“I do,” he confirmed.
“Then we abduct her before her wedding. We can spin a story about how she changed her mind and decided she wanted to be with her first love. Whatever happens she will be ruined for good, after spending time at a bachelor’s home unchaperoned.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to end up in the Fleet Prison for kidnap,” replied Jonathan nervously.
“Trust me, Sir Jonathan. I can see how we can make this work. Of course, after she is ruined then it will be your choice whether to marry her or make her your mistress. She will certainly be shunned by society by the time I’ve finished with her.”
“My dear Lady Cressida, your skills in scheming and intrigue are astounding. If it wasn’t that I needed access to Olivia’s fortune, then I would make you an offer of marriage myself.”
“And I would most certainly reject you,” she laughed in her menacing low pitch. “You are not for me. However, I rather enjoy your evil mind, and you are welcome to take supper with me, while we finalize our plans.”
He nodded his agreement. There was a certain risk in this plan, but very few people cared about young ladies once they were ruined. Olivia already had gossip flying around town about her loose morals. This plot would build on that gossip and secure her downfall.
Chapter 26
Marcus stared at the letter in his hands.
“It’s clearly all lies,” he said calmly. “I received something similar from Sir Jonathan yesterday. Apparently, you were, erm, very close to him, and he thought I should be aware of this before our marriage.”
“Jonathan wrote to you?” Olivia was astonished.
“He did, and I cannot show you the letter as I burned it in the hearth. His plan was to make me doubt your virtue, and presumably, when I ended our engagement, you would be so distraught that you would need comfort, and he would, I am quite sure, be waiting to give you solace,” explained Marcus.
“That’s despicable,” replied Olivia.
“As is this letter from Lady Cressida to you. I have to say that her letter is far more elegant, detailed, and if I’m not mistaken, she has written using ink perfumed with lilies. Would you like me to tear it up. or burn it in the grate?”
Olivia stared at Marcus, unsure how to respond. Ever since the letter arrived earlier that afternoon, she had been unable to stop reading it over and over again.
“Olivia, please sit down,” said Marcus. “You are making me dizzy the way you are pacing the room. What did the viscountess say?” he asked, trusting that the eminently sensible Lady Leighton would give the letter little attention.
“She hasn’t seen it. I waited to show you. It’s, er, rather a sensitive topic.”
“I’ll say, and this time she has signed it, and it proves that she is guilty of slander,” agreed Marcus.
“She says that you promised to marry her, and that’s why she spread gossip at the ball. She tells me of her acute distress that night and hopes I can forgive her,” said Olivia.
“Total codswallop. There is no truth in that at all. My mother hoped I might court her once, but I never had any interest in her romantically.”
“And the mistresses? The past affairs? She is very specific,” Olivia asked, nervously.
“Olivia, please, come and sit with me and I will talk with you,” Marcus tried to reassure her.
He sighed with relief as she sat beside him on the settee. He took her hand, and she began to pull it away.
“Please, listen and hear me out,” Marcus asked.
Hera and Marguerite took that minute to come and sit at their feet, almost curled up together. He smiled when he saw the look of pleasure on Olivia’s face at the sight of the dogs.
“They like each other,” she said, reaching down to tickle Marguerite’s ears.
“They are a good judge of character as well. I think little Marguerite would know if I were a cad, though reading this letter I believe ‘cad’ isn’t a strong enough word. I think she is saying I am a bounder and a rake,” Marcus said with a grin.
He waited, considering his words carefully. “I have a past. I can’t hide it. However, I never had the string of mistresses which Lady Cressida specifies in this letter. This lady, the Comtesse Olivetti, is a matron of good character with five children to her beloved Conte. We are acquaintances and nothing more. And this lady is in fact a dowager duchess, in mourning for her husband, who died two months ago.” He paused and took a slow, steady breath.
“I was in love with the Contessa Lucretzia Fiorella. She does not even get a mention in this letter. I loved her very much andhoped to marry her. She turned me down and now spends much of her time at the court in Naples.”
Olivia gasped.
