Winsome did not know what the dowager thought about it, but the lady suddenly said, “Lady Winsome, do give me your arm. I find I feel poorly.”
“Oh certainly,” Winsome said, assisting the lady down the hall. She supposed the effects of trying to keep up with the duke had begun to take their toll.
“Take me to my grandson,” the dowager said, “then he can escort me home.”
Winsome nodded and suppressed a sigh. Lord Manderbey would leave. This had not been the evening she’d been hoping for. She was supposed to be figuring out how to pull him away from his gambling habit before he went too far. Instead, she’d been trapped in a retiring room, looking for a hidden way out.
They entered the garden and Lord Manderbey strode over to them.
“Manderbey, I an unwell,” the dowager said. “Take me home and call for the doctor.”
“I see. Yes, of course,” he said, taking his grandmother’s arm. “Lady Winsome,” he said, by way of goodbye.
She made her way over to her father, who still sat on the bench, now holding two glasses of wine. Winsome took one from his hand and drained it. “I’ve just spent the past half hour locked in a retiring room. What a night.”
*
Leland had thecarriage called and found a chair for his grandmother as they waited. The whole evening was unaccountable. Lady Winsome had disappeared for an extended period. His grandmother had gone off to find her and come back doing poorly. She’d been right as rain before she’d gone back into the house.
He supposed the elderly were prone to sudden attacks and hoped it was not of a serious nature. He suspected the physician would advise her to cut back on the amount of spirits she’d been imbibing over the past days.
The carriage came round, he helped his drooping grandmother into it, and banged on the roof for the coachman to get going.
The horses pulled forward and settled into a trot. His grandmother suddenly sat up straight and said, “I’ve saved you from humiliation, Manderbey. This will come as a shock, I know, but Lady Winsome has been compromised.”
Leland dropped his hat, which had been in his hands. “What?”
“Trust me, things could have gone very badly if I had not discovered it.”
“Trust you? I certainly will not blindly trust you. What are you claiming? Specifically?” He did not know what sort of trouble the dowager was trying to drum up, but she no longer looked as if she did poorly. “You do not require a doctor, do you?”
“Of course I don’t,” the dowager said. “I had to get you away fromthere in all haste, before you committed yourself to anything. Lady Winsome is not the innocent that she seems.”
“Do not be ridiculous,” he said.
“Manderbey, I may be old, but I am not blind. I know what I saw.”
Leland crossed his arms. “What exactly do you think you saw?”
“As you know, Lady Winsome was missing for an inordinate amount of time. In the ladies’ retiring room, you said. Well, let me tell you, that was not where she was found. I discovered her in the corridor, looking very flustered and disheveled, with Lord Landry.”
Leland burst out laughing. “Landry?” he asked. “You think Lady Winsome was compromised byLandry? He could not seduce a Cyprian he’d already paid.”
“That comment was in very bad taste, do not speak to me of Cyprians again, if you please. Now, I know what I saw, Manderbey. The look of guilt on that man’s face was unmistakable. He positively fled the scene.”
“It’s all nonsense.”
“It is not nonsense. How does she account for her absence? She simply says she was delayed. By what? Or rather, by who?”
“Even if I believed Lady Winsome capable of what you accuse her of, which I do not, Landry would not be up to such connivances.”
“That’s why he looked so panicked,” the dowager said. “Now, I do like the duke exceedingly so I will not breathe a word of this. I suspect that something kicked it all off. You know how people sympathize with Lord Landry, especially women. I think perhaps she sympathized with him over something and that led to an encounter. Something got out of hand.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“I saw it. Now listen, I do not wish to harm Lady Winsome in any way. The lady has made a mistake, I am sure she feels terrible about it and I would not wish to ruin her future. That future, however, cannot involve this family.”
“You will speak of this to nobody, not even Miss Price. I do not wish word of your absurd ideas to travel through the household. Do you understand?”
