Lottie swallowed, unsure of which behavior had offended. “I am afraid I am not sure what you are referring to, my lady.” She looked to her employer for some clue, but it was Lady Lynette who spoke.
“When my dear friend Miss Maybury mentioned to me yesterday that she was convinced she had witnessed a tryst between you and Lord Wennington, I took it upon myself to keep an eye on you. I have long suspected that you have always had an ulterior motive here as you have never behaved in any way as a proper servant should, but I never thought that you would dare stoop so low as to attempt to seduce and compromise a viscount into marriage.”
“I would never—”
Lady Lynette held up an imperious hand. “I saw him leaving your bedchamber this morning, Miss Travers. From my hiding place I witnessed you kiss him while you were scandalously wrapped in naught but a sheet. It was obvious that you had engaged in more than a kiss with one of your betters, you calculating harlot!”
There were a great many things Lottie wanted to take issue with in that, but her mind was whirring too fast to know which to tackle first.
“She’s been on a mission to seduce him all week!” Miss Maybury had the nerve to appear shocked. “She turns up at the stables every single morning to bother Lord Wennington, shameless in scandalous breeches! She almost shot poor Lady Lynette here with an arrow to dispense with her as competition and we all saw the way she constantly stared at him last night.” She pointed a quaking finger. “The invitation to sin was as bold as brass in her eyes and it was obvious she intended to lure him in. She’s also done everything in her power to thwart the rest of us from gaining his affections at every juncture. Forcing herself into the prime spots in carriages and at dinner, and constantly using her wiles to divert him from our company—like Delilah tempting Samson.”
“Except the temple is about to fall around your ears, Miss Travers.” Lady Lynette looked at Lottie like she was something vile. “And you are about to properly learn your place. In my humble opinion, not before time too!”
“If I could say something…” Although Lottie had no earthly cluewhat to say to make this awful situation any better. There were too many truths wrapped up in Lady Lynette’s and Miss Maybury’s lies for it not to look bad. In desperation, she glanced at Lady Frinton, who had known that she and Guy were involved and had made it plain she thought it nobody else’s business, but the old lady turned her head away.
As if she was so disgusted, all of a sudden, that she couldn’t even look at her.
“The jig is up, Miss Travers, and your chickens have come home to roost.” Miss Maybury made no secret of the fact that she was enjoying Lottie’s discomfort. “You tried to snare yourself a viscount in the most underhanded manner and got found out.”
“Indeed,” added the awful Lady Lynette with some glee. “Although did you honestly think thatyoucould snare yourself a viscount in such an egregious fashion? Surely you realized that a man of his station was never going to want more from a woman of your station than a quick night of passion?” She feigned a laugh and looked Lottie up and down. “A man of the stature of Lord Wennington was never going to marry a lowly, worthless servant like you.”
Lady Wennington raised a finger, her expression so bland in its obvious disappointment, and silence descended like a shroud that the older woman let hang for several long and painful seconds.
“You have brought my house into disrepute, Miss Travers. And in doing so have insulted both me, my family, and my illustrious guests. Fortunately, Lady Lynette and Miss Maybury are in agreement that the best way to deal with this is discreetly, and so none of the other impressionable young ladies here are aware of your improper behavior. Your things are being packed as we speak, and my sister’s carriage is being prepared to take you back to London.”
“But—”
“There are no buts, Travers.” Lady Frinton held up her palm. Lottie’s fate apparently already decided. “If you go quietly and immediately, I shall pay you two months’ wages as severance and write you a good reference.”
“But—” Surely they did not expect her to go without saying goodbyeto Guy? “Can’t I—” Lottie found herself speaking to the old lady’s palm again.
“If you do not, then you leave me no choice but to publicly condemn your actions as I throw you out, thus bringing shame on both your father’s and Miss Prentice’s houses too.”
ChapterTHIRTY-ONE
Thanks to all of bloody Granger’s deviousness and postulating, it took almost all of the day and all of Guy’s arsenal to get the rest of the grain merchants to agree not to renege on the deals he had already made with them. But in the process, he had made a powerful enemy and he knew already that next year’s negotiations weren’t going to be easy as a result. A looming prospect that would have ground him down usually, but which didn’t seem quite as bad this evening now that he knew he had someone else in his corner who would understand.
Two heads were supposedly always better than one, after all, and in Lottie, he wouldn’t just have a friend and lover—he’d have a clever and resourceful partner in crime. Someone who would love this land, and everything on it, as much as he did.
A thought that made him smile as he handed Zeus over to the waiting Tom in the darkened stable and trudged his way back to the house.
He had long missed dinner, but there was some sort of soiree going on in the drawing room as he snuck past it. As much as he would have preferred curling up in bed beside his good woman at this late hour, he supposed he owed it to his mother to show face after missing this afternoon’s tedious planned picnic by the river. Besides, Lottie—his not so much as good but absolutely perfect woman—would be stuck in the drawing roomright now too, so the cuddling would have to wait a little while anyway. But at least they would be in it together.
Who would have predicted that a month ago? For a man who loathed surprises, Lottie had been the biggest surprise of his life. The best surprise too. She was…
Well, everything actually.
Everything and more. Another thought that made him grin like the besotted fool he was suddenly delighted to be.
The idea of just seeing her tonight made him take the stairs two at a time and then clean himself up at record speed. He even put on cologne as he checked his reflection for the third time in quick succession, wondering if his green silk waistcoat would look better than this burgundy one, while feeling peculiar that he wanted to look his best for her. And more peculiar still that he had finally found someone he wanted to look his best for.
It was all alien.
The way he felt. The way he thought. The way he yearned. The hurry he was in to see her. Touch her. Taste her.
Talk to her.
Talking was at the top of his suddenly long list of things to do.
