Destroyed & Restored - The Baron's Courageous Wife Read online

  Her father.

  In that moment, all his threats came rushing back, and Adelaide could have slapped herself for ignoring them. Always had she known that her father was a man to be feared, and yet, she had allowed her husband to distract her, to draw her mind from the threat he presented to her new life. In the past fortnight, she had all but forgotten about him.

  About his threat to reveal her secret.

  About the fact that any happiness she might find with her new husband might be snatched away at any moment.

  Oh, how could she have been so careless?!

  A moment later, her father came barrelling through the door like a charging bull, shutting it behind himself with a kick of his boot−right in the butler’s rather pale face.

  Adelaide knew only too well how the poor man felt.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Adelaide saw Lady Elton rise to her feet, her chin raised, and the look in her eyes unwavering. Oh, how Adelaide envied her courage!

  All she herself could accomplish in that moment was to force her legs to still and hold her upright. Her heart hammered in her chest as she met her father’s angry stare, reminding her that she was indeed all alone.

  Her husband had left the house and would not come to her aid this time, and despite Lady Elton’s courage, Adelaide doubted that the woman was a match for her father. In truth, now Adelaide did not only fear for herself but also for her friend. And she was with child! What would such a confrontation do to her? Would the stress harm the child?

  Fresh panic welled up, and Adelaide felt her fingernails dig into her palms as she fought to keep it at bay.

  “I expected to hear from you!” her father growled, his blood-shot eyes narrowed as he glared at her. “I expected−” His voice broke off when he finally realised that they were not alone.

  His forehead crinkled, showing more frown lines, as his gaze turned to Lady Elton.

  Adelaide knew she ought to interfere, but her body would not move. Fear held her immobile, and in that moment−like never before−she hated her own weakness. Disgust filled her heart, and she wished for nothing more than for the ground to open and swallow her whole.

  “What are you doing here?” the earl snarled, fixing Lady Elton with a loathsome stare. “No matter where I turn, there you are, causing trouble.” He stomped toward the young woman. “Stay out of this! This does not concern you, understood?”

  Adelaide watched in amazement as Lady Elton held her ground, her blue eyes sparkling with a hint of mirth as she shook her head, a devious smile on her lips. “You’re wrong,” she replied, her voice hard and full of conviction as she took a step toward the earl. “I am wanted here. You are not.” Her brows rose as she glanced at the door. “Leave. Now.”

  Awed by the young woman’s courage, Adelaide saw her father’s face lose some of its vehemence, replaced by a touch of confusion. Adelaide could not remember anyone ever having spoken out against him, not to his face, except for her grandmother. And yet, she had never challenged him in such a direct way. Still, she had always been the only one to hold any sway over him.

  Was that the key to protecting herself from her father? To not let him see her fear? To stand tall and stare him down?

  Was it not strength and courage that carried him? But instead dominance granted to him by those who trembled in fear whenever he approached? Once it was taken away, what would be left of him?

  Once again, her father’s eyes hardened. “You have no right to order me from this house.” Then his gaze turned and met Adelaide’s, and in that moment, she knew that he was like a predator going after the weak one in the herd.

  While Lady Elton had proved herself to be a worthy adversary−someone her father could not handle−he sought out new prey.

  Her.

  Seeing her father stomping toward her, Adelaide felt her old instincts take over, urging her to bow her head and shrink into a corner. And yet, one look at Lady Elton’s tall stature forbade her to do so.

  Inhaling a deep breath, Adelaide willed her chin up and her hands to stop trembling. Her husband’s voice echoed in her head as he had told her that no one had the right to treat her thus.

  No one.

  Not him.

  And certainly not her father.

  “Tell her to leave,” her father ordered, his dark gaze finding Adelaide’s, urging her to do what he could not.

  It was a realisation that momentarily stole Adelaide’s breath. He was weak! Insecure! At another’s mercy as she had been all her life! There was no strength in him, no courage. It had only been pretence. A charade!

