Never Had a Dream Come True (13 page)

“He can’t do this. Not to me, and definitely not to you. You are my friend, and this is the worst insult he ever could give either of us.”

Francesca seethed with anger, and it took Penny quite some time to get her to calm down and promise not to do anything about it. Penny didn’t want to be a thorn between Francesca and her uncle. Just because he behaved like a snake toward her didn’t mean he didn’t love and cherish his niece.

Reluctantly Francesca agreed. She too knew there was more than Rake’s behavior toward Penny at stake here, and she loved her uncle too much to destroy their relationship.

“But there is one thing I want to know before I do anything.”

“What?”

“Do you still want him? As a husband?”

Penny didn’t know how to answer the question. Saying no would be telling an outright lie. Of course she still nursed a silly hope of him declaring his undying love for her and ending it with an impassioned marry-me-or-I’ll-die plea.

But saying yes wouldn’t be true either.

“I don’t know, Fanny, really I don’t. If you had asked me an hour ago, I would probably have told you a loud yes, but now I hesitate. He hurt me, and he insulted me in the worst way a man can, as he trampled all my dignity and honor. In a few words he belittled me into nothing.”

Francesca hugged her close, and Penny felt new tears fill her eyes. The love her friend bestowed on her was endless.

“I know, dearest, I know.” Francesca smiled sadly. “Just one thing—promise me that if you change your mind, please do tell me, and I will make sure not to rest until he understands how stupid he is.”

In the carriage on her way home, Penny couldn’t help but feel something had gone terribly wrong this day. Rake had been more honest to her than she ever had seen him before, and he had not tried to hide behind his usual arrogant mask.

Had anything of what he’d said been true?

Was he right when he said she was the one jumping to conclusions? His anger and his pain had seemed honest, but then how could she know? She had believed in true love, and look where it had taken her.

As the carriage halted in front of the Nester townhouse, she came to a decision. She would endure the rest of the Season and try to stay as far away from Rake as she could.

Her tired head and confused heart needed peace, and she would find it only by marrying Thomas. He was a good friend. She didn’t burn for him, but he would never hurt her, either.

And so what, if she would now and then dream about Rake? That dream would never come true anyway.

“I don’t want to go.”

Charmaine threw down her napkin with anger, but even she didn’t dare leave the breakfast table before their father had finished the daily paper.

“We will go, as this is quite an honor for our family.” Lord Nester didn’t lift his head to look upon his seething daughter. Instead, he took another sip of tea and turned a page, ignoring her outburst.

“But everyone will be at Almack’s tonight. It is the first ball at the assembly rooms this Season. How can we not be going?”

“If a friend invites you to dinner, you don’t decline. And Lord Bolton is an old friend of mine whom I respect a great deal and don’t want to insult.”

“We have never heard about this Lord Bolton before, so what kind of friend is he?”

Lord Nester lifted his head and gave his older daughter an irritated look that made his wife pale.

“There, there,” she soothed quickly. “If your father has decided this is best for us, we will of course honor his wish.”

“Mother,” Charmaine whined, but Penny could see that her sister too caught their mother’s subtle warning.

“You will like him,” Lord Nester said, and it sounded more like an order than information. “Lord Bolton is the richest man in Essex, where I grew up, and we were very good friends when we were children. Adult life has kept us apart, and that’s why I was so delighted when I received his invitation.”

“But, Father…” Penny frowned as something nagged her. “I thought you—as all other Earls of Nester—grew up at Harveyfield?”

“I wasn’t born the heir,” her father admitted curtly. “But when an accident took my predecessor’s life, I was by that time the next in line and inherited the title and the small holdings. Not much to celebrate, though. Harveyfield is such a meager house, and the title has neither land nor wealth. I had a better life before I became the Earl of Nester.”

“But who is your heir?” Charmaine asked, not able to pretend disinterest.

Lord Nester shrugged. “Some distant cousin. I don’t know his name and have certainly never met him. I’m not going to be around when he takes over the place, so I really don’t care.”

