Page 49 of A Hint of Scandal

Max shook his head, more than ever in admiration of her cool-headedness in the face of what seemed to him to be insurmountable obstacles. “He’s sleeping now. His illness makes him very tired. I’ll have to ask him in the morning. But I do know it must have been in Oxford.” Then he recalled what else his brother had said. Perhaps he’d better let Serafina know her wedding was being brought forward by two weeks. She had a right to know something as vital as that.

Her eyes widened at the news, but he detected no displeasure in them. “You seem to be in a great hurry to marry. I thought you had until your thirtieth birthday.”

Now came the crunch. He needed to tell her why. “You understand that my brother is ill, don’t you?”

She nodded. “A congestion of the lungs, I suspected. He seems to have great difficulty in breathing.”

Max bit his lip. “He suffers from an insufficiency of the heart, which his doctor says affects his lungs. The same thing my father had. Died from.” He shot her a quick look. “It runs in our family so perhaps you might wish to reconsider my offer now you know this.”

She smiled and shook her head. “You look perfectly healthy to me, and besides, were you to die, I should be left a wealthy widow, would I not?” She dimpled, making her look far younger than her twenty-three years, and he found himself smiling back at her.

“I shall endeavor not to succumb to the same affliction, if only to deprive you of a spendthrift widowhood.”

She chuckled. “It would please me if you could manage that. But why does this mean that we must marry in such haste?”

“I fear he’s dying. Well, nearer to dying than my mother and Maria will admit. It seems very unfair that this woman has raised her head in what might well be the last few weeks of my brother’s life. If she knows he’s ill, she can have no consideration for his comfort. I noticed today how much worse he’s become since I last saw him so short a time ago. I assume it can only be because of this letter. I owe it to him to set his mind at rest before he dies, and reassure him that Freddie will inherit his title. And also to marry and secure my own inheritance, as he’s long wanted. He wishes us to marry in the estate chapel so that he might attend. It is allowed, as it is consecrated, of course. Some of our tenants have married there in the past.”

She gave a slow nod. “You wish us to marry before he dies.”

“Yes. I know you’re probably thinking that his behavior shows him to be a cad of the worst kind, a man who left one wife after telling her a lie, because she wasn’t good enough for him, then conveniently forgot about her and took another. A man who has fooled that second wife into thinking herself lawfully married and her children legitimate. A man too weak to admit he was already married, who should first have tried to annul that prior contract.” He paused. “I’m thinking all this myself, I can assure you, but he’s my brother, and I love him. He has many other qualities that outweigh his shameful behavior, and I still admire him for those.”

Serafina shook her head. “No. That’s what you’re thinking. I’m not. I’m thinking he was a very young man as foolish as many an heiress in her first London Season. He was lured into marriage by a seductress who recognized in him a way to better herself. I’m just surprised she allowed him to escape her clutches. What puzzles me is that she must have known he was an earl’s son. He would have had some sort of title as the heir, wouldn’t he?”

“Viscount Lavington, as Freddie does.”

She nodded. “So she would have been a viscountess. And she would have known, as I said, that her husband was due to inherit an earldom with all that entails. So why did she allow him to get away like that? I find that very odd indeed. She just went off and abandoned life as a potential countess? Without a single glance back?” She waved her hand at the room. “She gave up life here at this enormous house surrounded by its enormous park and farmlands?”

Now she’d put it like that, Max could see she had a point. “Perhaps she didn’t want all of this?”

Serafina gave an unladylike snort. “You think? And now, twenty-five years later, she’s decided she does want it all? She’s decided she wants this life, and the earldom, for her son? The son she’s deprived of this life for twenty-five years. I’m not so sure about that. And think of this. She’s only sent this letter to your brother when he’s on the point of death. She must know. It can’t be a coincidence. That in itself is strange. I can’t work out why she should leave it so long, but I’m certain it’s significant. There’s a mystery here, Max, and I think it will be a pleasure to solve it.”

Of course there was. Why hadn’t he seen it beforehand and why hadn’t Julian? Because they’d been blinded by such a shocking revelation. He’d been right to coopt Serafina—she had the luxury of looking at this from the outside, whereas they were firmly on the inside, with all the problems that would lead to.

Serafina seemed suddenly to recall the wedding. “I believe you will have to obtain a Common License if you wish us to marry sooner.”

He nodded. “Correct. I’m sending for one in the morning. But, at the risk of appearing insensitive to your needs, I feel that’s of the least importance right now. This other matter pushes it aside.”

“I won’t argue with you about that. I think that tomorrow, we will need to go to Oxford and find that church and look at the records.”

“We?”

“You don’t think I’ll let you go alone, do you?” She chuckled. “You probably wouldn’t find them on your own. And now I have a maid, courtesy of your family, we shall be quite respectable. We’ll take Elsie with us.” She glanced at the door. “And now, if you don’t mind, I need to go to sleep, if we are to set off bright and early tomorrow morning to Oxford. I have no idea how far it is from here, nor how long it will take to get there.”

Max rose to his feet. “A good thirty miles, I’d say. But we’ll take the fastest vehicle and the fastest horses. My brother maintains an excellent stable of horseflesh, despite being unable to use it himself.” He poked his good-for-nothing arm. “However, due to my blasted arm, we’ll have to take Badger as well.”

She chuckled again. “We’ll be quite a party. You, me, Elsie and Badger. I look forward to it.”

He was by the door now, and as he opened it, he looked back at her. “Thank you for this, Serafina. You’ve no idea how much I appreciate your help.”

All she did was smile in return, and pick up her discarded book. Curiously deflated, but with no idea why, Max let himself out of her room and headed for his own chamber.