  This simple truth almost brought Adelaide to her knees as she remembered all the years wasted, obeying her father out of fear. What would her life have been if she had simply stood up to him?

  As though of their own accord, Adelaide felt her shoulders draw back and her back straighten. Her gaze rose with new purpose and conviction, and she could see the change she felt in her heart reflected in her father’s eyes as he beheld his daughter. Still, before Adelaide could make up her mind to speak, Lady Elton stepped in front of her.

  Blocking her father’s path.

  Protecting her once again.

  “I demand that you leave this instant,” Lady Elton snarled, her own voice now laced with threat, and once again, Adelaide was awed by the courage that lived in this woman’s heart. How had she grown up to become such a strong person? “You are not welcome here.”

  Her father’s gaze shifted from her to Lady Elton, and instead of anger, annoyance came to his face. The energy that had propelled him forward before seemed to be fading as he looked down at her, indecision in his eyes as to how to proceed. “Why do you care?” he demanded, puzzlement in his voice. “She is nothing to you. A mere acquaintance. Why can you not stay out of this?”

  Adelaide was surprised to hear an almost pleading tone in her father’s voice. And yet, it was when Lady Elton spoke again that the air was knocked from her lungs.

  “It’s what you do for family,” the young woman hissed, anger lacing her words as she stepped toward the earl, who almost took a step back. “Do you truly not know? Do you truly not see it?” Pausing, she watched him, her jaw tense. “I have every right to be here. Always and forever will I be at her side because she is my sister.”

  For a moment, Adelaide thought she would faint, staring at the young woman before her, her blue eyes shining with defiance. Blue eyes just like her own. Just like her father’s.

  Blinking, Adelaide looked at her father, finding his own gaze fixed on Lady Elton’s face, his own dangerously pale.

  A snort rose from the young woman’s lips. “Do you truly not see it?” she demanded. “After all, I take after my mother in most ways. Your mother saw it right away.”

  “Grandmother?” Adelaide gasped as another puzzle piece fell into place. Always had they seemed close. Closer than would have made sense under any circumstances.

  Except these.

  “It cannot be,” the earl stammered, his pale blue eyes fixed on Lady Elton’s face. “It cannot be. This can’t be true. You died. You…” Swallowing, he licked his lips. “Beth,” he whispered. “My little Beth.”

  The gentle endearment so misplaced in that moment brought a new tension to Lady Elton’s body. “Leave!” she snarled. “You’re not wanted here. Out! Now!”

  As though he had been punched in the chest, Adelaide’s father stumbled backwards until his back collided with the closed door. “It cannot be,” he mumbled once again before he turned and fled, his hastened footsteps echoing on the marble floor in the foyer.

  On trembling legs, Adelaide stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the young woman’s face. “Is it true?” she breathed, her voice sounding too loud for the sudden silence that had fallen over the room.

  After inhaling a slow breath, Lady Elton turned to her. Her face looked still strained, and yet, when their eyes met, Adelaide saw the same loving concern and devotion she had always seen there.

  And never been able
to understand.

  Now, she did.

  Smiling, Lady Elton nodded. “Yes, it is true. We are sisters.”

  Overwhelmed, Adelaide sank into her sister’s arms, tears running freely down her cheeks as she clung to the woman she had never known, and yet, missed all her life.

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Sisters at Last

  Overwhelmed, Adelaide sank back onto the settee, her hands holding on tightly to her sister’s.

  Sister! She had a sister!

  “Are you all right?”

  Blinking, Adelaide looked at Beth−for all of a sudden it seemed wrong to call her anything else but Beth. After all, they were sisters!

  Swallowing, Adelaide nodded. “I’m fine. I’m simply…”

  “Overwhelmed?” Beth asked with a smile, the look on her face somewhat fatigued. “When I found out, I felt the same.”

  “How did you find out? When?” Adelaide asked, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of everything. Certainly, she had known that her father had been married before, but to her knowledge, his first wife and child had died in an awful accident. Neither one of her parents, not even her grandmother, had been willing to say any more than that on the matter.

