“He is certainly playing the hero for you, Madam, to be sure,” Elsworth agreed, continuing on as if he hadn’t even heard her second request to move from her path. In fact, he leaned in closer, close enough in fact that he had but to whisper to be heard. She could smell his breath which was rather unpleasant. “And yet a less noble and heroic figure I’ve never known. A gambler and a cheat. A man who cavorts with whores as if he has no shame. Though, I daresay, that has worked to your benefit, hasn’t it, Miss Burkhart?”
“I do not have to tolerate your petty insults and crass insinuations, Mr. Somers. For the last time, let me pass!” she snapped.
He eased back from her, just a bit, a cold smile playing about his lips. “Did you know that his mother committed suicide?”
“I was not aware,” she said simply. It made little matter to her one way or another except that she regretted any pain it might have caused him. She would hardly be one to throw stones on that score as her own mother had done the same. But it did prompt her to wonder if what Elsworth said was true and, if so, why had Val not disclosed it to her when she’d been offering confessions about her own family?
“Melancholy,” Elsworth said. “That was what her doctors said. Personally, I think it was simply vice. She really loved her laudanum, you see. Above all other things, including her husband and her precious son. Used it all the time. Then used a bit too much of it. Poor Val found her in her bed, cold and dead as a doornail.”
Lilly had had enough of him and his cruelty. That anyone could speak of such a thing with what appeared to be enjoyment made her feel nothing but disgust for him. “I won’t stand here and be subjected to vicious gossip about my betrothed simply because the two of you have some long-standing rivalry between one another. What you speak of is indelicate, morbid and wrong. You should have some sympathy and some compassion, Mr. Somers. If you are incapable of such feelings, I’d prefer not to converse with you at all. But as for my part in it, this particular conversation is over and I want you to remove yourself from my path.”
Elsworth’s smile spread into a wide grin, a chilling expression, and he stepped back. As she attempted to move past him, he placed one booted foot in front of her, causing her to stumble.
Lilly fell into the wall, smacking her head against it rather firmly but, thankfully, didn’t injure herself. Glancing back over her shoulder at him, she caught his smug and triumphant expression.
“Do be careful, Miss Burkhart. It’d be a shame if something happened to you. Poor Cousin Valentine has had to stumble upon enough dead women in his life. I’d hate to see another added to his already blackened conscience,” he said, and then strolled away, whistling a tune under his breath.
Lilly shivered at the obvious threat. She’d thought him harmless. A bore and a snob, yes, but harmless. Clearly, she had been mistaken.
When he had gone, Lilly rose from where she’d been leaning against the wall and smoothed her hands nervously over her skirt. It wasn’t one of the new items. They required alteration but the dressmaker had vowed to have one ready for her on the morrow. In the meantime, she was still wearing the rather hideous gowns the dowager duchess had forced on her. She wished that she had the armor of something pretty to wear, something that made her feel her position less acutely. Betrothals could be broken after all. Until they were married and she was a viscountess in the eyes of the law, she was living off the same sort of expectations that Elsworth had been.
Shrugging off that thought, she entered the drawing room and found the dowager duchess waiting for her. A tea tray had been placed on the table before her and was laden with small sandwiches and cakes. Five minutes earlier, she would have happily devoured most of it. Now, she found her appetite had fled, stolen away by the encounter with Elsworth. Did the Dowager Duchess of Templeton know that her grandson was such a vile man? Had she heard any of the exchange outside?
“Are you quite well, Miss Burkhart?” the dowager duchess asked. It wasn’t necessarily concern in her voice. In fact, it sounded more like accusation. If nothing else, that made it abundantly clear that she did not know and had not heard. “You’re looking rather peaked.”
“I’m quite all right,” Lilly said. What could she say, after all? Your grandson, not the one I’m to marry, but the other one, uttered something potentially threatening in the hall and now I wonder if perhaps he’s the very person who tried to kill me just this morning. And by the way, your other grandson, the one I am supposed to marry, thinks his cousin is guilty of treason. If ever she wished to cast a pall on her relationship with the dowager duchess, that would be the way to do so. Such information would have to be relayed by Val. She had neither the heart nor the stomach for it.
“Are you certain? You have had a rather trying few days, I suppose. It would be only natural for it to have some effect upon you,” the woman replied. “Though I had taken you for someone possessed of a heartier constitution! I suppose appearances can be deceiving.”
Lilly wasn’t certain whether to be offended or not. Did she possess a hearty appearance? And if so, what in the world did that mean? Deciding to simply set that aside to be digested at a later date, Lilly said emphatically, “I am quite well, Madam. Thank you.”
The dowager duchess nodded stiffly. “Come and sit. Where is that Valentine? He was supposed to return. Irascible man. Let me tell you, Miss Burkhart, while you pour our tea, about this grandson of mine.”
Lilly took the hint and began pouring the tea as instructed, trying to still the trembling of her hands as she did so. In truth, she was grateful for a topic that might actually prove to be distracting from the strange and frightening encounter on the stairs. “What about him, your grace?”
The dowager duchess tapped her ever-present fan on the table for emphasis. “Do not let him run roughshod over you. And he will. It’s the way of men. All men. Even the tolerable ones.”
