“Then why have you encouraged the doctor!” Margaret all but wailed, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“I haven’t, Margaret. We are merely friends—”
“You arrived in a carriage together just now!”
“We are cousins. We were visiting a tenant family. There is nothing improper in that!” The denial was ash on Lottie’s tongue.
Their carriage journey had beendecidedlyimproper.
“Actual impropriety isn’t the issue here, Lottie. It is the perception that matters. When you are seen together in such a way, others assume you are courting. Your behavior has put us all at risk. How could you care so little for our family? I consider you nearly a second mother to Freddie.”
“As do I!” Emotion stung Lottie’s eyes.
Voices rose from the library beyond the drawing room door.
Oh, could this day get any worse?
Frank was yelling at Alex, his voice shrill. “Did you think if you compromised my sister—”
“Sister-in-law,” Alex interrupted.
“—that I would magically allow a lout like yourself to marry her?!”
“Lady Charlotte is well into her majority. And even if she were not, why would she requireyourpermission to marry? You are neither a blood relative nor a former guardian.”
Oh, Alex.
Lottie met Grandmère’s gaze. Did her grandmother look amused or concerned? With her slashing eyebrows and the low light, it was hard to tell.
“Duping Lady Charlotte into marriage will not guarantee you the marquisate,” Frank raged.
“I highly doubt an intelligent woman like Lady Charlotte could be duped into anything,” Alex retorted. “Furthermore, unlike some, I do not consider financial, business, nor social advantages when pondering my future wife—”
“You will stay away from Lady Charlotte,” Frank shouted. “You will not soil her with your lowliness—”
“Mylowliness?!Iam the one who could be a marquess.Iam the one who could restore this estate, not strip it bare like so many bleached bones as you have done!”
“You will leave!” Even through the drawing room door, Frank’s voice vibrated with anger. “I am still master here, and you will leave this house immediately!”
A moment of silence.
Another hissed exchange, too low for Lottie to hear.
And then—
“As you wish,” Alex’s voice rose again, “I will leave as soon as it is light enough to drive a carriage.”
The men’s voices faded, one of them leaving the room with a loudclackof the door.
Lottie pressed a shaking hand to her stomach.
She could feel Margaret’s eyes on her. What could Lottie say to defend herself?
Shehadacted recklessly.
Anyone looking in at the situation would have assumed that Alex and Lottie . . .
That they were . . .