  “I found out only a year ago,” Beth said, sinking back against the settee, her hands still linked with Adelaide’s. “I found a letter in my mother’s things, and to learn the truth about her past as well as my own, I came to London. It was our grandmother who told me the whole story.”

  Our grandmother!

  “She recognised you?”

  Beth nodded, tears misting her eyes at the memory. “She took one look at me and knew.”

  Adelaide sighed, trying her best to understand. “But how did this happen? Where were you all this time? My father−our father clearly thought you had died. You and your mother. It’s the story that everybody knows.”

  For a moment, Beth remained silent, her gaze directed inward as she chose her words. Then her blue eyes met Adelaide’s. “Our father has always had a temper−it was never different−and he always went after those who could not defend themselves. After my mother. She was strong, but she…had too much to lose to stand up to him without fear.”

  Adelaide nodded, knowing exactly how it felt to be trapped in a life with no options. How desperate Beth’s mother had to have felt. The same as her own. Adelaide could not recall a day in her life when her mother had not been afraid. Fear had been always there, even if only in the background.

  “One day,” Beth continued, “when I was about two years old, he discovered me in his study and raised his hand to me.”

  Adelaide gasped. Never had her father struck her, and yet, she had always wondered if he would have had she given him a reason to. It would seem only her submissive character had saved her from that fate.

  “My mother was shocked. Grandmother told me that she had always bore his anger but could not do so in good conscience where I was concerned.” Beth inhaled a deep breath. “And so, she decided to leave…to protect me. Grandmother helped us start anew somewhere far away.”

  “Then why did he think you dead?”

  Beth shrugged. “I cannot say. I suppose when we could not be discovered, he simply assumed. After all, he had to continue his line, and he could not very well do so with an absent wife, could he?”

  “My brother,” Adelaide mumbled, remembering that John was the only one her father seemed to care about. Not necessarily because he loved him, but because he was his heir. A status symbol. A man’s pride.

  Beth nodded. “Yes, Father married again, and we were safe. It was all my mother had hoped for.”

  “And you’ve been away all this time?” Adelaide asked, thinking of her own close ties to her family. The thought of leaving them behind to never see again tightened her chest. “You never came back to London? To see us? Not even Grandmother?”

  Beth shook her head. “My mother did not dare, and I do believe she was right. She could not risk us being discovered.”

  Adelaide’s eyes filled with tears. “It must have been hard on your mother and Grandmother.”

  “I was too young to remember,” Beth explained, her gaze distant as she remembered her childhood, “but I often saw my mother sit by the window, her eyes seeing something only she could see, and tears would stream down her face. Now, I know why she was sad sometimes.” Inhaling a shaking breath, Beth squeezed Adelaide’s hands. “Grandmother, too, was overwhelmed when she saw me. It must have been hard for her not to know for certain where we had ended up and if we were all right.”

  Watching Beth carefully, Adelaide felt herself tense as she asked, “Where is your mother now?”

  Like a wave crashing onto the beach, sadness filled Beth’s eyes, and Adelaide knew the answer even before her sister spoke. “She died,” Beth whispered. “That’s how I found out. I went through her things after the funeral and found an old letter she had written to Grandmother but never sent. It brought me to London, to Grandmother, to you,” smiling, Beth squeezed her hands, “and to my husband. I cannot regret what happened, but I do wish she had lived.”

  Wrapping her arms around her sister, Adelaide felt tears of her own fall. “I cannot imagine what you must have gone through. Being all alone. On your own. With no one to turn to.”

  “But I found you,” Beth said sniffling. “I found you again, and I’m grateful for it. Although a part of me wishes I could have grown up here with all of you, I know that that would never have worked. If my mother hadn’t left, neither you nor John would ever have been born.”

