Page 35 of A Deal with the Rebellious Marquess
Chapter Nineteen
Rosefields was not the same without her. Jasper wandered the garden at sunset, his footsteps aimless, his thoughts picking over each scene, each moment of the week they’d shared here. How was it possible that a person could make such an impact on a place in such a short time? Perhaps because it wasn’t the place they impacted, but the people in it. Wasn’t that why he loved Rosefields? Here was where the reminders of his childhood lived, of days spent with his father, of happy summers and snowy Christmases.
Jasper kicked a pebble, watching it roll away. Rosefields was the home of his childhood. By necessity, London was the home of his adulthood at present. But he’d always imagined Rosefields would be the home of his own family when the time came. He’d marry here in the little chapel on the property in the off season, not at St George’s in town. His children would be baptised here as he and Orion had been. A family would give him reason to spend less time in London, to run his politics from a distance.
Now, he wondered if that time would ever come. He stopped to watch a bee burrowing deep in a rose. Had that time, perhaps, already come and he’d missed it? Had Fleur been his chance? For a moment he stilled, thinking there’d been a sound in the garden, the crunching of gravel beneath a foot. He looked up, wild, illogical hope beating in his chest. Had she come back? But the garden was empty. There was just him and his thoughts.
Jasper pulled out his pocket watch. She would be in London now. Had she gone home, or had she gone straight to the office? Would she stay up all night crafting her article? He snapped the watch shut. Would she think of him and Rosefields at all? She belonged here with her love of the countryside, with her desire for family and children.
He could give all of that to her here: a country home, children, time away from the paper. These were all things Adam Griffiths had chosen not to give his wife. By doing so, he’d chosen her life for her. Which begged the question: would she give up the syndicate for Rosefields? He supposed the question bore asking in the little hypothesis he was testing. If he ever were to offer her Rosefields and a family, would she take it? Or was she wedded to the ghost of the life she’d had with Adam? Did she stay at the paper for Dead Adam, or did she stay for herself?
He gave a harsh chuckle. What did any of these questions matter? She was gone and Orion was in trouble. Her newspaper was going to expose what he’d done and how that act had led to the Holmfirth flood deaths. He needed to think about Orion now. He couldn’t save his relationship with Fleur, but perhaps he could find a way to save his brother.
Two days later, Jasper had something of a plan. He’d consulted the family solicitor on retainer in Huddersfield, who’d recommended an excellent barrister with ties to the region. Both Jasper and the solicitor felt that a home-grown connection might help if the time came. Or ratherwhenthat time came. Short of Fleur not publishing the article, that timewouldcome and it was coming quickly. The article would not print before tomorrow at the earliest and he hoped that it was more reasonable to assume it would print the day after.
Jasper poured himself a drink and settled in to pass the long evening reading. All that was left now was to go back to London and brace his mother. His trunk was packed, ready to go to the station tomorrow for the morning train.
‘My lord,’ the butler interrupted shortly after nine o’clock. ‘Your brother is here to see you. Shall I show him in?’
‘Orion is here?’ Jasper leaped up. Despite the trials of the week, his first reaction was one of relief. ‘Yes, show him up. No, I’ll go down.’ He was in too much of a hurry to wait. His brother was home, safe, a bright spot in difficult times.
‘Orion!’ he called from the top of the stairs, his brother turning to face him. Jasper raced down the stairs and pulled his brother into a tight embrace. ‘I was so worried. I didn’t know where you’d gone or how long you’d be.’ He hugged his brother and then stepped back to look at him, relief giving way to concern. Orion was well dressed as usual, sporting an elegant silk waistcoat of lavender paisley, but he was tired. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and his typically lively gaze was dull concern.
‘Jasper, your welcome makes me feel quite the prodigal.’ He gave a half-laugh.
‘Where have you been?’ Jasper asked.
‘Everywhere, nowhere. Thinking, or at least trying to think. I keep reaching the same conclusion. I am in trouble, Jasper, and I need your help.’ Orion pressed a hand to his mouth in a visible effort to hold on to his control. It took a moment for him to recover himself. ‘I am sorry. I am so sorry.’
