The Lady Confesses

chapter Nineteen

‘—and I repeat, this situation of Elizabeth retiring to her bedchamber whenever it is known Lord Thorne is due to visit Westbourne House simply cannot continue!’

‘But we cannot force Elizabeth to leave her bedchamber.’

‘It is not my intention to use force, as such.’

‘Then what do you intend to use?’

Elizabeth, sitting inside her bedchamber listening to her two sisters arguing in loud whispers outside the hallway on the other side of the closed door, was most interested to hear the answer to that question too.

Although the fact that it was the normally calm and no-nonsense Diana who was arguing heatedly for ejecting her from the bedchamber, and the impetuous and forceful Caroline reasoning against it, was a cause for bemusement.

Elizabeth had found many changes to her two sisters since her arrival at Westbourne House three days ago…

The hurried two-day journey up from Devon had been arduous but uneventful, Elizabeth’s time spent secluded in the carriage with Mrs Wilson and Letitia, whilst Nathaniel travelled separately in his own carriage. The two met only when they stopped for luncheon or to stay at an inn for the night, times when it was not too difficult for them to continue to avoid each other’s company.

It was enough that she now fully understood her feelings for a man whom she knew could never love her in return, without having to witness the disillusionment with which Nathaniel must view her now that he knew of the lie she had lived in order to enter his aunt’s household.

Elizabeth’s arrival at Westbourne House had been tearful as well as eliciting many surprises. Tearful, because she was as glad to see her sisters again as they were to see her, the three of them crying together once Elizabeth had related the true sequence of events concerning their mother’s death. Surprising, because all of Nathaniel’s claims concerning her sisters had proved to be true. Including Diana’s very real love for Gabriel Faulkner…

Being introduced to Lord Dominic Vaughn, a tall, dark and dangerous-looking man, with a livid scar running the length of the left side of his face, and the man Caroline had fallen in love with, had instantly filled Elizabeth with a feeling she had seen him before.

It was a feeling she had initially dismissed as being ridiculous; if she had ever met the broodingly handsome Dominic Vaughn before then she would certainly have remembered him!

Until she recalled that day in the park a few weeks ago when she had rescued Hector from beneath the wheels of a passing carriage… A carriage driven by a handsome dark-haired man with a scar running down the left side of his face and with a young and beautiful woman seated beside him who had so reminded her of Caroline.

A discussion of their movements had confirmed that it had, indeed, been Caroline and Dominic, after all! Indeed, Caroline’s adventures since arriving in London were more shocking than surprising. Not least because it had been revealed that Nathaniel had received the cuts and bruises to his face and his broken ribs in defence of Caroline during a drunken brawl at a gentlemen’s gambling club owned by Dominic!

Even more astonishing was the way in which her normally headstrong sister now consulted Lord Vaughn on everything, from the gown she was to wear for dinner that evening to the arrangements for their wedding due to take place the following week. A deferment the arrogant and authoritative Earl of Blackstone did not exploit, but instead chose to indulge by being equally as lovingly accommodating to Caroline’s every need.

The two were obviously so much in love with each other that it was almost painful for Elizabeth, deep in the throes of her unrequited feelings for Nathaniel, to be in their company.

Most startling of all to Elizabeth were the changes she found in Diana. Always dutiful, ever putting others before her own wants or needs, these few short weeks apart, and Diana’s unmistakable love for Gabriel, had turned her into a self-confident young woman who knew her own mind and was no longer afraid or reluctant to speak it and had needs that Gabriel was only too happy to comply with, the love he felt for the serenely confident Diana glittering in the approving midnight-blue eyes with which he constantly watched her.

Indeed, it was, as Nathaniel had already stated in Devon, and which, out of ignorance of her sister’s feelings, Elizabeth had at the time disputed, clearly another love match.

