fifteen
ANGELINE HAD REGRETTED her words the moment Royston had disappeared into the night.
She rolled in the bed, but sleep wouldn’t touch her with a barge pole.
Royston had stolen something from her mother, and who knew what Lord Havisham would do to her mama now. But Angeline had hurt Royston. Badly.
On the other hand, Mama was indeed a blackmailer, and of course Lord Havisham wanted the blackmail to stop, but Royston should have talked to her first. And he was right about her. She was her mother’s accomplice. Worse, she benefitted from Mama’s enterprise. In fact, she owed her education to Mama’s money, which meant dirty money.
That was enough to keep her awake at night on any given day.
And she’d thought that being scorned for her scar was humiliating? A man finally showed interested in her, accepting her for who she was, and he’d learnt the truth about her family before she had the opportunity to tell him.
He’d told her the truth. He could have kept kissing her and pretended not to have a clue about Mama’s crimes while taking advantage of her. Instead, he’d confessed.
Still, she’d be lying if she said his behaviour didn’t hurt. He’d used her only to get those stupid documents. Maybe he didn’t even like her. Although he’d sounded so sincere when he’d told her he liked her.
Her head and heart were going to break from the thoughts and emotions going through her.
“What’s going on?” Carrying a lit oil lamp, Mama entered Angeline’s bedroom.
“What? How?” Angeline bolted upright.
“You keep tossing and turning. You woke me up.” She put the lamp on the nightstand. “Are you sick? Should I call the physician?”
“No. I’m all right.”
“Tosh.” Mama put a hand on Angeline’s forehead. “You’re hot and shivering. What is it?”
The combination of sadness, anger, and confusion burst out in the form of a sob. After the first sob came out, she couldn’t stop a second one.
“Darling.” Mama hugged her and caressed her head. “What is it? You can tell me anything.” She didn’t prompt Angeline further but held her and stroked her head.
“It’s Royston.”
“What did he do?” Mama’s tone turned icy and dangerous. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. Not in the way you think.” She wiped her face and took a deep breath. Staying silent could be potentially dangerous. She didn’t know what Lord Havisham would do now. Mama needed to know the truth to protect herself from the earl. “While he was in your study, he took Lord Havisham’s documents from your cabinet.”
“What?” Mama sounded breathless.
“Royston came here tonight.” Angeline gazed up at her mother, waiting for her to be shocked.
Mama looked more furious than shocked. “Why did he come here?”
“We agreed to meet at midnight, but anyway, Royston told me what he’d done and then left. Lord Havisham has his incriminating documents now.”
“That sneaky, traitorous bastard.” Mama clenched her fist.
Angeline didn’t know if Mama was talking about Lord Havisham or Royston.
“I’m sorry. I’m confused. I don’t know if he used our friendship to get the documents or not.”
Mama’s expression softened. She hugged Angeline again. “Sweetheart, I told you. You can’t trust men. They use you and then discard you as if you were nothing. Don’t let him hurt you. Don’t give him that power. And you have nothing to be sorry for. You have a good heart and trust everyone. Men take advantage of that. It happened to me many times before I hardened myself to their cruelty.”
Was Mama right? Was Royston nothing but a scoundrel? But he’d been so kind to her. His kisses had been so gentle, his words so true. A lone whisper from her heart told her Royston cared about her, but her brain screamed he’d only used her for a seat in Parliament.
“What about the stolen documents?” she asked.