“I have no plans to do so, your grace,” Lilly said, passing the dowager duchess her cup of tea.
“Excellent. They mean well, you know? They think we’re all weak and requiring protection and coddling. Are you in need of protection and coddling, Miss Burkhart?” It sounded suspiciously like a challenge.
“I shouldn’t think so,” Lilly said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Well, it was a small lie, she reasoned. She might very well need protection, after all, but she hardly needed coddling. She’d tell the viscount about the encounter. Or perhaps not. If she did, no doubt he and Elsworth would come to blows. What a muddle it all was!
“Even if you do, you must be very cautious,” the older woman warned. “They will assume that protecting you means that they own you, that they get to make the decisions. They. Do. Not.” Great emphasis had been placed on the last three words.
“Indeed, I should think not,” Lilly replied. “And I daresay that Viscount Seaburn has a slightly more radical viewpoint on women’s rights after having witnessed your own rather remarkable feats in running all of the family’s estates.”
The dowager duchess preened. “Indeed, he does. But he is not immune to masculine posturing, regardless of what he says, particularly if his feelings are involved. Men like to say we are ruled by our emotions, but I have always found women to be the more logical sex. It’s the men who are ruled by anger and temper, after all. They are easily offended, easily riled to action and are often impulsive. No. It’s best, my dear, to start as you mean to go on. Take the reins where you can, and where you can’t, offer firm guidance that sounds like it’s his idea.”
“Rather like you did with his proposal?” Lillian asked. It wasn’t difficult to see that the dowager duchess had been moving them all about like marionettes while she was the master puppeteer.
The dowager duchess surveyed her critically for a moment, then her lips spread into a rare smile. “Just so, my dear. I realize it’s unorthodox and many people will question my choice for Valentine, but I know him better than he knows himself. The last thing he needs is a wife who will bore him. It would lead him dow
n a path of disaster. I beg of you, my girl, do not make me regret it, please. I detest nothing so much as being wrong,” the dowager duchess said.
*
Val entered the drawing room and found his grandmother and his betrothed having tea together. Needless to say, it was cause for no small amount of concern. His grandmother could not be trusted and Lillian was simply an unknown quantity. Her thoughts and motives were a mystery to him except for the few she had shared with him. Regardless of that, both women drew trouble to them like bees to honey.
“Oh, well, look what the cat has dragged in, dear,” his grandmother said to Lilly in a commiserating tone as he walked in. Her gaze, as it traveled over him, was speculative and disapproving. “Where have you been, Valentine? Doing something thoroughly disreputable, no doubt.”
Since he had been doing just that, albeit for very good reasons, he elected not to answer rather than to lie. “A cup of tea sounds delightful.”
“Well, you can’t have one,” the dowager duchess said. “The maid only brought service for two. We weren’t expecting anyone else. If you’d wanted to have tea with us, you might have sent around a note to that effect. But you didn’t because you’re rude, insensitive and spoiled. Horribly spoiled. I blame myself for that, you know?”
Val was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning as he crossed the room and pressed a kiss to his grandmother’s cheek. “I am all of those things, Grandmama. And those are the very reasons that you love me. Now, don’t be cross.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I suppose it’s true. Heaven help me. It’s certainly why I fell so horribly in love with your grandfather. Though I did manage to correct that and fall promptly out of love with him the very moment I realized just what a foolish man he was. Go on and ring for the servants to bring another cup. You might as well sit. We need to discuss this havey-cavey wedding business that you’ve begun. I think we should have the banns read on Sunday. That will give us three weeks to put something together for a wedding and a wedding breakfast after. Who shall we invite? And none of your disreputable friends, Valentine. Only quality people of good morals are to attend.”
He laughed at that. “If you want quality and good morals, Grandmama, you’ve effectively eliminated the entirety of the ton. I can’t think of a soul amongst them, in town at any rate, in possession of both.”
“I do not wish to have a large wedding,” Lillian spoke up. It was beginning to seem that it wasn’t her future husband who would run roughshod over her, but his grandmother. “I’d rather not do all of that, if possible.”
Val could see the protest forming on his grandmother’s lips. But then, she simply let out a heavy sigh of capitulation.
“Very well, Miss Burkhart. We shall have a small wedding, family and the closest of friends only. I suppose St. Paul’s might be a bit much, but it’s the only place worth getting married these days. Even with limited guests, you’ll still at least get a bit of coverage in the columns,” the dowager duchess added.
“Do we want coverage in the columns?” Lilly asked, her tone one of horror and dread.
“Of a certain, we do!” The dowager duchess shook her head. “My darling girl, what is the point of marrying so well if no one is to know one has done it?”
For one point, it would make their lives easier. The more people that knew she had the protection of his name and rank, the fewer people who would be willing to risk the consequences of acting against them.
Val rang for the maid and requested another cup. When she’d gone, he turned back to his grandmother. “You make all the plans you desire, so long as Miss Burkhart is in agreement with them. I will be there at the appointed time.” In truth, he wouldn’t. Neither would Miss Burkhart. If he had his way, they’d already be married by then. “But, I’m having Highcliff obtain a special license regardless.”
