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“Nash knows someone who’s being blackmailed, so there’s a lot of it going about. Quite the fashionable thing to do it would seem.”
Silverton narrowed his eyes to discern if she were being ironic or naïve, and quickly decided it was the latter. With her innocent looks and ingenuous manner, it was hard to envisage her as the defiled and ruined creature society would regard her. She’d been born from sin, and had willingly pursued sin.
Ironically, Silverton thought she was a great deal more refreshingly guileless than many of the debutantes of spotless reputation with whom he was acquainted; Miss Bunting included.
He rose and began to pace. “So it would seem. Well, you let me know who it is Nash knows is being blackmailed and who he thinks is behind it, and we can get a little closer to apprehending the perpetrator...or perhaps I’ll be next.”
“Are you guilty of a terribly serious misdemeanor, Lord Silverton?” Kitty slipped her hand through the crook of his arm, matching her steps to his. “I thought you were the perfect gentleman in every respect. You certainly seem that way to me.”
“Why, thank you, Kitty. I could kiss you for expressing such a beautiful and generous sentiment.”
“But of course, you can’t for that would make Nash terribly jealous.”
He slanted a look at her. “Undoubtedly, it would make Nash jealous. Is that the greatest of your concerns?” He stopped and grinned.
He was expecting some lighthearted response, and was surprised at the way she colored up, turning her head away. Dear Lord, perhaps she truly did harbor feelings for him. The thought was more bolstering than he’d believed possible. Pressing his advantage, he went on, “And, of course, Nash could only be jealous if he knew, besides which, he hasn’t exactly shown himself to be the faithful type.”
Instantly, he realized he’d gone too far. She dropped her hand from his arm, and her voice was gruff. “I thought you were my friend, Lord Silverton.”
Cross with himself, he tried to rectify the situation. “I’m sorry, Kitty. Please, forgive me. I shall be more careful in future.”
“I shall forgive you, but it hurts me to think that you believe Nash a lesser man because he succumbed to Jennie’s lures. Surely it’s no different to your Miss Bunting succumbing to the offer of marriage from another gentleman after she’d given you reason to believe she favored you? Yet you’d forgive her if she changed her mind and begged you to marry her after all.”
“There is more than a little difference in the two examples, Kitty.” Silverton led her to the fireplace where she rested against the mantelpiece, staring at the decorative plaster ceiling while he lounged as close as he dared, pretending a more lighthearted demeanor than he felt. “Let us drop all talk of Nash, for I do not like to hear how wonderful he is when it only makes me want what he has.”
Kitty laughed, immediately animated. “It’s very nice to hear such flattery, but you’re only saying it because you’ve not found someone to replace Miss Bunting, and you want to feel loved and manly. Just know that you can’t win me from Nash if you’re not about to make me a marriage offer. There,” she challenged, “after what you’ve been telling me, that should make you turn tail and run.”
“I could make you very happy notwithstanding.” The trouble was, he would be very happy with a wife like Miss La Bijou.
“Hmmm...” She truly appeared to be considering the matter, and when she suddenly let out a gurgle of laughter, he was surprised at the degree of his disappointment. “I’m sorry, Lord Silverton, but I want a man who loves me enough to make me an honest offer.”
“Lord Nash hasn’t.”
“I believe I can persuade Nash to see how very valuable a wife like me would be to him.”
“Really, Kitty, holy matrimony is not a prerequisite for happiness.”
This time, she didn’t laugh. “It is when one’s grown up, shamed and reviled, because of the lack of it. Now, are you going to help me rescue Dorcas or not?”
***
Kitty had been acutely conscious all her life that the local villagers reviled her as a lesser creature on account of her illegitimacy. Therefore, her decision to enter the demimondaine by becoming the mistress of a member of the aristocracy did not fill her with moral angst.
Lissa had chosen the virtuous path...hard work.
But Dorcas would view her own road to ruin in an entirely
different way, Kitty realized...as entirely her fault, with earthly torment the only consequence to be followed by eternal damnation. Not just purgatory, but the eternal fire and brimstone meted out to true sinners.
But, however badly Dorcas was damaged, Kitty first had to get her out of Mrs. Montgomery’s clutches.
“Stay quiet and obedient and do as I say,” Lord Silverton ordered Kitty in a whisper as they stood opposite the brothel. “I’ll not risk you entering that terrible house, where Mrs. Montgomery would snatch you up as if you were manna from Heaven, but I will want you here when, hopefully, I get Dorcas out.”
“You’re very commanding when you’ve embarked upon a matter of great urgency. Though if you were my mother speaking, I’d consider you insufferably bossy for telling me what to do like that.” Despite the gravity of the occasion and a certain nervousness—a great deal of nervousness—Kitty giggled. Or perhaps that’s why she giggled. Nevertheless, she thought it true. The commanding part. Dressed in evening clothes with a very expertly tied stock of snowy linen, Lord Silverton cut a most impressive figure. A sartorial figure, the height of fashion, his lovely brown hair short at the sides with the natural wave allowed a little longer on top, he did not look like some of the dandies or fops who took fashion to ridiculous extremes. Nor did he look like the Corinthians who Kitty thought seemed more interested in themselves and their athletic physiques. Lord Silverton looked simply like a very handsome aristocrat who exuded confidence in a most commanding manner. Really, he was quite devastatingly affecting when the serious cast of his features relaxed into a smile. If she’d considered him a contender for her affections, he’d have quite made her legs turn to jelly.
Suddenly, his serious air was displaced by a disarming smile. “You have no idea how much pleasure it would give me to tell you exactly what I’d like you to do,” he said with raised eyebrow. “Unfortunately, that’s Lord Nash’s prerogative. However, if I succeed in my mission, you might want to reconsider my earlier offer.”
“To look after me, and enjoy me, but not to marry me? I think that’s what you offered, if I’m not mistaken?” She tossed her head, smiling nevertheless. “No, thank you, Lord Silverton. However, I do believe that if we are to be successful, I should go indoors and speak to Dorcas myself, though we’ve argued it a hundred times.” She pulled her hood up over her bright hair. “I can go in through the scullery. There would be strangers coming and going all the time, I’d wager, in a house that size.”
