For the Love of the Lady Read online

  For the Love of the Lady

  The Noble Hearts Series ~ Book 4

  Callie Hutton

  Contents

  About the Book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  About the Book

  Lord Henry Pomeroy’s three daughters are finally married and happily settled in their own homes. He’s looking forward to grandbabies and the company of Lady Crampton, the woman who acted as chaperone and companion to his daughters these past four years—and stole his heart in the meantime. Except she is moving out of his house!

  * * *

  Lady Selina Crampton has fallen hopelessly in love with her employer. Now that his youngest daughter is married, there is no longer a reason for her to remain since her work has come to an end. Marriage is not possible, and the time has come to confront her demons and tell him why she has refused his numerous offers of marriage.

  * * *

  It appears everyone is going to have their happy ending…except Lady Selina and Lord Henry.

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  Prologue

  July, 1822

  London, England

  Lord Henry Pomeroy settled into the most comfortable chair in his library, a glass of brandy in one hand, the latest book he’d been reading in the other. With all the nonsense surrounding his youngest daughter Marigold’s wedding, he’d had little time to relax with his favorite things to do. Read and drink a brandy.

  The only thing missing was Selina, Lady Crampton, the woman who acted as chaperone and companion to his two younger daughters before they married. Generally, she joined him in the evenings when she wasn’t accompanying Marigold to an event. She would sit and work on her embroidery while he read her various interesting passages from his latest book.

  Where was the blasted woman, anyway? The bride and groom had departed two hours ago, and his other two daughters had arrived from preparing their sister for her wedding night at her new husband’s home, collected their husbands, and left. It had been a long day, and he was more than happy to have it done with.

  He shifted in his chair, waiting for her arrival. Finally, the door opened and she entered. He immediately relaxed. “You know I can’t concentrate on my book with you not here.” He smiled at her and handed her a glass of sherry as was their practice.

  She settled on her seat, took a tiny sip of sherry, and placed the glass on a small table in front of them. She laid her hands on her lap. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Henry, we must talk.”

  Sensing something disturbed her, he lowered his book and gave her his full attention. He’d found over the years that when it came to women, lovely as they were, the sentence “We need to talk” usually preceded tears and recriminations. “What is it, my dear?”

  She raised her chin and stared him directly in his eyes. “Henry, I am presenting my resignation.” She took out a sheet of vellum from her gown pocket and held it out toward him.

  Henry studied her carefully and set his glass down. “What are you talking about?”

  “My resignation, Henry. I am resigning my position. I must leave.”

  “Selina, it has been a difficult couple of weeks. We are both tired. I don’t wish to play games. Of course, you cannot resign.”

  She stood and paced. “Of course, I cannot not resign.”

  Finally realizing she was serious, he tamped down his anxiety and stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. “What is the matter, Selina?”

  She burst into tears, and he wrapped his arms around her and laid her cheek against him. She sobbed on his chest for a bit, then he handed her a handkerchief. She looked up at him with a red nose, swollen eyes, and took a deep, shuddering breath. “My work here is finished.”

  “I can see you are very upset, so I won’t make light of your concerns, but you cannot leave.”

  “I was hired as a chaperone and companion to your daughters.” She sniffed and waved her hand around. “Not that I’ve done such a wonderful job since they were all in a family way when they married.”

  Henry leaned back. “Marigold, too?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “You see, I wasn’t even good at the job.”

  He pushed back the hair that had fallen from her tidy arrangement of curls onto her shoulder. “You have done the most remarkable job ever.”

  She huffed. “How is that, Henry?”

  “You run my home, you deal with the staff. You keep me company in the evenings. More importantly, you’ve made me realize my life could continue after my dear departed wife left us.” He made the sign of the cross. He took her hands and kissed each knuckle. “You taught me to believe in love again, Selina. And—"

  She tightened her lips and closed her eyes. “Don’t say it, Henry.”

  He cupped her face, stroking her soft cheeks with his thumbs. “I will say it. Over and over again until you agree. Marry me, my love.”

  With tear-filled eyes, she slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve told you before, Henry. I cannot marry you.”

  Chapter 1

  Lord Pomeroy looked up from his newspaper as Lady Crampton entered the breakfast room. Her eyes were puffy, and she looked as though she hadn’t slept a wink all night. Neither had he. After her announcement that she was packing up and leaving his home, and still refused to marry him, he paced in his room and fought the urge to go to her bedchamber and demand answers until he’d nearly worn out the carpet and the sun peeked over the horizon.

  Ordinarily, they would spend the night together, but since he did not wish to continue the argument, he’d stayed away from her. With the mood she’d been in when she made her announcement, he felt it was best to leave her be for the night. Not something he was happy about. “Good morning, my dear.”

