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‘Please...Papa...do not blame the viscount! He has come here not only to speak to you, but to me, too.’ Elise darted after her father and clutched at his thin, quivering arm.
‘Has he now!’ Walter snapped, his weak eyes savagely attacking the viscount’s face. ‘And what was your answer to his damnable impertinence? What’s he offered? Carte blanche? I believe that’s what his uncle offered your mama, yet the wretch could manage no more than a seedy room and a few cheap clothes.’ He shook the letter in Elise’s face. ‘This fellow will treat you better, do you think, just because he has the wherewithal and you are a maiden?’
‘I think we should go inside and finish this,’ Alex said with quiet authority. His features were taut, yet expressionless, and he extended a hand as though inviting the others to precede him.
‘I’ll not have you again in my house, sirrah!’ Walter’s apoplectic fury came to an abrupt halt. He sagged against his stick for support, prompting Alex to easily bear the weight of his limp body. Walter roused himself and weakly shook off his saviour.
‘You must calm yourself, sir!’ Doctor Burnett had swiftly drawn close, replacing Alex’s assistance with his own by firmly gripping Walter’s arm to prevent him wobbling. ‘Come...do as his lordship says and repair indoors where you can sit down and debate in a sensible manner.’
‘He has seduced my daughter! How can a man be sensible on knowing that?’ Walter again raised the letter in vibrating fingers. ‘My sister has given me the news, and if Dolly has heard the rumours in Hammersmith, so has every confounded fellow and his wife from Mayfair to Cheapside.’
Elise used the heel of a hand to smear away tears that had trickled on to her cheeks. She knew her father wasn’t exaggerating the way scandals could spread like wildfire. She noticed that Beatrice’s pretty features were frozen in shock and bewilderment at this alarming turn of events. Wearily Elise realised that her sister had no idea this calamity had resulted from her stubborn determination to go to London and masquerade as Lady Lonesome.
* * *
‘I would not have advertised in the gazette if I’d known how it would end!’ Beatrice whimpered, scrubbing at her eyes with her hanky.
‘I know,’ Elise soothed her sister, attempting to quieten her crying. But her memory was not so short that she could not recall warning Beatrice time and again of the perils associated with such a harebrained scheme to get a husband.
As soon as they’d re-entered the house Mr Dewey had ordered both his daughters to go to their room. Elise hadn’t immediately obeyed; she’d attempted to defuse the situation by again impressing on her father that Alex Blackthorne’s proposition wasn’t what he thought. But her father would not listen, and the more determined she was to stay and defend Alex, the more Walter’s agitation increased. Like her mother before her she was too far under a rogue’s lecherous spell, her father had roared, at which point Dr Burnett had swiftly intervened, drawing Walter aside to calm him down. Alex had stayed just outside on the small terrace, as her father had denied him entry to his house. Elise had felt in equal part mortified and outraged at the injustice of his shabby treatment.
Elise had ushered Beatrice towards the stairs, knowing that further appeals to her father would only end in him becoming more overwrought.
Halfway up the treads Elise had glanced over a shoulder to see Alex watching her through the open back door. His smile of comfort and reassurance had crumbled her composure, making a huge sob swell in her chest. By the time they reached their chamber her tears were flowing as fast as her sister’s.
Once they had quietened down and had a chance to compose themselves Elise had explained to her sister the circumstances prompting their father’s distress and how Aunt Dolly’s letter was the catalyst to it all.
Beatrice had blinked in astonishment for a full minute before flinging herself back on to her bed in a renewed fit of hysterics. Now she used an elbow to get herself upright, raising bleary bloodshot eyes to Elise. She’d picked over some of the bones of the tale and was ready with questions. ‘Does Hugh know that I was his Lady Lonesome?’ she croaked. ‘Does he know that at Vauxhall you went off to meet Mr Best instead of me?’
‘I suspect Alex has not told him anything much, but can’t be sure, of course.’
‘And Papa...does he know the whole dreadful episode came about because of what I’d done? Will I be blamed for everything do you think?’
