The Betrayed Lady Winters Read online

  The Betrayed Lady Winters

  A Historical Regency Romance

  Emma Linfield

  Contents

  About the Story

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  About the Story

  Lady Ivy Winters does not want to marry the man that her father has chosen for her. Duke Royce Merrick seems arrogant and is rumored to be a man with dark secrets. She tells her father to reject him…

  What she doesn’t expect is for this rejection to result in her father being poisoned!

  With her brother arrested for the crime and time ticking down, Ivy needs to find some evidence that the culprit is not in her family but is the man she turned down. Unfortunately, the only way she can do that is to put herself in danger’s way…

  Chapter 1

  The pale green dress cinched in a little too tightly around Lady Ivy Winters’ waist as she made her way down the stairs to greet all the high society guests that had come to her home to see the woman that she had become. The style that the handmaidens had spent most of the afternoon crafting in her hair pulled and tugged every single time she turned her head, and the makeup felt heavy on her face, making it very hard to smile.

  It was safe to say that she did not feel too happy about the way that she looked, or the party that her father was throwing on her behalf. She had not ever felt so uncomfortable in her life.

  Lady Ivy Winters always knew that this day was coming, it was one of those things that were inevitable. Being a Lady from a family with a well-respected name, she was always going to be expected to marry someone from a family with equal wealth and reputation, but at just turning twenty years of age, she felt much too young. She could not consider being a wife or a mother, nor could she imagine all the responsibilities that came with that.

  She was not. Her father had allowed her to put this off for much longer than other girls. Ivy’s two best friends, Elizabeth and Mary, had both been married for almost a year, but that did not make her feel any better. Elizabeth already thought that she might be with a child which was a terrifying prospect all on its own, and Mary was desperately unhappy with her much older husband, who she certainly did not love, nor really even like very much. Her story was enough to put Ivy off the idea for life. She did not want to be so sad.

  “Ah, Lady Ivy!” her father called out in his usual jolly tone. “There are some people you must meet.”

  He took her arm and guided his daughter around the room, introducing her to the most important people he felt were there. Lord Winters was extremely proud of his daughter; he felt like she was a testament to him, especially since her mother had died in childbirth with their youngest child, Ivy’s brother, Ewan. He had raised both of his children alone, with only the assistance of the nannies and the house staff while running a successful accounting business at the same time, and he was proud of how she had turned out. He was also well aware of her beauty, and he knew that the Winters’ name would mean a lot, so Lord Winters needed to ensure that the man she chose to marry was the right one. He thought that he had found him, too. A gentleman with the right title, a wonderful ambition, and a good fortune behind him. He would be able to take care of his little girl very successfully, giving her the life that she deserved. He had a grand home, a good business, and a staff of his own. He was perfect.

  “This is Duke Royce Merrick,” he said with great pride. “A gentleman who is very keen to meet you.”

  Lord Winters stepped backward to give the pair some space, and gave them both an expectant look. He had been thinking about this for a very long time and this was the best match he could think of. There was a lot riding on this, and he desperately wanted it to work. He wanted them to get along well, he did not want his daughter to end up married to someone that she did not like, but he needed her to be looked after, too.

  “Oh, I am pleased to meet you.” Ivy bobbed into a curtsy before she extended her hand for him to take, which Royce took and kissed gently, like any gentleman was supposed to do.

  “It is also wonderful to meet you,” he said in a smooth sounding voice. “You look lovely tonight.”

  Ivy felt flattered, the words that Royce spoke seemed genuine and pleasant to hear. She liked the way he looked as well, even if he appeared to be a little older than she would have liked. At a guess, Ivy would have put him at six and twenty years of age. He had dark hair and dark eyes and a friendly-looking smile. His stature was tall and muscular, which made her feel small and petite, prettier than she had all evening long. She smiled up at him through her eyelashes, wondering if it wouldn’t be so bad after all…

  Royce loved the way Ivy looked as well. Her pale blonde hair had been curled up into a complicated chignon on the top of her head, and her face looked a little heavy with makeup, but underneath all of that he could tell she was a real natural beauty, someone he very much wanted to impress.

  “You have a truly lovely home,” Royce told Ivy. “It is wonderful, I can tell that your father has worked hard.”

  Ivy darted her eyes towards her father and smiled. It did not escape her notice that her father had worked hard to give them the life they all had. She knew that it must have been hard for him to do it all alone. She could not remember her mother well, she had been only two years old when she died, but from what she had heard she was one of those women who could do it all effortlessly. She ran the household efficiently without even batting an eyelid. It must have been so hard for her father to take on all of those roles on top of his own.

  “Thank you very much, that is kind of you to say.”

