The Rakehell Regency(333)

"Finally, Murphy wants to marry you quickly before you find out what he has been up to, and because he needs the cash."



At her look of surprise he nodded. "Yes, I have heard the rumors. He is spreading them all over town that the two of you are to be wed."



She nodded miserably. "Yes, he is supposed to announce it at the Gossards' ball this evening, at midnight. And no doubt he will want to take me back to Somerset to see my family, which will pull me in even more deeply. Either way, he will have ruined me, whether I marry him or no, unless I go ahead with his plans."



The Duke shook his head. "I'm afraid so, my dear girl. But you have friends in us, you know that. We will do whatever we can to help."



"But why now? Other strands of the spider web must have been woven long before," she said, recalling her terrible dreams.



"Yes, a long time ago indeed, about two years ago in fact," the Duke said grimly, suddenly seeing patterns where none had existed before.



"As to the timing, he's getting desperate, I expect. He needs money like everyone else. Especially if he wants to cut a dash as the supposed earl."



"And he is blackening Jonathan's name even further to cut off my retreat from his marriage proposal," Pamela guessed. "He doesn't imagine I could possibly ever face the disgrace of choosing a vicar over him. Let alone a vicar said to be as debauched as Jonathan, thanks in part to all the vile rumors and innuendo he's been spreading like butter to all who will listen."



Thomas nodded. "What exactly did the odious little squit say that has you so riled?"



"That Jonathan was seen with a prostitute and their bastard six weeks ago in Bath, making a scene on the street. But that's not why Jonathan said he was already engaged, was it? There's more to the story, I'm sure of it."



The Duke clinked down his cup and saucer angrily, his normally unruffled façade slipping for a brief moment, causing Pamela to stare in shock. What on earth could it all mean?



"There is a lot more to the story, I'm afraid, and you've been kept in the dark a great deal longer than you ever should have been. I'm sorry, my dear. I blame myself at least in part. I tried to reason with him the night you left Bath, but to no avail."



He shook his head and sighed. He rose now and moved over to the sideboard to pour himself a measure of brandy, though it was so early in the day.



Pamela stared as he downed the tot in one gulp, then leaned on the fine oak piece with both hands.



"I need to confide in you the whole story. I apologise in advance if anything I tell you shocks your fine sensibilities. It still shocks me to this day. But you need to know the truth."



She nodded, eager to learn everything about Jonathan at last, no matter how painful it might be. "I understand. I'm listening."



"The woman in question, the so-called prostitute, is actually my sister Jane."



"Your sister? I didn't know..."



He nodded. "They were close from the time they were very young, and when she came of age a couple of years ago, he offered for her. It was a case of puppy love, I believe, but Jonathan was always a man of his word.



"Jane was very young when we went off to war in August 1808, and it was probably difficult for her to grasp being engaged to someone away at the Front all the time. She promised to wait for him, but she was growing up. A false report came back to England via a man called Herbert Paxton that I was dead, early in 1812. He stole my personal effects, pretended to be a grieving friend coming back to do his duty to the family. She inherited immediately upon my supposed death, with Elizabeth to gain a large portion set aside for when she also eventually reached eighteen.



"Paxton was a fortune-hunter. He got Jane to trust him, tried to woo her. She toyed with the idea of eloping, but began to wonder why he was acting in such a hole in the corner manner. He was already married, you see."



Pamela nodded, hanging on his every word.



"When Paxton discovered that his secret was out, he abducted her, and treated her most dreadfully. He, well, he er, subjected her to the most awful treatment at the hands of himself and other men, saying if she refused to give him her money willingly, that was the way she would be forced to earn her keep."



"Good God. How monstrous."



He nodded. "My father was afraid that his girls would be tender lambs to the slaughter if they ever inherited due to my death, so the will was most precise. They were not permitted any money apart from a small stipend each month without application to the solicitors, and that Jane refused to do once she saw Paxton's true colors.