  Selina offered him a sad smile. “Good morning.”

  He remained silent while she filled her plate with the usual breakfast offerings: one boiled egg, one piece of toast, and an orange. She sat at her place, and the footman poured her tea. Henry watched as she fixed her tea and tapped the egg shell with her spoon.

  He could stand it no longer. “Selina, we must speak about this dilemma.”

  Her hand paused as she held the tea cup close to her lips. “There is no dilemma, Henry. I will visit with Lady Penrose today to learn if the girls and I may have our rooms back.”

  “I don’t want you to leave.”

  “I have no choice. I don’t want to leave. You must know that. But don’t you see how improper it would be for me to stay? I have two young daughters who will be thrust into the complex world of the ton in less than a year. They will not be welcomed with open arms into Society if their mother is considered a whore.”

  Henry sucked in a breath, his blood pumping so hard through his heart, he thought it would explode. “Never say that. Never, Selina. You are not a whore, and you are not to even think such a thing.”

  She turned her head away from him, her adorable stubborn chin raised. “I have no place here anymore.”

  “I shall hire you as my housekeeper.” He felt quite smug.

  Selina regarded him with raised brows. “You have a housekeeper.”

  “I shall fire he
r.”

  “What? Don’t be ridiculous, Henry. Mrs. Woolford has been with you for years.”

  “Yes. You’re right. I cannot fire her.” He took a sip of coffee. “Then I shall have two housekeepers.” He studied her. “Can you cook?”

  “Yes, I can cook, and no, I won’t allow you to fire your cook, either.”

  “Then you must marry me.”

  Selina placed her hands in her lap and studied him. “Henry, I cannot marry you. I am sorry. I love you, I know you love me, but it is not possible. At least not right now, anyway.”

  He pounced on her mumbled last words. “What was that you said?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Henry shoved his chair back and stood, leaning his hands on the table, bringing his face close to Selina’s. He could see the surprise in her eyes and the slight flush on her cheeks. She apparently had not wanted him to hear what she said, but he was not letting it go. “You said something about ‘not right away.’ What did you mean by that?”

  She sighed deeply and shook her head. “You will not cease to continue asking me, will you?”

  “Marrying you? No, not at all. As you said, I love you and you love me. However, you won’t marry me. I feel I have the right to insist on knowing why.”

  “Lord Crampton.”

  He eased back into his seat. “What about Lord Crampton? He is dead.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you mean the new Lord Crampton?”

  She shook her head.

  After allowing her a few moments of silence, he prodded. “So, what about Lord Crampton?”

  “He was a … difficult man.”

  Henry stiffened in his chair. “Did he hurt you? I shall dig him up and kill him again.”

  “No, no. Nothing like that. At least not physically, anyway.” She began to fiddle with her spoon, not meeting his eyes.

  Henry had known Lord Crampton from their time in Parliament together. The man had been older than Selina by almost three decades. Henry had always assumed her deceased husband had been anxious for an heir, which was why he married a young bride. She could not have been more than eighteen when she wed Crampton who was then at least in his early fifties.

  He remembered Crampton as being a windbag, very impressed with his own consequence. He’d sported a full-faced beard, a rather rotund body, and a balding head.

  Certainly not someone to whom a young girl would be attracted.

  “He was quite possessive. I always had the feeling he didn’t trust me—or rather other men.”

  “He kept a close watch on you?”

  “Yes. We would return from a ball, and I would receive a tirade all the way home on the gentlemen who had paid attention to me. In some cases, he even had a list.” She huffed with righteous indignation. “For heaven’s sake, I was a married woman and not one to encourage other men’s attentions.”

  “What has all this to do with not marrying me? Are you afraid all husbands are the same? Do you not trust me to treat you well?”

  She laid her hand on his resting on the table. “Of course not, Henry. I know you very well and am sure you would never treat me so.”

  “Then what is it, my love? Why refuse to consider both of our happiness?” He fought the panic rising in his chest. He could not watch her walk out of his life. They were friends, lovers, and he needed her like he needed his next breath of air.

  “As I said, Lord Crampton was not a very nice person. For the most part, he ignored our daughters, being angered from their birth that they were girls. But I know in his own strange way he loved them. And that is why I cannot marry you.”

  Henry stared at her for a full minute as she stared back at him. He licked his dry lips. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Lord Crampton was quite wealthy.”

  Although he believed her, he’d always wondered what had happened to the man’s wealth once he died. It was a subject Selina had never spoken about, and he was reluctant to ask, since the need to support herself and her daughters had brought her into his life.