It seemed that only she was miserable in the midst of this strange turn of events. Oh, not because she in the least begrudged her sisters their obvious happiness, or the handsome men with whom they were in love, but because for the first time in her life Elizabeth felt truly alone. The closeness to her sisters was still there, but tempered by the other emotional demands with which Diana and Caroline were obviously so happily engrossed.

It was because Elizabeth was in such despair over Nathaniel that she felt herself alone even when surrounded by the people who loved her. She often chose to retire to her bedchamber rather than sit as a silent witness to those love affairs.

And she always chose to go there whenever Nathaniel was to visit Westbourne House.

However, as Diana had already stated so firmly, and Elizabeth had decided for herself this past few minutes, this situation could not be allowed to continue. Especially as Elizabeth and Nathaniel were to be the two witnesses to the Copeland ladies’ marriages the following week.

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath before standing up and throwing open the door, instantly silencing her sisters’ heated conversation as the two turned to look at her guiltily. ‘I believe it is Diana’s intention to use the argument of good manners in order to attain my agreement to leave my bedchamber, is that not so?’ she murmured drily.

Indeed, Diana was the first to recover as she turned to Elizabeth, her flushed face partly obscured by the bouquet of red carnations which she carried. ‘These are for you.’ She thrust the bouquet into Elizabeth’s surprised hands.

Elizabeth gave a wobbly laugh. ‘Having already decided to join you all downstairs for dinner, after all, I assure you it was not necessary for you to bring me flowers in order to persuade me.’ Nevertheless, she could not resist drawing in the deep and gratifying perfume of the beautiful blossoms.


Diana shook her head, blonde curls dancing at her temples. ‘The flowers did not come from me.’

Elizabeth frowned slightly as she looked up at her eldest sister. ‘Then from whom?’

‘Lord Thorne,’ Caroline was the one to announce with satisfaction.

Elizabeth felt the colour drain from her cheeks even as her arms tightened possessively about the beautiful blooms. ‘From Nathaniel?’ she breathed disbelievingly.

‘Ah ha!’ Caroline pounced knowingly. ‘I knew it! I told Dominic only last night—’

‘Caroline.’ Diana’s rebuke, although softly made, was nevertheless heeded as Diana now looked at Elizabeth searchingly. ‘Elizabeth, Lord Thorne has been in Gabriel’s study with him this past half an hour, and is now awaiting you there so that you might talk privately together,’ she explained gently.

For three days Elizabeth had kept her own counsel concerning her feelings for Nathaniel, determinedly hiding her heartache in light of Diana’s and Caroline’s obvious happiness, but she saw now that her silence had only succeeded in becoming a cause for speculation.

Although she was at a loss to know quite what Nathaniel wished to talk to her about, just as she had no idea why he should have brought her red carnations.



Nathaniel paced Westbourne’s candlelit study, his impatience barely contained as he waited to see if Elizabeth would agree to speak with him. Although he believed not; she had succeeded in avoiding his company completely since their return to London and he saw no reason why that aversion to his company should have changed.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but perhaps, after Tennant’s madness that day in the hothouse, he should not have brought her flowers? Although he had deliberately chosen blooms as unlike Tennant’s roses as he could find at this time of year.

Damn it, he did not even remember the last time he had brought flowers for a woman—if indeed he ever had—and now he had bungled—

He turned suddenly towards the door as it quietly opened, his breath catching in his throat as Elizabeth stood framed in the doorway. She looked both pale and fragile against the darkness of the hallway behind her, her lashes resting on shadows above hollow cheeks, her mouth—those beautiful kissable lips—unsmiling above the tilt of her chin.

‘You wished to speak with me, Lord Thorne?’ Even her voice was different, low and husky, and totally lacking in the challenge he had come to expect from her.

Nathaniel’s heart sank, in recognition of the changes in her and the fact that she once again addressed him so formally. ‘Would you come inside and close the door, please?’

The heavy weight of her lashes rose as she looked across at him, the expression in those deep blue eyes guarded. ‘If you feel it is completely necessary?’