  Lord Winters wanted to continue listening to the conversation to ensure that it all went to plan, but one of his business associates grabbed his attention and offered him a drink. He did not want to appear rude and refuse, so he attempted to do both. He tried to keep one ear out as he drank and talked.

  Ivy wished that she could have something more interesting to say to this mysterious Duke. She felt a little silly with Royce’s expectant eyes upon her. She could also tell that her father wanted her to make a good impression, which put more pressure on her shoulders to do well. Much as she did not want things to progress in the way that her father wanted, she did not want to let him down either.

  “It is lovely to have you here,” she eventually said quietly, cringing inside. “For everyone, I mean.”

  “It was not easy for me to get the time off work. I have a very successful shipping and trading business. It is one of those things that takes up all of my time, so yes, it is good that I managed to make it.”

  “That is wonderful news; it is not easy to make a success of shipping, is it?”

  Ivy simply wanted to show Royce that she was an intelligent woman. Just because she had spent most of her life stuck in the four walls of her home, not seeing much of the world, did not mean she was unaware of what was going on. Ever since she had learned to read, she had spent most of her life with her head in a book, learning as much as she possibly could. She felt very proud of herself for that, but Royce did not seem impressed.

  “It is not easy unless you know what you are doing,” he snapped back, almost angrily. “I have worked hard to get where I am today. I am not one of those people who inherited a successful company from my father.”

  Ivy stepped back inadvertently because Royce’s words seemed so filled with hatred
. It could not have been with her, she had not done anything to upset him, but she felt the sting of his rage all the same.

  “Oh, I see…” She did not know what to say to him any longer. “I understand that.”

  All of the pleasant emotions that Ivy had been feeling upon first meeting Royce dissipated into nothing. She had almost allowed herself to open up and believe that it would not be so terrible to start considering the man, just at the moment he changed his attitude completely. As Ivy looked up at him, he did not look so friendly any longer.

  “Yes.” Royce nodded slowly, almost distractedly as he answered Ivy. “You understand. Right.”

  There was a patronizing tone as he spoke which only confirmed to Ivy that his being nice was all for a show. As soon as her father had moved away from the pair, Royce’s attitude had changed completely. He wanted to seem like a good man so that her father might encourage her to wed him, but he did not care about her opinion. Most men were probably like that, but that did not mean Ivy had to accept it. She certainly did not have to pick a man to be her husband who would treat her in that way. If she was going to be forced into marriage, then she at least wanted it to be with a man worthy of her who would have some respect for her.

  Her expression glowered. Her father had told her not to let her fiery side out as the party progressed tonight, because it was not the right way to behave in public, but it was growing increasingly hard to do so. With this man and his arrogant attitude, all Ivy wanted to do was shoot a scathing remark at him. But she could not. She could not embarrass her father and do anything to ruin the family reputation. Reputation was vital in polite, high-class society. It took many years to build up and only a second to destroy. If Ivy did anything to ruin her father’s hard work, it would also affect his life negatively and her brother’s, too. She could not do that.

  With a deep breath, Ivy forced a small smile on her lips before making her excuses to leave.

  “Oh, I am terribly sorry,” she said with false politeness, trying to keep up the façade of sweetness. “I do believe that Ewan, my younger brother, needs my attention. I shall speak to you later on.”

  Without waiting for him to answer her, Ivy held onto the skirts of her dress and made her way across the great hall in her home before her father could catch up to her. Her brother was standing there, talking to one of the gentlemen who worked with their father for many years, but Ivy did not aim for him. Mary was also at the Winters home tonight with her husband, and Ivy needed to speak to her childhood friend. Mary was always the one that the girls in the friendship group turned to for advice; she seemed to have the best way of seeing things. It was just a shame that she had not been able to get herself out of an unwanted marriage.

  “Mary, may I ask for your assistance with something?” Ivy asked through gritted teeth.

  Mary glanced up at her husband, silently asking for permission, which irritated Ivy no end. Why was it never the men who had to ask for permission? It did not seem fair. With the irritable way that Ivy was feeling, she feared that this might be the thing to make her snap. Thankfully, Mary’s husband nodded tautly, allowing her, which meant Ivy had no reason to yell. She was getting what she wanted, a moment with her friend.

  “Yes, of course, Lady Winters. Let us find somewhere to talk.”

  Chapter 2

  By the time Ivy and Mary made it to the hallway, Ivy was ready to explode. The more she thought about the way Royce had spoken to her, the angrier she became.

  “Oh, my goodness, Mary, you would not believe it!” she burst out once they were alone. “My father has just made it very obvious that he would like me to spend some time getting to know Duke Royce Merrick, so I have just been speaking to him, and he is horrible. He is so terribly arrogant; I have never spoken to anyone like it.”

