have fun with her, aren’t you, Mrs. Brant? And I am quite certain she has dealt with men far crasser than I.”

Finn couldn’t supress a smile. The man was rather good at using his mouth to the detriment of others.

“Gather your things, Mrs. Brant, and leave this place as soon as possible,” Finn said.

“Aye, do that, Mrs. Brant, posthaste. Or I shall give you another one of my charming soliloquys. No one here requires your services,” Thomas agreed. “Now…I am famished. Is it time for breakfast, or have I missed it?”

Giselle finally had enough of Thomas Somersby. She looked as if all of the fight had left her. She was defeated. She scowled at Finn and Ruby and then, dashed back up the steps.

Ruby walked carefully down the steps, holding onto Finn, and looked at her uncle.

“Where is Mama?” she asked tentatively.

“Give me some kind of credit, Ruby. Do I look like the village idiot? I left her behind. I didn’t even tell her where I was going. When I received an urgent missive from Lady Knightwick asking about you, she was quite worried…I knew that I had to find you. I didn’t tell your mother that you were anywhere else though. God knows I didn’t need her screaming at me in that bloody shrill tone of hers. She could break glass with that voice.”

“How…how did you find me?” Ruby asked, in a small voice.

“You didn’t cover your tracks very well, I’m afraid. I only had to spend about twenty minutes in your bedchamber to find what I needed, to lead me here. I was tempted to do a call to arms and enlist the family…excluding your mother, of course, but I had to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I had to see Camblesforth first, before he had our rather daunting family breathing down his neck. I told your mother to away to Brighton and have a gay old time, and then, once she was gone, I told the servants I was going to visit sweet Alice, and then, away I went.”

“You shouldn’t have come, Uncle Thomas. I shan’t go back with you.”

“Well, I should hope not. What are you doing here? I hope you haven’t done anything I wouldn’t want you to do,” he said cheekily.

“I have behaved myself, Uncle.”

“Good,” he said. “We have already had one scandalous lady in the family, we don’t need another one. Besides, you always behave yourself. Sometimes…I want you to kick up a lark—sometimes, I want you to raise some kind of breeze.” He smiled broadly at her. “And are you going to marry her, Camblesforth? Or shall I have to call you out?”

Ruby gasped. “Oh, you wouldn’t, Uncle. I love him.”

“And I love her,” Finn said.

“No, I probably wouldn’t, pet. As long as he hasn’t hurt you…I wouldn’t seek retribution against him.”

“That is the plan, sir. She has accepted my proposal. We shall be married right after Allantide,” Finn said.

“Jolly good. What is Allantide?” Thomas asked, furrowing his brow.

“It is Halloween, Uncle,” she said softly.

“Ah…good, good. I see I have come just in time to be at the wedding. We might have time for Alice, Edward and the rest of my family to get here if I send out a missive right away.”

“No, Uncle. Please. I would like it to be a quiet, intimate affair.”

“Well, they might show up anyway,” he coughed, and looked away.

“Oh, you didn’t, Uncle. Please, tell me you didn’t. You couldn’t have…you didn’t, did you?”

“I might have,” he said, smiling at her. “Now, come on, Ruby, dear, don’t be sore at me. I should be the one cross with you. You nearly gave me heart failure the way you ran off on me…and what was I supposed to do? Leave Lady Knightwick worrying? She might have sent her giant of a husband after me, and surely that is a fate you wouldn’t wish upon your beloved uncle. So I sent missives to Lady Knightwick in London, and Alice in Wiltshire. You know the family—they might show up here to give me support, and to save you from this frightful beast.”

“Frightful beast? He is nothing of the kind. He is a lamb, Uncle.”

“I am?” Finn asked. “I rather thought I was a lion.”

“Oh, Uncle, you have ruined it all. You will have the whole family descending upon us.”

“And that is a bad thing, how?” Thomas asked innocently.

She sighed. “I…I didn’t want any fuss or bother. I don’t want them to go to any trouble.”

“Exactly how big is your family?” Finn asked, seemingly a trifle worried.

“Don’t ask,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t know why everyone is so worried. You have more than enough space here, and the whole family only has your best interests at heart. It isn’t as if Honoria will be coming to spoil it all—they all know better than to tell her. They know she shall ruin any sort of happiness you might have claimed. Now, don’t keep me waiting. Come on over here and give your old uncle a hug and a kiss.”

Sighing, she did her best to walk over to her uncle without limping too much.

“What have you done to her, Camblesforth? She left me in fine health,” Thomas said, eyeing Finn warily.

“He didn’t do it, Uncle. I did it to myself,” she said, wincing.

“Well, you will simply have to be more careful, Ruby. We cannot have you limping down the aisle. Now I will have to give another daughter away. You had better be worthy of her, Camblesforth. Ruby, I don’t know how you shall explain things to Lord Prescott should he come with the rest of the family. I think he rather had his heart set on you.”

She hugged him quickly, and gave him a kiss. “I left, Uncle, because I didn’t want to marry Reverend Beasley. He was a terrible, vile man. I couldn’t become that lecherous man’s wife. I just couldn’t. As for Lord Prescott, he wasn’t meant for me, either. I don’t know if he will ever be able to settle down.”