“’Course not,” Great-aunt Calliope said. “A gentleman takes care of his bastards.”
“If he can keep count of them.” Miss Smith muttered it, but she intended him to hear.
She was outrageous, but that could be spice of its own.
“I pay a clerk to record the tally, Miss Smith.”
She flashed him a startled look, clearly unsure what to believe of a “rake.”
“Then it will make little difference to add another to the total, will it?”
“It would set a disastrous precedent. My doorstep would be crowded with hopeful bundles.”
“True,” said Great-aunt Calliope.
Ash managed not to grin as the hussy regrouped. “My lord, this Lady Molly—”
“Lady Booth,” he corrected.
“Lady Booth, then. She left the baby foryou.There had to be a reason.”
“Stubbornness, which as Sophocles pointed out, is sister to stupidity.”
“Stubbornness?”
“Precisely.” She must know the details, but he would play by her rules—for a while, at least. “Lady Booth Carew, widow, has been trying to foist a baby onto me for nearly a year. Or, to be precise, she’s been trying to force a wedding. This, I assume, is her final cat scratch—unless there were twins and she has one in reserve.”
“I don’t believe this absurd saga!”
“You doubt my word?”
Her look flamed him, but of course, she retreated. To accuse him of lying would be to overstep a fatal line.
“No, my lord,” she said without a scrap of sincerity. “So, the baby is not yours?”
“It is not mine.”
“Can you prove it?”
Damn the woman!“My word is sufficient, Miss Smith.”
“It might be if any man could be sure of such a thing.”
He used the tone that could make strong men tremble. “You go too far, Miss Smith. Especially when you must know the truth, being Molly’s confidante.”
Her shock was brilliant. “What?I never met the woman before today!”
“Canyouprovethat?”
She stared at him, then turned to the great-aunts. “Thalia?”
The old dears were observing as if at a play. Thalia cocked her head. “I’m sure you’re honest, dear, but in strict fact I cannot swear that you’ve not known Lady Booth before. We only met three months ago,don’t you remember? When you gave that talk about life with the navy?”
Ash turned the blade. “You see? It is entirely possible that you wormed your way into my great-aunts’ confidence with exactly this plan in mind.”
“No, it isn’t! I moved to Tunbridge Wells when my father retired from the navy and married a widow from there. Lady Calliope and Lady Thalia are on this journey because of the Marquess of Rothgar’s invitation and Lady Ashart’s ban on attending. I had no control over any of this!”
“A point, Ashart,” Lady Calliope said, like a judge at a fencing match.