  All of Crampton’s entailed property, of course, along with the income from those properties went to his heir, the man’s third cousin, but there should have been money enough to provide for Selina and his daughters upon his death. If nothing else, whoever drew up the settlement papers when they first married would have made sure there was a widow’s portion set aside for Selina in the event of Crampton’s death. “Can you explain further what you mean, my dear?”

  “His lordship managed, I was never sure how, to move the money my father negotiated for me during the marriage settlements into an account he had use of. That money was spent. Therefore, when he died, I had nothing.”

  “What about his estate, his will?”

  Her words followed a deep sigh. “He set his will up in such a way that I receive no money and all the funds go to the girls to provide for their Seasons and dowries.”

  “And…” Somehow, he knew this was not going to be good.

  “They will only receive the money if I do not remarry. Otherwise, it all goes to his third cousin, his heir and the man who he despised most of his life.”

  * * *

  Selina watched the confusion in Henry’s eyes turn to anger. “He did what?”

  “That’s what his solicitor advised me after the funeral. It was confirmed when we had the reading of the will. I have nothing, and the girls have nothing until they reach their come-out age. Then they can have all the money they want, providing it goes for gowns, slippers, ribbons—all the things young ladies need when they enter the marriage mart—with the balance of the funds to be split between them once the second one marries.”

  “Did the solicitor give any reason why Crampton elected to distribute his estate in such a manner?”

  She gave him a half smile. “Yes. It was written into the will. He said the reason he left me nothing was because I had not produced a male heir, so I had not ‘earned’ a settlement.”

  Henry let out with quite a colorful curse and ran his fingers through his hair. “Why have you not told me before now? Furthermore, that doesn’t sound legal to me. Did you contest his will?”

  “With what, Henry? I had no money to hire a solicitor, and his lordship’s solicitor told me he couldn’t help me because it would be a conflict of interest.”

  “No doubt his interest.”

  “No, Mr. Darwin is an honorable man. And the reason I hadn’t told you before now is because I was humiliated at how my husband had treated me. Since there was no reason for us to marry—”

  “—until now.”

  “I kept the information to myself.”

  Henry stood and pulled her to her feet. “We will fight this together. I won’t allow a dead man to dictate whom I shall and shall not marry.”

  She laid her head against his chest, the solid sound of his heartbeats soothing her. Maybe she could not marry him until both girls were married and their dowries paid, but she could certainly enjoy his love and companionship until then.

  But she could no longer remain in his house. She lifted her head. “So you see, I cannot continue on here. The fact that I spent even one night here after Marigold’s marriage will leave me open to gossip.”

  “I don’t care about gossip. I care about you.” He lowered his head and kissed her softly, but the contact soon turned into something strong and passionate. “Stay one more night,” he murmured against her lips.

  She pushed on his chest. “No. I cannot. If I don’t leave now, it will only grow harder. If I want Phoebe and Prudence to have successful come-outs and make decent matches, there can be no shadow cast over my reputation.”

  “Of course, you are aware of the number of women who enjoy a lover’s attentions while their husbands visit their mistresses, and their daughters do quite well with suitable matches.”

  “Yes, but they don’t blatantly live with those lovers. Everything with the ton is appearances, as you well know.”

  Henry sighed a
nd dropped his arms. “I am afraid you are right, my dear.”

  She smoothed the wrinkles from her gown. “May I have the carriage to travel to Lady Penrose?”

  “Absolutely. You may have anything you want.” He winked at her. “Including me.”

  Thankfully, Selina had kept in touch with Lady Penrose, enjoying her company at various social events and visiting for tea. She was a lovely woman, a widow also, with a huge house. Her husband’s title had passed onto his eldest son from an earlier marriage, but Penrose had been kind enough to leave her the unentailed charming home in Mayfair where she resided.

  With no children of her own, she had been more than happy to take Selina and the girls in after Crampton’s death. She had been appalled at what Crampton had done and insisted on Selina writing to every relative, no matter how remote, both in her family and Crampton’s family, to seek assistance.

  Since she and Crampton had been only children, there were no siblings to help, and because his heir had hated Crampton as much as he’d hated him back, she’d shied away from asking for any help from him. Hopefully, her influence on the twins would counter any nastiness they may have inherited from their father and his family.

  It was a beautiful summer day as she traversed the distance from Pomeroy House to Lady Penrose’s townhouse. Bright green leaves on the trees quivered softly with the slight wind, and the scent of flowers filled the air from various gardens along the roadway. Despite being only a short distance from Pomeroy House, with the traffic, it took her nearly a half hour to arrive.