Billionaire Flawed 1(211)

He told them I was just a woman from a local village and that he barely knew me, Emily said, completing the Bishop's story. I need to go out now. Will you come with me? she asked.

To where, her father asked.

To Cobham Hall.





Emily jumped out of the coach before it had come to a halt and ran to the door. The door knocker shook on its base as she hammered with it. The butler looked startled when Emily ran past him without saying anything. Edward, Edward, she shouted frantically running from room to room.

Mr. Edward is outside in the garden, the butler pointed out.

She ran to the back door and out into the garden. Again she shouted his name. Edward stopped reading the newspaper and looked across the terrace. When he saw Emily, he jumped to his feet. I'm here.

Oh, Edward, she shouted as she ran to him. Edward, I'm so sorry, I have been terrible to you. Please forgive me. You must take me back. I don't want to live without you. She reached him and flung her arms around his neck.

Calm yourself, Emily, he said.

But how can I be calm after what I have done to you. I am a terrible person.

No, you are not. You are an adorable woman who I love very much, but thought I'd lost.

Will you ever forgive me? The Bishop and my father have told me how hard you have been working to secure my father's release. I will be forever in your debt.

The last time I spoke to you, you were engaged to another man, he reminded her.

I want you, not him. The engagements off, as of this moment.

He kissed her. In that case, why not get engaged to me instead?

Yes, yes, oh yes please, Emily said, ecstatically.

Mr. Dirksen, thank you for all you have done to secure my release, I will be forever in your debt, Emily's father said when he and the Bishop had caught up.

Not at all, sir. I am pleased you are now a free man.

But how exactly did you secure his release? Emily said still slightly confused. My father was convicted by a court, how did you get the decision reversed?

That was easy. You remember your father built a large extension onto this house? Emily nodded. I still have all the paperwork including a letter from Mr. Benjamin Harvie the accountant that your father employed at the time, Edward spoke slowly and deliberately. In the letter, Mr. Harvie informed me that I should pay the invoice for the work done into a different bank account than the one I had originally been given. As the letter was from a firm of professional accountants working on behalf of your father, I duly did as he requested.

And? Emily interrupted eagerly.

It was a very large amount, I believe it was the largest job your father had ever done. Emily's father nodded. When I heard what had happened to your father, I went to the authorities and told them how much I had paid and asked them to investigate. Edward looked to see if Emily was still following. She was nodding keenly so he continued. They found that the account was in the name of Mr. Harvie himself, not his company. They also had no record of Mr. Harvie ever having declared this amount, and many other amounts which had flowed into his account, to the taxman. Mr. Harvie was arrested for tax evasion two days ago, and your father duly released.

Emily sighed with relief. I have just one more question, she said. You didn't know about my father's plight until I told you, is that correct? Edward nodded. Then in effect, you did this for me.

I suppose so. But don't tell your father, he said with a grin.

I love you, Edward Dirksen. Emily said.



THE END





A Rake’s Revenge – A Regency Romance

Andrew, I am sick and tired of your lies, Oscar Hammond said as his son listened to him for the umpteenth time. Your mother and I have discussed your behavior, and we have come to the conclusion that the constant stream of women, who seem to enter and leave your life with alarming regularity, is having a negative influence on your children's behavior. One of Oscar’s beloved Springer Spaniels jumped up and tried to sit on Andrew's lap.

The two gentlemen were sitting in Oscar's study in Thorpe Hall, which had been in the Hammond family for seven hundred years since King John had bestowed it on Angred Hammond for slaughtering a group of men who had robbed his mail coach.

Oscar, at sixty-three, was a man of considerable wealth. He owned three thousand acres and had more than two thousand tenants in various villages scattered around the area. Tall and gray haired, he was a solemn man totally devoid of humor.

His son, Andrew, was twenty-nine and the proud father of three children. Agnes, John, and Sarah. Nine, six and four respectively.

Oscar and his wife had tried for many years to have children, and when Andrew was born, they'd been thrilled that, at last, they had an heir to the family fortune. Femke Hammond, the third daughter of a Dutch aristocrat, had pleased her husband by having two more children, Maurice, and Jacqueline.