“But what will happen with us if you should die?”

“Penny, stop asking all these questions. They make my head hurt. It’s too early in the morning.”

Angrily the earl threw down the paper on the table, bumping over the teapot as he did so. As its hot contents spread over the table, he stomped out of the room without a backward glance, and they could hear his footsteps echoing down the hall to his study.

After ringing for the maid to clean up the mess on the table and helping to put things to rights again, Lady Nester sank back into her chair as the last vestiges of the upset were carried out. She gave her daughters a firm look. “You two have to learn to stop in time when it comes to your father. You know he has a problem with his temper, and I thought you knew better by now.”

“But, Mama…” Charmaine had trouble letting the subject of the dinner party go. “I want to go to Almack’s. All my beaux will be there, and if I’m not there they might find someone else to court.”

“Your father informed me that he has admired Lord Bolton since they were children, and to him this is one of the best things to ever happen to him. Please humor him. Let him have this evening, and then we can go on with our lives again. I don’t know why we have received this dinner invitation, but I can guess it has something to do with Lord Bolton’s third wife, who just passed away. She was quite young, I understand.”

“Oh, lord,” Charmaine breathed. “Do you think he wants to marry one of us?”

“Your father, who is quite proud of you, has probably been telling his friend all about his exceptional daughters, and now Lord Bolton wants to see for himself.”

Penny rolled her eyes but kept silent. Her father hadn’t told Lord Bolton about his two exceptional daughters. He had told him about his one exceptional daughter—Charmaine.

“But what if he wants one of us?”

“Your father will never marry you off to some old man, no matter how rich he is. As I understand it, Lord Bolton is not only one of the richest men in Essex, he is also one of the most tight-fisted. Your father won’t gain anything by such a marriage, and therefore there won’t be one.”

“But what if he offers father money?”

Lady Nester gave her daughter a patronizing smile. “Even then he won’t let either of you two go. Charmaine, you know he has bigger plans for you, and when it comes to you, Penny, he promised the Duchess of Berkeley to keep you for Thomas Bedford, and he is too impressed by her to dare to go against her.”

“But, Mama…”

“Charmaine, no. This is enough. Now let us all go to our rooms and choose what to wear tonight. Humor your father and try to look your very best.”

And with those last words their mother left the table and proceeded through the door.

Charmaine gave Penny a can-you-believe-how-stupid-they-are-look before she remembered she wasn’t talking to her younger sister and followed their mother upstairs.

Penny too went up to her room and the rest of the day she spent on her bed reading. Not until she heard her father call for the carriage did she change her dress and quickly put some pins in her honey-colored hair.

Why bother with more? No one ever was interested in her, and after what she’d heard about Lord Bolton she knew he was interested in one thing and one thing alone—Charmaine.

As soon as they arrived at their host’s magnificent townhouse he proved her right. Lord Bolton took one look at Charmaine and practically drooled. His eyes never left her, and his not so subtle admiration made Lord Nester most irritated, although he didn’t say anything but merely twiddled his fingers in a way Penny had come to recognize as a sign of his agitation.

Lord Bolton was of the same age as her father, but he looked more than twenty years older. He had to use a walking stick when he moved around, and she guessed he suffered from gout or some other painful sickness like it.

Dinner was a horrible event, with Lord Bolton ignoring everyone but Charmaine while she tried to move as far away from him as possible. Penny sank deeper and deeper into her chair, silently hoping their father soon would grow tired of their host’s unfriendly behavior and whisk his family home again.

After dinner, Lord Nester ushered his three ladies out of the dining room so he and Lord Bolton could have their port alone, and a mean-looking butler led them to another luxurious salon.

Not until they had finished three cups of tea did the door fly open, and Lord Nester barged in.

“We are leaving immediately. Please get your coats and wait for me in the carriage.”

Charmaine squealed with delight and rushed out from the room, closely followed by her just-as-delighted mother. As Penny was about to leave also, her father closed the door, then turned and looked at her coldly.

