Epilogue
Two months later, Lord Oranmore addressed the House of Lords for the first time. His beautiful young wife was seated in the gallery. “Don’t you see, my lords, if this can happen to Lord Wayborn and Lord Redfylde, it can happen to any of us! Look at them: so bruised and battered, I almost didn’t recognize them!”
Lord Redfylde glared around him. His face had healed, but his ears had been sliced off and were gone forever. Lord Wayborn had a look of shock permanently etched on his face.
“Looking at them, one might almost believe they had been tortured!” Benedict went on. “But, of course, Lord Liverpool assures us that the British government doesn’t torture people, and, naturally, I take the word of a gentleman!”
Lord Liverpool looked decidedly liverish.
“My lords, I did warn you that suspending habeas corpus in the British Isles would lead to just such terrifying abuses of power, did I not? I strongly urge you, my lords, to correct Lord Liverpool’s tragic lapse in judgement before some innocent person suffers as Lord Wayborn and Lord Redfylde have been made to suffer.”
As he resumed his seat, Lord Oranmore looked up at his beautiful young wife in the gallery and smiled. Her ladyship was smartly dressed in a costume of ultramarine blue. On her head was a tiny blue hat with an eye veil.
“I am going to destroy that Irish bastard if it’s the last thing I do,” Lord Redfylde snarled.
The Prince Regent beckoned to the Prime Minister. His quizzing glass was glued to his eye as he stared at a vision in bright blue. “Who is that beautiful young woman in the gallery?”
“That is Lady Oranmore, your Highness,” Lord Liverpool replied.
“Yes, but who is she?” His Highness said impatiently. “Where did he get her?”
“She is niece to Lord Wayborn,” the Prime Minister replied. “She was going to marry the Marquess of Redfylde, but Lord Oranmore stole her.”
The Prince Regent looked at Lord Oranmore through his quizzing glass.
“Interesting,” he said.
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Rules for Being a Mistress Page 38