‘Come, sit. You don’t look as if you’ve eaten. I’ll have a tray sent to the library and we can talk.’ Rather, Orion would talk and he would listen. Jasper led his brother upstairs. He could guess what this was about, but he wanted to hear it from Orion. He poured his brother a drink and settled him in a chair. ‘Now, tell me what this is all about.’
‘It’s about those articles regarding the Bilberry Dam accident, the ones that name me as being primarily responsible.’ Orion looked down at his drink. ‘I am afraid of what the newspaper will find if they keep digging.’
‘Why would you be afraid of that?’ Jasper asked carefully.
‘Because there was a deposit made to my account for a sum meant to be used for repairs to the waste pit. It will look as though I took the money and the waste pit repair never happened. It’s why the dam burst. We need to make sure the paper can’t get a hold of my accounts. You can block that, right?’ Orion’s blue eyes held his in earnest desperation.
‘I suppose I could. But it wouldn’t be moral, Orion. It would be deliberately hiding evidence.’
Orion’s eyes sparked. ‘I would think philosophical ethics would be the least of your concerns. Do you know what it would mean? The case could be reopened. I could go to trial and be convicted for embezzlement, for manslaughter.’ His voice rose in panic.
‘Calm down, Orion. That hasn’t happened yet,’ Jasper said in careful, evenly measured tones. He wanted to tell his brother it would be all right, that they would fix it. In part because he couldn’t—it was too late for that—but also in part because he shouldn’t. Perhaps that had been his Achilles heel with Orion all along. He’d been so intent on helping him, on cleaning up Orion’s messes instead of making Orion clean them up. He’d made the messes go away without asking for atonement. And Orion had learned a very different lesson than the one he’d intended to impart.
‘Since you’ve been gone, some things have happened. I need to tell you, so please listen without losing your head,’ Jasper said sternly. ‘The paper has indeed dug deeper and they have found the deposit.’
Orion blanched. ‘How did they get my accounts? Surely that is an inadmissible sort of evidence. They can’t go get a man’s private accounts without a warrant or something.’
‘I gave permission. I went to the bank with Fleur Griffiths. I was the one that went through the account book and had the bank cross-reference the cheque with their deposit records.’
Orion exploded out of his chair and began pacing. ‘You! Do you understand what this means? You’ve all but delivered me for trial and admitted my guiltforme.’ Orion flashed a hurt look. ‘All for a woman? She really got to you. But she’ll sell you short, too. Do you think you’ll emerge unscathed? That you will look like a hero? This will touch all of us. Think what it will do to Mother. She won’t be able to hold her head up. Think of what this will do to your marital prospects. Who will want a scandal-tainted marquess for a son-in-law?’ Orion shoved a hand through his hair. ‘Was she worth it? I never thought you’d throw me over for a woman. I thought you were better than that.’
Orion made him sound like a traitor and Fleur a harlot. ‘I will not obscure the truth for you, Orion.’ It took willpower to keep his temper on a firm leash. ‘Yes, what you have done will have ugly consequences for innocent people like myself and Mother, and that is not fair to us, but that doesn’t mean you should be excused of the responsibility. Perhaps I’ve excused you from too much responsibility in the past.’
‘You would see me face a trial? Be sentenced for crimes?’ Orion was aghast. ‘All to teach me a lesson?’
The leash of his control slipped a little. He’d been desperate to see his brother and relieved to have him here. But now he wanted Orion to accept responsibility for what he’d done and Orion would not. Orion only wanted a way out. Yet, to not give him a way out would be to condemn him. ‘Eighty-one people died, Orion. Whole families were killed. Babies drowned in their sleep. Children washed away while parents looked on helpless. Homes were destroyed, mills were destroyed. I saw Holmfirth last week, over a year since the flood. The place still bears scars. Bridges have not been replaced, mills have not been rebuilt, some wreckage has still not been removed. People lost homes, lives and livelihoods. They can’t work if the mills don’t run. No work means no wages, no way to support families.’
There was a long silence between the brothers, the tray of food untouched. Jasper hoped the import of what had happened was weighing at last on Orion’s conscience. ‘I have engaged a barrister with an excellent reputation,’ he said after a while.
