Page 47 of The Lady's Last Mistake
Cassie nodded. “Mr. Young?”
Isabel sat up straighter, surprised that his name was known. But then, she corrected Cassie. “Mr. Youngdale. My aunt warned him that I was not an option, but he would not accept it. His offers for me became exorbitant. And at last, my aunt was too tempted.”
Cassie gasped in revulsion. “Shesoldyou to him?”
Isabel nodded. “In a fashion, yes. With the stipulation that he marry me. He was obsessed, though I cannot account for why. He didn’t know me at all.”
She was pretty and young, but perhaps it had been the quest for her, or for her innocence, that had held him in her thrall, not actual affection.
“The witch didn’t even ask Isabel before agreeing,” Trisput in, his hand still on her shoulder. Isabel covered it with her own.
“Lydia said I was her burden to do with as she wished.”
It was barbaric and cruel. How someone could be so twisted as to do such a thing to a family member left Cassie grasping.
“Who is this Mr. Youngdale?” Elyse asked. “Is he gentry? A peer?”
Isabel took a bracing breath. “He is the third son of a baronet and quite wealthy. At first, he didn’t seem so awful, and I did want to be free of my aunt, so I didn’t put up a fuss. But…” She shook her head forcefully. “He is no gentleman.”
Cassie peered at Isabel’s left hand. She wore no wedding band. “Didyou marry?”
“No. He found excuses to delay the wedding, as well as to pay Lydia. But that did not stop him from…” Her chin quivered. “From treating me as if wehadmarried.”
The poor woman. She’d been manipulated and used, and she’d likely felt as though she had no one to turn to for help.
“He was already married once before,” Tris said. Then gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Tell them, Isabel.”
She nodded. “She died. He said she fell down the stairs and broke her neck, but he’s said other things to me, warning me that if I disobey him or make him angry, I might just find myself at the bottom of some stairs too. I think… I think he pushed her.”
From his anger in the alley, Cassie didn’t doubt Mr. Youngdale was a violent man. But if his wife died in such a manner, it had to have been investigated. Cassie thought ofHugh and Audrey, and wondered if they might be able to find out more.
“I hid the fact that I was with child for as long as I could, but then, he noticed my growing middle. After accusing me of being unfaithful, he said he was going to marry me at last and keep the child.” Isabel frowned. “But he made it sound like he wasn’t going to keepme. I got scared. So, I ran. I’d been moving around for a week when I heard of Hope House and…” She shrugged. “And here I am. I won’t marry him. And I won’t allow him anywhere near my child.”
Cassie reached across the table and clasped her forearm. “You won’t have to. We’ll protect you.”
They would find a way.
“We’ll make sure you’re safe,” Elyse agreed.
“And we can arrange for you to leave London before your baby is born,” Cassie adds, thinking of Fournier Downs or Greenbriar. She had resources, and she wanted to share them with Isabel more than anything.
Isabel’s eyes shone with tears. Tris stood beside her, and Cassie knew he would not yield. He cared for Isabel, even if the affection was new and formed under difficult circumstances.
As she and Elyse took their leave, a weight settled onto Cassie’s shoulders. This was becoming more complicated. And dangerous. Mr. Youngdale was wealthy, and he likely had many connections to people with power.
Well, so did Cassie. Yet only one such connection knew of her ties to Hope House and her involvement with Isabel. She had no choice—she had to ask Grant for his help. As much as she dreaded seeing him again, Isabel’s safety was more important than her own damn pride.
Chapter
Fourteen
The note Cassie sent ahead to Thornton House, informing Grant that she would be visiting him that night, had been somewhat cryptic—T.H., rear entrance, 11 o’clock—but she hoped the meaning would be clear to him.
She also hoped it would prevent him from having his mistress present when she arrived.
Her stomach flipped at the thought of the woman’s name: Miss Martha Devereaux. Why had Jane felt the need to tell her about her?
As Patrick pulled his carriage down the mews lane behind Thornton House, she swallowed the urge to call for her driver to turn around. If not for Isabel’s dire situation, she would not have come at all. Visiting an unmarried man’s home this time of night, alone, in such a manner was precarious. If anyone were to learn of it, their false, short-term courtship would not be able to end as planned. Not without disastrous consequences for her.