  Adelaide sucked in a sharp breath when a sudden realisation slapped her hard in the face. “My mother’s marriage is void,” she gasped, cold fear and dread crawling over her skin, raising goose bumps in their wake. “They’re not married. We’re not…” Turning, she looked at Beth. “We’re bastards.”

  “That is why Grandmother asked me not to tell anyone,” Beth explained. “She was worried about the two of you and did not wish for any harm to come to you.”

  “But why didn’t you tell me?” Adelaide asked, knowing in her heart that her grandmother would never deceive her, and yet, she had chosen to keep Adelaide in the dark. “Why?”

  “She did not wish to concern you,” Beth said, a gentle smile on her face. Still, her gaze would not quite meet Adelaide’s.

  “You didn’t trust me to keep this a secret?”

  “Oh, no. Don’t be silly,” Beth replied, shaking her head. “We simply did not wish to burden you. You always seemed so fragile, and we didn’t want you to have to lie. We didn’t want to put that on you.”

  Although Adelaide knew that her family had acted out of concern, out of the desire to protect her, she realised that it was her own weakness that had convinced them to do so. And although she had known herself to be weak all her life, now it bothered her.

  Misreading the look on Adelaide’s face, Beth said, “Believe me, I would never do anything to harm you. I did not come back here to cause trouble or to reveal that your parents’ marriage is not valid. I only came to know the truth, and I stayed because I found my family here.” She grasped Adelaide’s hands more tightly. “I will always look out for you. You’re my sister.”

  Smiling, Adelaide nodded. “And you’re mine.” Blinking back tears, she said, “That is why you came to my rescue at the ball and discouraged Lord Arlton from proposing to me and why you helped when my father lost my hand to Mr. Hawkin.”

  Beth nodded. “Of course. Whether we grew up together or not, you’re my sister. And although I’ve never had one, I’m fairly certain that’s what sisters do, isn’t it?”

  Unable not to, Adelaide surged into her sister’s arms, clinging to her tightly as though she had always done so. As though they had known each other all their lives. As though she had always lived under her big sister’s protective hand. “Your mother was a very strong woman,” Adelaide said, wiping at her eyes as she sat back, “for having done what she did. It takes great courage to leave everything behind and star
t anew. I see the same strength in you.”

  Fresh tears spilled down Beth’s cheeks.

  “You still miss her, don’t you?”

  Beth nodded, pressing the tips of her fingers to her reddened eyes. “She ought to be here,” she whispered, hiccoughing as she spoke. “She ought to see her grandchild.” Looking up at Adelaide, she placed a gentle hand on her belly.

  “What was her name?”

  Beth inhaled a deep breath, and a soft smile came to her face. “Ellen.”

  Whispering a silent thank-you to the woman who gave her this wonderful sister, a sister who would come to her aid without a moment of hesitation, Adelaide smiled. “She was a wonderful woman, just like you. You’re right, Father should have seen it. He must have been blind not to. So much of her lives in you, and I’m certain her legacy will live on in your children. She made a great sacrifice for you, and it was worth it.”

  “I’ll be forever grateful to her,” Beth whispered, “but I still wish she were here.”

  “I do, too.” Again, Adelaide drew her sister into her arms, now being the one to give comfort instead of receiving it. It was an empowering feeling to be able to do this for her sister, and Adelaide vowed that she would never bow her head again.

  No, she would fight down her fear and stand tall. She would honour the sacrifice Beth’s mother had made. She would be a woman her own children could be proud of.

  Chapter Twenty-Five – Open Words

  The moment he and his cousin stepped across the threshold to his townhouse, Matthew was informed of his father-in-law’s visit. Wringing his hands, his butler told him that he had done his utmost to dissuade the earl but had been unsuccessful.

  Matthew’s blood ran cold. “Where is he now?”

  “He left about an hour ago.”

  “Where is my wife?”

  “And mine?” Tristan added from behind Matthew’s shoulder, his voice a bit strained, but not nearly as tense as Matthew’s. Perhaps he was not aware of the earl’s lack of restraint whenever he was inebriated, which was most of the time.