Page 61 of Sinfully Daring

Obligingly Aggie did as she asked, sending Matilda a curious glance as the lady hugged her.

“You said you made a list, my dear?” Matilda said, smiling at her.

Aggie nodded. “Yes, Fred has it.”

Before Fred could speak, Matilda raised her hand. “We must all solemnly promise to keep this to ourselves,” Lady Matilda said, her expression one of concern. “If one of these girls is really with child, she will be terribly frightened and if words gets out….”

“No one here will say a word, love,” Montagu said, his voice firm.

Matilda nodded and let out a sigh. “No, of course, I know that. Oh, but, Lucian, the poor girl.”

Her husband, who sat on her other side, took her hand. Matilda clung to it, her expression taut with concern.

“Who is on the list, Fred?” Rosamund asked, though she knew at least one name that would need to be there if it was not already.

Fred read out the names and Aggie spoke again once he’d finished. “I know Mr Price showed quite an interest in Miss Knight too, but she sent him packing, so we can certainly discount her.”

“I should think so!” Prue exclaimed, shocked.

Aggie hurried on. “Oh, of course. I did not mean to suggest… only that he had shown her interest. But Miss Evie is far too clever for such a nasty fellow and obviously an excellent judge of character, for she didn’t like him at all and said that he was a loathsome toad.”

“Miss Morcombe,” Rosamund said, her expression anxious.

“The young lady you took under your wing?” Sebastian said, remembering having seen them together.

Rosamund nodded. “She had hopes of Mr Price, I think. I tried to dissuade her, for she has no dowry and Mr Price only ever attends to heiresses, but she would not hear a word said against him. I cannot help but fear it may be her.”

Aggie nodded. “I put her and Miss Childe at the top of the list. Both have found favour with Mr Price of late. Neither is especially plump in the pocket, though Miss Childe is a distance relation of the Duke of Sefton.”

“Miss Childe strikes me as being an eminently sensible girl who does not suffer fools, but Miss Morcombe is prettier, and her nature sweeter,” Bedwin said with a concerned frown. “Exactly the kind of girl a rogue might take advantage of.”

Rosamund frowned, and would have agreed at once that she was a sweet-natured girl, if not for the catty way Miss Morcombe had spoken about Lord Hargreaves and his wife. But then if her lover had left her pregnant and had promptly fallen under the sway of Lady Hargreaves….

“I think it might be Miss Morcombe,” she said in a rush.

Everyone stared at her.

“Why?” Sebastian asked.

Rosamund hesitated, not wanting to repeat what the young woman had said about Sebastian not letting his wife make such a fool of him. “She spoke rather sharply about Lady Hargreaves. Said she had an excess of animal spirits. Her dislike was rather marked.”

Sebastian frowned, and she reached for his hand. How horrid this must all be for him. He smiled faintly at her touch and curled his fingers around hers. “The poor girl.”

“We cannot be certain she is the young lady Fred heard Mr Price refer to,” her father said, accepting a glass of wine from Montagu, who had decided everyone needed a drink. “And so we must tread very carefully indeed. Though I admit, I am at a loss to how we ought to proceed.”

“I will speak to her,” Rosamund said, her voice firm. “She trusts me, a little at least, and she was very grateful for the support I lent her over the season. Perhaps I can get her to confide in me? Though for that, we will need to return to town.”

“Montagu and I were going back tomorrow anyway,” her father said. “We are both needed in the House. It will not be so very astonishing if everyone returns with us.”

“Very well.” Rosamund nodded her agreement but could not help adding, “But Lord Hargreaves and I will still be married before we go. Tonight. Now. You said we might, Papa.”

Her father stared at them, his gaze lingering on their joined hands before he looked at her mother.

“Prue?”

To Rosamund’s relief, Mama nodded her agreement. “I think it is a good match, Robert. And you know how much I enjoy shocking the ton. We’ll set the cat among the pigeons with this, that’s for certain.”

Her father sighed, looking resigned to the inevitable fallout. “Very well, then. Montagu, you said we could use the chapel? Is that still possible?”