“Why can’t you obtain one?” Lillian asked.
“The archbishop does not especially care for me,” Val admitted reluctantly. A lecture would surely follow, he was certain.
His grandmother shook her head. “You gambled with the archbishop, didn’t you? We’re not only ruined now, we’re all bound for eternal damnation due to your recklessness!”
“No, of course not. The archbishop doesn’t gamble, as far as I know,” Val said. “But I might have relieved his rather idiotic and whey-faced nephew of a good portion of his inheritance. And before you say it, I tried to dissuade him. I encouraged the stupid boy to drop out of the game numerous times and he would not. At any rate, I thought it best to let Highcliff handle things.”
“Really, Valentine!” his grandmother said in abject disapproval. “One day, my boy, you will get yourself into a situation that neither your charm nor your friends will be able to get you out of. What will you do then?”
The maid returned with another tray bearing a single cup. He watched as she placed it with the others and Lillian filled it from the steaming pot. Watching her, with the innate grace of her movements, he said, “Whatever is necessary, Grandmama. Whatever is necessary.”
Chapter Ten
They walked in the garden that evening. It seemed that everyone, including the two of them, were attempting to act as if it were a real engagement or, at the very least, a traditional one. Lilly could feel the tension in him. Something was clearly bothering him but she didn’t know what it was. And while she was prepared to marry him, she wasn’t necessarily prepared to pry into his thoughts, especially if they were about how terribly unsuited she was to the position of Viscountess Seaburn, and future Duchess of Templeton. It was that, more than anything else that had occurred, which gave her pause about their arrangement.
“Are we making a mistake?” she asked.
“What?” he asked, glancing at her in surprise. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“I wasn’t. I may be now. I suppose that rather depends on what has you so deeply in thought,” she replied. “I know you offered impulsively. As much to irritate your relatives as for the other reasons you and I discussed. If you wish to cry off—”
“I’ve no wish to cry off. I understand that this is impulsive,” he said. “And the simple truth is that I owe you an apology for offering for you in the way that I did. It was thoughtless and careless. Insensitive and spoiled just as my grandmother accuses me of being. Had you turned me down flat, I’d have deserved it and the ensuing humiliation entirely.”
Lilly walked on a few paces ahead. “But I didn’t, did I? I said yes and now we’re both facing the very real consequences of that. We don’t even know one another, much less whether or not we’d actually want to be married to one another!” And hot, drugging kisses aside, they had no basis for a marriage between them.
He closed the distance between them, moving so that he stood in front of her and they were facing one another directly. “That’s true enough, but my consequences are, well, inconsequential comparatively. I have to marry. That is beyond question. I can’t let the fortune fall into Elsworth’s hands… what he’d do with it could have far reaching consequences for all of England. Thousands of lives hang in the balance if he does. And yet, your life now hangs in the balance as well.”
“Weighed against so many, it cannot be considered,” she replied.
“But it can,” he insisted. “It must. My impulsive decision has put you in an untenable situation. And your life is in danger because of it.”
Lilly thought of the exchange with Elsworth earlier in the day. It had been a threat. Veiled, yes, and perhaps his tripping her had only been an accident or mostly harmless bullying. But she couldn’t help think that was not the case. “I will not say that you are wrong about the potential threat I am facing. My own clumsiness from the morning of our meeting aside, the last two days have seen more precarious circumstances than I care to consider. The timing of the attack this morning is something that should not be ignored. It cannot be coincidence that my life is suddenly placed at risk after agreeing to your offer, especially with�
��” Lilly turned away, unwilling to finish the statement.
He frowned at the abrupt manner in which she’d simply halted her statement. “Did something else occur?”
She hadn’t wanted to tell him but, under the circumstances, it seemed foolish not to, especially since she was not the only one at risk. “Elsworth threatened me this afternoon… just before I went into tea with your grandmother. It wasn’t overt, really. He didn’t say he would kill me or that I was in danger.”
He grasped her arm, halting her as they walked and then turned her to face him. His jaw was clenched tight with anger. “Tell me everything.”
Lilly sighed. “I was coming down the stairs and he was waiting—hiding in essence, as he didn’t appear until I literally couldn’t avoid him—at the bottom. He blocked my path and I asked him repeatedly to move.”
“Did he hurt you? Did he touch you, at all?” Val demanded. “So help me, Lilly, if he harmed you—”
“No he didn’t! And you mustn’t challenge him openly. I know you’re trying to protect your grandmother from the truth about him and if you allow your temper to get the better of you here it will all be for naught!”
“I won’t let him bully and terrorize you!”
Lillian laughed. “What makes you think he can do either of those things? I’ve been taking care of myself for quite some time. My betrothal to you does not alter that! Do not let his pettiness sway you from your course. Threatening him or coming to blows with him now, regardless of what he said or did to me could hamper your ability to get the information you need. Couldn’t it?”
He was quiet for the longest moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Finally, his breath came out in a rush. “Fine. For now. But if it happens again, I will not stay my hand where he is concerned. You’d tell me if really hurt you, wouldn’t you?”
Barefoot in Hyde Park (The Hellion Club Book 2) Page 9