Who the devil was Charlotte?
“Anote!” the beautiful woman who had burst in upon their breakfast cried. “How dare you send me a note, Lord Shelbourne?”
Wentworth hovered behind the outraged interloper, grimacing. “Forgive me, my lord, my lady. The interruption shall not last long. I have called for some footmen to escort ourguestto the street.”
Where she belongs, seemed to be what he left unsaid. There was a definitive lack of approval on the butler’s grim countenance.
Julianna well understood the reason. The scene unfolding before her was quite uncommon.
“Kindly leave, Mrs. Edwards,” Shelbourne said coldly. “You are trespassing where you are not wanted.”
“Dear me, have I interrupted your breakfast?” Mrs. Edwards asked, her voice dripping with feigned concern. “How rude of me.”
Julianna gripped the back of her chair, watching the melee before her, a sinking sensation sliding through her. The outrage emanating from the woman before her could only mean one thing.
Here was another of her husband’s paramours.
“You are embarrassing yourself,” Shelbourne said softly. “You would do well to leave as you have been asked.”
“I wanted to offer you my felicitations,” the other woman said, her blue eyes running over Julianna in an assessing fashion. “I had not realized you were getting married. Again.”
The emphasis she put on the last word made it clear she was calling into question the tale of their secret marriage and divorce in New York City.
Julianna forced a smile. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I do not believe our paths have crossed.”
It was an underhanded insult, the sort Julianna would not ordinarily issue. But then, she was not often confronted by her husband’s mistress—or former mistress, she knew not which—at the breakfast table while a horrified butler looked on.
“Wentworth, you may go,” Shelbourne said curtly, as if belatedly becoming aware of their audience. “Our guest will be leaving in but a moment, and I will ring for you when necessary.”
The butler bowed and made haste to disappear discreetly.
Which left Julianna, Shelbourne, and Mrs. Edwards alone.
She could not help but to notice the other woman resembled her quite a bit in appearance—brilliant red hair, blue eyes, pale skin. But where Julianna wore her freckles with pride, Mrs. Edwards appeared to have concealed hers with a liberal dose of pearl powder.
Shelbourne turned to Julianna next, his expression pained. “Julianna, you do not need to be present for this.”
She was not going anywhere. “I think I should remain.”
“Of course you must, Lady Shelbourne,” their unexpected guest drawled. “I shan’t be long. I merely wanted to see his lordship in person so that I could inform him what I thought of his parting note.”
Julianna’s stomach churned. She wanted nothing more than for this dreadful woman to go away. For Shelbourne to go away as well. Had he been keeping this woman as his mistress during the entire time Julianna had been in London? During their marriage? If she had ever been uncertain about a return to New York City, surely this wretched interloper was the personification of her answer.
Go.
Flee.
Run, Julianna. And make bloody haste.
“Charlotte, this is unnecessary,” Shelbourne said, stepping between Julianna and the other woman, as if to protect her. “Please spare yourself the embarrassment and go.”
Charlottegave a bitter laugh. “Spareyouthe embarrassment, you mean to say, Lord Shelbourne, do you not? Have you any idea how sought-after I am? The Duke of Rutland has been begging me for a supper and I have refused him again and again out of loyalty to you. Loyalty which was obviously terribly misplaced. All this time I have waited for you.”
Shelbourne’s shoulders stiffened. “I am sure Rutland will be pleased to find you no longer encumbered. I, however, am most displeased at having my private breakfast with Lady Shelbourne disrupted in such a careless and disrespectful manner.”
Julianna stepped around Shelbourne, facing the other woman. “I strongly urge you to do as his lordship has requested.”
“Do you know who I am?” Mrs. Edwards demanded, her lip curling. “I am one of the most sought-after actresses in London and the Continent. How dare you think you can dismiss me? And how dare he?”