Nathaniel’s mouth tightened. ‘I do.’

Elizabeth swallowed hard as she turned to close the door behind her before stepping further into the austereness of the room Gabriel had chosen to make his study. ‘I believe I owe you an apology, my lord,’

A frown appeared on his face. ‘I can think of no reason—’

‘I have been less than polite these past three days.’ Having made her decision to cease avoiding Nathaniel’s company, she did not intend to indulge in any half measures. ‘Which was particularly ungrateful of me considering that I owe you my very life.’

‘Come now, you are being melodramatic—’

‘Not in the least.’ Elizabeth stepped further into the candlelight, a slender figure in a gown of pale cream, a matching ribbon arranged in the darkness of her curls. ‘Sir Rufus was truly mad, and his emotional instability was as like to turn murderous once he realised I truly was not my mother.’

A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘And I should have known from the first that you were not what you seemed.’

Elizabeth gave a rueful smile. ‘But I believe that you did realise there was something amiss with my role as lady’s companion.’

‘Perhaps,’ he admitted. ‘Unfortunately, that realisation did not prevent me from…taking certain liberties.’

Elizabeth felt the warmth in her cheeks as she recalled the intimacies she had shared with this man. ‘I believe I am guilty of taking the same liberties where you are concerned.’

Nathaniel almost groaned aloud as he felt himself swelling, hardening—physically aching inside his pantaloons at the mere thought of the delicate touch of Elizabeth’s hands and mouth upon his rigid shaft.

He turned away to stare down into the crackling fire in the hearth so that she should not see the evidence of his physical reaction to those memories. ‘I am attempting to apologise to you for my previous behaviour, Elizabeth—’

‘I would rather you did not!’ she protested sharply.

Nathaniel turned back to her. ‘In the circumstances, it is the least that I owe you.’

‘You owe me nothing!’ Elizabeth gave an agitated shake of her head, dark curls bouncing.

He drew in a harsh breath. ‘I have spoken privately to Westbourne this evening concerning my behaviour in Devon.’

‘What?’ Elizabeth gasped in obvious dismay.

‘My earlier behaviour towards Lady Elizabeth Copeland was reprehensible. Unforgivable. As such, it required that I either offer marriage or give Westbourne, as your guardian, the satisfaction of a duel—’

‘That is preposterous!’ Elizabeth protested desperately.

‘—and as such I have agreed to meet Gabriel at a time and place of his choosing,’ Nathaniel finished gravely.

Elizabeth stilled, chilled to the bone. Indeed, she felt as if ice had entered her veins. Rather than even contemplate the idea of marriage to her, Nathaniel had chosen to risk his life in a duel with a man who Diana had already confided was adept with both the sword and pistol. Not only that, but if both men survived such a duel, Nathaniel would surely have irrevocably destroyed his friendship with Gabriel. A fate he obviously preferred rather than suffer a lifetime of unhappiness with her as his wife.

Elizabeth felt ill. Utterly sickened. Indeed, she was not sure if she could even stand on her own two feet for much longer.

‘I have not told you any of this in order to hurt you, Elizabeth…’

Hurt her? She was beyond being hurt by his admission. Indeed, it felt as if he’d reached inside her chest and ripped her very heart from her.

‘Elizabeth…?’

She gave a choked laugh. ‘I am not hurt, Nathaniel! I am—you would rather risk being killed in a duel than offer marriage to me? An offer you have no idea I would even accept?’ Her face was ashen as she looked across at him.

‘Of course not,’ he exclaimed.

‘Then—’

‘Elizabeth, I have chosen the latter option as the only way in which I might prove to you that—damn it!’ he grated harshly, crossing the room in two strides to stand in front of her as he reached out to take her hands in his, alarmed as he felt the chill of her skin through the lace of her gloves. ‘Elizabeth.’ He dropped down onto one knee in front of her. ‘My darling, beautiful Elizabeth, will you do me the honour of agreeing to consider becoming my wife?’

