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Chapter Fourteen
Lady Josephine hoped to see Ace that night. With all the bustle of packing for the journey, she had had Ducky and several of the other maids in and out of her rooms throughout the last several evenings. She could not take the risk, under those circumstances, of secretly spending the night with her lover.
Now, at Worthington Hall, she might have a better chance. She dismissed Ducky for the night, telling her she had had too much wine at dinner and her head ached from it. Under no circumstances was she to be disturbed. Ducky might go help Lady Hermione undress, if she wished to do so.
With that, Lady Josephine locked the door onto the main hallway. Within a half hour or so, she heard a faint knock at the door. It was Ace.
The door was once more locked against intruders, and the couple fell into each other’s arms. “My love, my love, it’s been three days since I kissed you,” breathed Ace, making up for the delay as he spoke.
“Too long,” Lady Josephine agreed. “I cannot bear the times we’re apart.”
His hands deftly removed her nightgown and stroked her bare skin, as he guided her toward the bed.
Then disaster struck. The side door to the adjoining bedroom opened. It was the Earl.
“You little harlot,” he said quietly. “I took the adjoining bedroom with the idea that I might come wooing you myself tonight, now that you are out of your lord father’s house. But I find someone is already here before me.
“Good evening, Mr. Smith,” the Earl continued sarcastically. “I was starting to suspect that something like this was going on. I do hope you don’t think I’ll just put up with it.”
Ace did not respond. He simply bent and picked up Lady Josephine’s discarded nightgown. He wrapped it around her, as if to shield her from shame and from the Earl’s undeserving eyes.
I don’t care that he caught us,thought Lady Josephine.Even if there’s a scandal, the Earl can’t marry me now. He’ll have to set me free from my promise.
But the Earl had other plans. “Men!” he called out. From the back of the room, where the servants’ door was, about ten burly men poured out. They were heavily armed. “It was just as I expected, men. Go ahead. You have your orders on what must be done.”
There was no means of escape for Ace. There were too many men, and they were skilled at their task. Still, he landed punch after punch against the men around him, his anger fueled by his worry for Josie in this horrible situation. He knocked at least two of the men out cold, besides leaving bruises and black eyes wherever his powerful fist landed. But against ten armed men, it was not enough. Before he knew what was happening, Ace found himself trussed with a rope, his hands bound tightly, his legs tied more loosely so that, with some difficulty, he could walk. “Josie!” he cried out. “Go to your lord father—”
But the Earl cut him off. “Gag him, too, while you’re at it. No, better knock him unconscious. We want no unpleasantness with His Royal Highness visiting.” Ace suddenly felt the force of a mighty blow to the head, one that would do credit to any pugilist. Then, for him, everything went black.
“And now, as for you, my lady,” said the Earl, as most of the men left her room carrying Ace like a rolled up carpet. “How long has this dirty affair been going on?
“You know, it’s funny. Everyone keeps complimenting me on finding a bride whose family is as old and distinguished as my own.”
“Far more so,” Lady Josephine said with some spirit.
“Do you think so? It’s been my observation that some old families, like the Worthingtons, build generation by generation upon the achievements of their forebears. And other old families start to rot at their core, sinking lower than even the peasants in their behavior.
“I see that corruption in the House of Clover, my dear. Your lord father’s weakness for gambling and drink, your own lasciviousness with any scum who’s willing to join you in your bed. Sad to see such a fine old family sink so low.”
“Fine,” Lady Josephine said. “Say what you wish. But now that you know about Ace and me, you have to release me from this engagement.”
“I do?” queried the Earl, and his cruel smile sent chills down the girl’s spine. “I shall have to think for a while about that. It seems to me that after this discovery, you’re more in my power now than ever. But I shall think about it, I assure you.
“Prudence! Prunella!” It was then that Lady Josephine noticed that the Earl’s two elder sisters had entered the room from the adjoining bedroom. They stared at her, hard-faced and unsympathetic.
“Help these men take Lady Josephine away, so she can think about her sins, and I can think about what to do with her.”
“Yes brother,” said Lady Prudence. Lady Prunella said nothing, but she tore the nightgown out of Lady Josephine’s hands, leaving her with nothing to cover her shame and embarrassment.
* * *
After Ace was carried away, the Earl’s henchmen tied Lady Josephine’s hands behind her. They were less rough with her than they had been with Ace. She was a Duke’s daughter, after all.
Lady Prunella and Lady Prudence, however, made no effort to hide their contempt for her. “Please,” said Lady Josephine. “At least give me a cloak or something to cover myself with.”
“You showed no shame in displaying your body to a man who wasn’t your husband,” Lady Prudence said. “Why should it bother you now?”
But one of the henchmen pulled off his own cloak and put it around her shoulders. It was warm at least.