  Mary hung her head low and looked like this was the one subject matter that she did not know how to discuss. “It is a problem,” she told her friend quietly. “As you know, this is the same problem that I had, and it did not turn out well for me.” She glanced her eyes towards the hall to check if anyone was listening. “There might not be anything that you can do about it. How seriously do you believe your father is about him?”

  “I do not know,” Ivy answered honestly. “He did not mention him to me beforehand, but I suppose that does not mean much.” Ivy brushed her finger over her lips thoughtfully. “What do you think I should do?”

  Mary wanted desperately to help her friend; she did not want Ivy to end up in the same miserable situation as she found herself. Mary was a quieter person who could tolerate things better, but Ivy had a fiery temper, and she did not think that any marriage with her would last very long. There was no bigger stigma than divorce.

  “Maybe you should try speaking to your father. He is a more reasonable man that mine…”

  “I just do not know what I would say,” Ivy admitted sadly. “I do not know how to address it.”

  Mary stepped closer to Ivy, and leaned in so that there was no chance that anyone could overhear them, even if someone were trying to listen in. “I have heard things about Duke Merrick. Will it help you to know?”

  Ivy nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, any information would be wonderful, whatever you have heard.”

  Mary darted her eyes from side to side, her heart racing in her chest as she relayed gossip that she probably should not have heard in the first place. “I have heard that Duke Merrick is a terrible man, and that he has gambled all his money away. He is in a terrible financial state, and he needs a wealthy wife for the dowry. I heard my husband talking to one of his business associates about how he is running his business into the ground because he is more addicted to making bets that anything else. He is not concerned with making a success of himself.”

  Ivy felt stunned into silence; she could hardly believe it. “Maybe that is why he was so prickly when I tried to talk to him about his company; perhaps I reminded him of the mess he has gotten himself into.”

  It started to make a lot more sense. He had been angry when she discussed business, especially when she mentioned the money side of things. Maybe the change in his attitude had not been because her father was no longer listening in to their conversation, but it was because of the subject matter at hand. Still, whatever the issue was, Ivy knew for certain that she did not want to marry him. He was not the man for her.

  “I think I shall have to speak to my father,” she said decisively while smiling at her friend. “I will have to try tonight before he arranges any further meetings. I think I will tell him what I have heard, do not worry, I will not mention any names, and I will tell my father that I am going to pick my own husband.”

  Mary was not sure that Ivy’s plan would work out, but she was also very aware that if any of her friends could change their father’s mind and pick out her own husband, it would be Ivy. Ivy had never been the one to play by the rules. She was the one who liked to challenge the way that things were, so maybe this would be her first real battle. The man’s world that they all existed in could not be changed by one woman, but Ivy would try.

  “Are you going to speak with him now? Do you need me to come with you?” The idea terrified Mary, but she would do it for her friend if Ivy asked that of her. “I can support your argument.”

  Ivy could practically see Mary shaking as she said those words, so she touched her arm and smiled reassuringly at her. “Thank you very much, but I will be fine. I really do appreciate the offer; it is very kind of you. You have already done so much for me by giving me the information that I need to stop this before it starts.”

  The girls waited out in the hallway for a few more moments as Ivy steeled herself, ready for the potential argument that might be about to happen. Once she presented all of her arguments calmly to her father, Ivy did not think that there was much that he could say, but she did not know how much he liked Royce. If he thought that this Duke was the right man for her, then she might find him harder to persuade. She was going to have to use every
thing that she had to make her father see that this marriage simply could not happen. If her father wanted the best for her, then he would understand and probably agree with her as well. He had to.

  “Right,” she finally said. “Let us go back inside. I need to get to Father before anyone else does.”

  The hall looked the same as Ivy peered back around the door, it was almost as if everyone else at the party did not realize the life-changing decision that she had just made. There were people dancing, drinking, eating, all without a care in the world. The only person that Ivy could not see was Duke Royce Merrick.

  Soon, Ivy’s eyes found her father and she knew that it was time. She gave Mary one last grateful look before she moved through the crowds of people with only one goal in mind.

  “Father.” Ivy gently grabbed her father’s attention from her brother who he was currently talking with. “May I have a word with you? A private word alone?”

  Lord Winters gave Ewan a look, suggesting that he was to be the host for the time being. He might have only been eighteen years of age, but Ewan was known for his maturity, which was why so many people wanted to work with him. He was a great boy who would end up a wonderful man.

  Ivy and her father left the hall, and walked towards his home office where he held his most private meetings. Some of the most important moments of Lord Winters’ career had happened in this room.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked his daughter as soon as they were inside. “You look like you have a lot on your mind. Is there anything that I can help you with?”

  “Yes, there is.” Ivy could not sit down; she found her feet pacing up and down the room. “I do not like Duke Royce Merrick. I know that you like him for me, but he is not a nice person.”