She stared down at him as if he were the one who had gone mad rather than Rufus Tennant. ‘But you have just said—’

‘I have attempted to explain to you—to prove to you—that I am not making this offer under duress, but because it is what I most dearly wish to do.’

Elizabeth looked utterly confused. ‘I do not understand.’

Nathaniel looked up at her earnestly. ‘I love you, Elizabeth. I have loved you from the first, I believe. Certainly I could not stand to have Tennant anywhere near you. And even Viscount Rutledge was in danger of incurring my wrath with his attentiveness to you at my aunt’s dinner party,’ he acknowledged bitterly. ‘I love you deeply, Elizabeth. With every part of me.’ His hands tightened about hers. ‘And if I have to fight one of my closest friends in a duel in order to prove that to you, then that is what I shall do.’

The only part of this muddled explanation that mattered to her was that he claimed to love her! ‘You are truly in love with me?’

‘So much so that these past three days of having you avoid me have been a tortuous hell for me,’ he groaned, his face pale, his eyes glittering darkly in the firelight. ‘Darling Elizabeth, can you not see I am attempting—clumsily, I admit it—to woo you?’

‘That is why you brought me flowers?’

He scowled. ‘Tennant’s behaviour ruled out red roses, but—will you not please give me a second chance? At least the opportunity to show you how much I love and adore you? The chance to persuade you into learning to love me in return? I will do anything, be anything, if you will only allow me to do that, my dearest Elizabeth!’

That sudden chill inside her melted with the suddenness of a tidal wave as her own love for him threatened to overwhelm her. She looked down at the emotion shining in the clear depths of his eyes and knew it to be love for her. Nathaniel loved her. Loved her so much he was willing to fight a duel with one of his best friends in order to prove it to her.


She moistened dry lips. ‘And if I refuse your offer?’

He flinched. ‘Then I am afraid you will give me no choice but to follow you about as slavishly as Hector. To become such a nuisance you might eventually take pity upon me and throw me some scraps of your affection.’

Elizabeth gave a choked laugh at the very thought of this arrogantly assured man ever behaving in such a manner. ‘After you have fought a duel with my guardian over my honour, of course!’

Nathaniel eyed her warily. ‘Are you laughing at me?’

‘Never that.’ She shook her head as she dropped down onto her knees in front of him before releasing her hands to cradle each side of his dearly beloved face. ‘Nathaniel, the offer I am refusing is the one of you persuading me into loving you. I already love you,’ she told him huskily. ‘I love you so much that—’ she gave an emotional laugh ‘—even to have seen you this past three days would have been an agony of emotions for me! To have looked upon you and known that you now saw me only as the daughter of Harriet Copeland, a woman who—’

‘Whose only sin was to love more deeply than was perhaps wise,’ Nathaniel finished firmly. ‘I am not proud of this admission, Elizabeth, but if by some mischance you had been married to another when we met, then I am afraid I would have behaved no differently than Giles Tennant did ten years ago and attempted to beguile you from your husband and family.’

Elizabeth gazed at him wonderingly. ‘You would?’

‘I would have had no choice,’ he said honestly. ‘You really love me?’ he added incredulously.

‘Really. Truly. Eternally,’ she confirmed huskily, that love shining in the deep blue of her eyes as she looked up at him adoringly, no longer having any need to hide it from him or anyone else. ‘Do you suppose—is it possible that the two of us might be married at the same time as my sisters?’

Nathaniel took her into the warmth of his arms. ‘I will make it so,’ he vowed fiercely. ‘Now, for heaven’s sake, kiss me, Elizabeth!’

Something which she was only too happy, indeed eager, to do.



And so it was that five days later the Ladies Elizabeth, Caroline and Diana Copeland were joined in marriage to the Earls of Osbourne, Blackstone and Westbourne respectively.