“I don’t think a hairstyle will affect her innocence. Corrupt company might do that.”
“Yes,” Elise said. “It would certainly be for the best if she avoids degenerate men.”
“I would fear women more,” Hawley retorted. “A man may have a past, but he can and will cast that behind him in favour of a new and better future. A woman’s past is her present and her future too. And women are soveryunkind to girls with youth and freshness they have themselves lost.Women Beware Women, isn’t that the play? A virgin despoiled by her manipulative aunt?”
“Are you going to let him speak like this, Bram?” Elise demanded furiously. “Wynn? Is there not a gentleman at this table?”
Hawley smirked. “One might also question the number of ladies.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Zeb said. “Stop it.”
Hawley’s eyes narrowed. “If I were you, I’d think before you speak.”
Zeb truly loathed him in that moment. “All I want is to eat dinner in peace for once. Can we not do that?”
“I will not be silenced,” Hawley said. “I think, since you force the issue, that Jessamine should not be expected to mix with a notorious woman at all, still less permitted to stay with one in London. I don’t care to think what corruption she might beexposed to.”
There was a moment of loud-voiced chaos. Elise and Bram demanded how Hawley dare. Hawley sneered. Dash made moustachioed noises of extreme disapproval. Jessamine looked between them, bewildered and distressed.
Zeb considered crawling under the table. “Stop it,” he tried. “Stop!”
Nobody listened. The angry voices rose and clashed until the door creaked open, and the footman slouched in.
That, at least, shut everyone up. They sat in fraught, icy silence as the soup was cleared away and the main course brought in. It was beef stew, served with potatoes overboiled to obvious dryness. The cook was not helping matters.
The family waited in mutually bristling silence until the food was served and more wine poured. The footman maundered out, taking his time. Several people inhaled at once as the door shut, and Wynn said, “Wait.”
He spoke with unusual sharpness. That might have got him listened to, or it might just have been the fact that he was the one with the money.
“That conversation was—I would normally say unedifying. In fact, it was most edifying. I had hoped for more from this gathering, this family.”
Zeb couldn’t imagine why. Wynn looked around them, face severe. “It seems I must make myself clear. Jessamine, you will not be accompanying Mrs. Wyckham to London, or anywhere. I do not find her a fit companion for you. Moreover, Bram, I regretto say that I will not be allowing Lackaday House to pass into your hands under any circumstances, at least in the current state of affairs. I would prefer to be sure the next inheritor will be a Wyckham, and your marriage does not give me faith in that.”
Elise’s head jerked back as if she’d been struck. “Howdareyou?”
“It was not my observation. Zebedee made an excellent point to that effect.”
Bram’s jaw dropped. Zeb said, “I did not!”
“There is no need to apologise. You drew my attention to the issue and I am grateful. We will have no Lady Ravendark here, foisting a bastard onto the family.”
Hawley’s mouth curved in a nasty manner. “Well, I must say, Zebby—”
“You must not,” Wynn said coldly. “I have received information on your recent past that has shocked me to the core.” He glanced at Elise as he said that. “You spoke about how a rake might reform: I should like to see evidence of that before I entrust my ward or house to your care.”
“Yes, I have sowed my wild oats,” Hawley said. “I admit it frankly, and I admit too that I regret it. I would have preferred to come to a pure woman with a clean slate of my own. But I hope I may be given a chance to wipe the slate clean, under her influence.”
“You regret your wild oats?” Wynn said.
“I am deeply ashamed,” Hawley said. “I look on my past with revulsion.”
“Iama wild oat that someone sowed,” Jessamine said loudly.“Am I shameful and revolting?”
Hawley’s mouth shut like a rat-trap; Elise’s smile flashed like a razor. “Zebedee,” Wynn said, causing Zeb to jump. “You could put an end to this. You have expressed your scruples, and I respect them, but for Jessamine’s sake, I must ask you to reconsider. You have impressed both of us favourably—”
“I wouldn’t rush into this, Wynn,” Hawley said. “Should he, Zeb? If we’re talking about discreditable habits?”
“What does that mean?”
