“Really?” Mary sniffed, smiling through her tears.
Cecily nodded and then sighed. “But we cannot sit around weeping, Mary. I don’t think we can stop Uncle or stop this story. Everyone we know will see it if it hits the newspapers. Mrs. Barnes already knows, and it’s only a matter of time beforeall the servants here become aware. We must keep you safe and hidden somewhere, and hope that everything blows over.”
“Where can I go? Will you come with me?”
“I don’t know,” Cecily admitted, knowing how much depended on Nathaniel’s reaction. “Maybe the dower house for now. In a year or two, after you are one-and-twenty, perhaps these lies will be forgotten. If not, maybe you could go to Edinburgh, or Dublin, and start again.”
“Or Rome, or America,” Mary suggested, with a slightly hysterical laugh. “We should start packing now.”
“There could be some advantages to leaving the country,” Cecily reflected with a heavy sigh, considering the possibility that Nathaniel might see things that way.
Would it be easier for him to just pack his notorious wife and her sister onto a ship and send them far away from him? He could be quite radical in his quest for simplicity.
“You’re leaving?” an outraged little voice suddenly sounded nearby, and a small figure scrambled out of the bushes as Cecily turned her head and jumped up.
“Lilian! How long have you been there?”
“You’re leaving me!” the child accused her angrily. “You said you were staying forever, but you’re not. You’re leaving, and you’re not coming back. You’re a liar, just like Papa.”
“Lilian, no…”
Evading Cecily’s hands, Lilian dodged past the table and ran into the house, weeping.
Leaving the letters and pamphlet on the table, Cecily and Mary hurried after her.
CHAPTER 29
“Lord Patrick to see you, Your Grace,” Simkins announced quietly, approaching the armchair in the club library where Nathaniel sat with closed eyes and a thoughtful expression, drumming his fingers lightly on the leather armrest.
Nathaniel opened his eyes and sat up straight in his chair. This was a surprise. While his brother was due in London for his first regimental dinner tonight, he had expected Patrick to spend the entire day at Greyhaven Park, parading in his uniform before Mary.
He looked quizzically at him, taking in his agitated expression and the sweaty, red face that spoke of hard riding.
“Nathaniel, thank God you’re here. There’s trouble…”
At the sound of his brother’s raised voice, various white-haired old buffers suddenly sat up in their chairs, frowning over the tops of their newspapers and shushing him.
Nathaniel quickly grabbed Patrick by the elbow and led him out of the library, though he did not show any real annoyance. He did not want to discuss family matters openly, but he was genuinely happy to see his brother. It had been a busy morning for him, one that taxed his mind and wallet more than his body. For his next appointment, some physical assertiveness might come in handy.
“So, you’ve seen that pamphlet, have you?” Nathaniel asked softly, nodding to Simkins and leading Patrick in the direction of the private sitting rooms.
“You know about that?” Patrick sputtered, flabbergasted. “What are you going to do? My word, if you are not going to act, Nathaniel, I damned well shall. I will not have Mary’s name dragged through the mud?—”
“I have acted,” Nathaniel interrupted, dropping into a chair while Patrick continued to pace up and down. “Or at least, I have begun to act, and you may help me finish. I only found out about the scandal sheet this morning when that nasty old bore Holt thought to send me a threatening letter with my breakfast.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Patrick demanded, frustrated. “I’ve ridden like hell from Greyhaven just now to tell you about that damned pamphlet.”
“I had to act quickly, and I didn’t want to frighten Cecily,” Nathaniel tried to explain. “That’s what Holt wants, just as much as he wants money.”
“Well, you’re too late not to frighten Cecily,” Patrick informed him grimly. “Holt wrote to her too, and to the staff at Greyhaven Park, although only Mrs. Barnes has seen it yet. Cecily and Mary are half in hysterics, and Lilian has had another of her tantrums about them leaving the country.”
“Leaving?” Nathaniel repeated with alarm, his frown deepening, and Patrick shrugged. “Why would she leave?”
“I couldn’t get any sense from anyone after I saw the letters and pamphlet they left on the table. Mrs. Barnes said that I had best come and find you.”
“Damn Holt and all his confederates!” Nathaniel swore and then gestured for Patrick to take a seat. “If you’ll stop marching up and down as though that uniform forces you out on parade, I’ll tell you how you can help.”
He thought about Cecily as he had left her this morning—naked, flushed, and smiling contentedly in his bed. He had hoped to return to find her in almost the same state and willing to start their bedroom games all over again. Now it seemed that Lord Holt had driven a team of wild horses through all the defenses he had tried to put around his wife.
