“Upon my honor, I had never seen anything so unladylike! A duchess who can’t dance? It’s like having a sea captain who can’t navigate!”
Both women laughed, then the second one with the girlish voice said, in a slightly lower voice, “And she called Lady Crane Miss Crane. The poor woman was so distraught that I found her crying out on the balcony! To be so snubbed like that, and by a duchess!”
“It is unpardonable.”
“She is the daughter of an earl, but I wouldn’t believe it from watching her. She has no refinement.”
“Well the rumor is that she’s never attended a London Season before. And I can believe it. I don’t remember ever seeing her before.”
“No, nor I.”
“And do you know about the rumors surrounding her marriage?”
“I have heard a few whispers…” the second woman sounded eager, and Emery could imagine her scooting her chair forward, so as not to miss anything the first woman said.
“It was a terrible scandal, apparently, and one the family has tried to hush up.”
“Oh do tell me, Lady Charleston!”
“Patience, Henrietta, I will tell you. You do know that the Duchess was engaged to marry the younger brother, Lord Henry, do you not?”
“I did hear that…”
“But the engagement was called off the day of the wedding!”
“No!” The woman called Henrietta gasped. “How is such a thing possible?”
“Lord Henry, it turns out, was in love with Miss Georgina Holloway, and he left his bride at the altar. His brother was forced to step in to save the day, and from what I’ve heard, he had to threaten the vicar to allow the wedding without the reading of the banns.”
“What scandal!” Henrietta breathed. “How could the church allow such a thing?”
“Well, the Duke of Dredford is powerful. But he is also known for his heartlessness. In all the years I’ve known him, I have never heard a kind word from him or about him from any young lady.”
“That almost makes me feel sorry for the Duchess,” Henrietta sighed. “Left at the altar and then forced to marry the cruel Duke!”
“Don’t feel too sorry for her,” Lady Charleston snorted. “She is still married to a duke! Somehow she managed to find her way from the spare to the heir. It makes me wonder if she had some hand in the whole thing. Miss Holloway, after all, is her dear friend. Perhaps she convinced Holloway to pretend to love Lord Henry in order to ensure he would leave her, clearing her path to the Duke.”
“You think?” Henrietta breathed.
“I would not be surprised.”
“How terrible!” But Henrietta did not sound as if she thought this was terrible. She sounded as if she very much thought it was the most delicious gossip she had ever heard.
“Who knows,” Lady Charleston relented, and Emery could practically feel her shrugging in that ladylike way where one pretended not to care too much about anything. “But now they are here in London and debuting the eldest sister as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The presumption of it astounds me! After such a scandal, they should be hiding away in their country house, not parading their dirty laundry around London.”
“Poor Lady Leah… she will not have an easy Season after such a scandal. She is the one for whom I truly feel sorry.”
“Yes, it is unfortunate about Lady Leah,” Lady Charleston conceded. “And all the sisters. There are three of them to marry! But it makes me wonder about her character, as well. If she shares the same blood as her brothers, then she must be a piece of work also. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to cause some scandal this Season.” Lady Charleston sniffed. “But I suppose time will tell.”
Emery sat, rooted to the spot, listening to all of this with mounting fury. It was one thing for these ladies to gossip about her and point out her mistakes, but it was quite another to speculate that she had manipulated Henry and Lucien so that she ended up as a Duchess. Worst of all was the way they were speaking about Leah! She was innocent of all Emery’s, Henry’s, and Lucien’s mistakes, and it was beyond reprehensible for these women to spread such malicious gossip about her.
Her hand tightened into a fist. Lucien had been right about how cruel thetoncould be. She had not realized it when he’d first warned her. But there was one thing he was wrong about: her. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her, or curl up in a ball and cry, or run away and not show her face. Emery Grove, Duchess of Dredford, could hold her own.
Emery stood up very suddenly. Grabbing her gloves and parasol, she made as if to leave the table, walking out a little bit from behind the potted plant and then looking around, like she was looking to see where Georgina had gotten to. As she did, she looked over at the table where the two ladies sat, making sure to make eye contact with each of them.
The moment they saw her, both ladies went very pale, and their mouths fell open, as if in horror.
“Lady Charleston!” Emery exclaimed, addressing herself to the older woman, whom she assumed was the one who had led the assault against her and her family’s characters.