“I need to talk to you in private, Penny. Please sit down.”

Filled with sudden dread, Penny returned to the sofa. Something in her father’s cold stance made her shiver with fear, and she tangled her fingers together to stop her hands from shaking.

“You are not going home with us today.” Lord Nester paced in front of the door, looking more like a guard on duty than a father talking to his daughter. “Lord Bolton is in desperate need of an heir and has decided he wants Charmaine for a wife. I hope you understand that I will never let anyone like him get his hands on your sister.”

Faint with relief, Penny nodded. This was not about her, this was about her sister. Her father needed her help, and she would of course do anything to save her sister from having to marry someone as horrible as Lord Bolton.

“Lord Bolton was not pleased when I told him this, and to my surprise he…he started to threaten me and said he would have you and me and your mother locked in while he had his way with Charmaine and thus he would secure her as his wife.”

“Oh, Father,” Penny breathed, shocked.

“Luckily enough, I happened to remember something from our childhood, something I know he wouldn’t want to become common knowledge. So, as he still wouldn’t give up his plans, I made him a bargain he couldn’t refuse. I know how much he loves young girls, and I instead offered to let him take you off my hands. In that way we can save Charmaine’s virtue and future. To my great surprise and gratefulness, Lord Bolton liked this bargain, and in response I have promised to never mention again what he did to that young girl in our youth.”

Penny stared open-mouthed at her father, not believing her ears. Was he about to give her away to save Charmaine? She was his daughter too. She must have misunderstood him completely.

“Father, you can’t be serious. You can’t leave me here. I don’t want to marry Lord Bolton. I’m promised to Thomas Bedford, as you are well aware.”

“Who said anything about marriage?” Lord Nester sneered as he leaned over her, forcing her to press backwards into the sofa. “You are to stay and let Lord Bolton have his way with you in any way he pleases. Then, when he is finished with you, you can write me a letter. I will send a carriage for you, which will take you to that small estate I have in Wales, where you will spend the rest of your life. You will never hear from us again, and you must promise never to contact us in any way.”

“B-but this is unheard of,” Penny stuttered, blindly trying to find something to say which would break through her father’s insanity. “I’m your daughter too. You can’t just leave me here. I know you don’t love me as much as you love Charmaine, but you must feel something for me. Please don’t leave me.”

The last sentence was only a sob, but her father didn’t even blink. Instead he laughed—a hateful sound which scared her immensely.

“I will tell you two things, little Penelope de Vere. First, I have never loved you and have merely been putting up with you all these years as a possible source of income once you’ve grown up.”

His words were like knives, and Penny’s already bleeding heart was wounded over and over again. To sense his indifference was one thing, but to hear him admit it was devastating.

“And secondly, I’m not your father by blood. Nor am I Charmaine’s. Ah, that is a surprised little face. Something you didn’t know, eh? Your real father had an unexplained accident which killed him and left his wife alone with a small baby and another on the way. When I inherited the title, as soon as you, a mere girl, were born, I did what any decent man would do. I asked her to marry me. She was quite beautiful back then, you know. Your sister is nothing to what your mother once was. She reluctantly accepted, too caught up with having lost a husband, and having a toddler and an infant to take care of. I also made her promise never to tell you two who your real father was. A baby’s neck is so fragile, you know.”

The threat in his words was sickening, and Penny cried for her mother, who in her worst day of sorrow had been assaulted by this insane man. This explained so much, not just her father’s obsession with Charmaine but also her mother’s overbearing desperation when it came to her oldest daughter’s protection.

His triumphant laughter echoing through the grand room, her father turned his back to her and started for the door, and with one last attempt to save her life, Penny ran after him and grabbed his arm to force him to acknowledge her.

“Father, please don’t leave me here. Take me with you. Please…”

“Let go of me, you selfish girl. Can’t you think of anyone but yourself? Think of your sister and her virtue. Do you really want her to lose her innocence in the hands of a man like Lord Bolton?”

“N-no, of course I don’t,” Penny cried. “But I don’t want…”