“I beg your pardon?”
“It seems quite unfair to me that your daughter, Miss Burnley, and your other daughter also would face disgrace and shame because of your foolish actions,” Lord Surrey said, as Beatrice rested her head on his arm, thinking to herself of just how good and kind a gentleman this man was. “I will not have Lord Neath hold his threats over you and, by doing so, over them also. Therefore, you will write to me tomorrow with the required amount, and I shall have it given to you. But if I should hear that you have gambled foolishly, that you owe yet more money to someone else or that your daughters have, in some way, been brought to shame and ruin because of your actions, Ishalldemand it back. Have no doubt about that, Lord Turnhill.”
Lord Turnhill bowed low, one hand at his heart as he rose. “I do not deserve such consideration.”
“No, you do not,” Lord Surrey agreed. “But I do so for your daughter's sake, Lord Turnhill. I fear that the younger Miss Burnley has endured more than enough already.”
With that, and with Beatrice still on his arm, Lord Surrey walked from the room, his head held high and his shoulders back. Beatrice did not think that she could love him more in this moment, walking alongside him with her heart overflowing. She had known him to be of fine character, but this was something more than that. This was generosity, consideration, compassion, and care, all shown to a man who had done him a great wrong and who, had he succeeded, could have taken a great deal from him.
How wonderful a gentleman he was – and how blessedshewas now to be able to call him her betrothed.
19
“Lord Neath.”
George lifted an eyebrow as Lord Neath turned towards him as the rest of Hyde Park filled with the chatter of society members. The scowl that drew itself onto the gentleman’s face told him that he was not in the least bit welcome into Lord Neath’s company.
He did not care.
“We must speak.” George looked straight into Lord Neath’s eyes and held his gaze steadily. “Now.”
Lord Neath drew himself up. “You demand such a thing of me, Lord Surrey?” he asked, his voice filled with pride as the other gentlemen and ladies in his group looked back at George, perhaps thinking thathewas the one very rude in his manner. “I hardly think that – ”
“It is about Lord Turnhill and his daughter,” George interrupted, speaking over Lord Neath. “It is about your actions in not only threatening my late father but thereafter, threatening Lord Turnhill so that he would do as you demanded.” He watched with an ever growing sense of satisfaction as Lord Neath’s face whitened immediately, the color fading from hischeeks and his eyes widening. “It is about the way you have tried to manipulate a certain course of action for your own benefit – and how you have attempted to manipulate me. Now, do you wish to continue this conversation here, or shall we step away?”
“Wait a moment.”
Another gentleman from the group took a step closer to George, putting out both arms so that he held the space between George and Lord Neath. George said nothing, lifting an eyebrow and waiting for an explanation as to what this gentleman was doing.
“Are you suggesting that Lord Neath has behaved in an inappropriate manner?” the gentleman asked, as Lord Neath shook his head quickly. “I cannot believe that what you have said is true of him!”
“And yet, it is,” George replied, before Lord Neath could say a word. “There is evidence of it, and Lord Turnhill has been most forthcoming. If you will excuse us, however, then – ”
“But… but you have requested to court my daughter,” the gentleman said, speaking now to Lord Neath who, no longer confident, winced and looked away. “I was about to accept your request, and now I hear that you are involved in some nefarious scheme to manipulate and control others?”
“Wait a moment.” A lady stepped towards Lord Neath and the other gentleman, her eyes wide. “You say that he has asked to courtyourdaughter? When?”
“Only yesterday,” came the reply.
The lady drew back, her eyes turning to Lord Neath. “Two days ago, you asked if you might courtmydaughter.”
George shook his head and sighed aloud. “Lord Neath, you are not the gentleman you purport to be,” he said, loudly enough for the others in the group to hear. “I am very glad indeed that others are seeing it.”
“I want to know what it is that he has done to you.” The gentleman looked back at George, anger flashing in his eyes. “Why should he gain a private conversation between you both? If he has done something quite dreadful, then surely you can share it with us all? It seems that he is not the gentleman we thought him!”
Lord Neath moved away from the gentleman and the lady, sidestepping them both. “Now, do not be unfair. I have not done anything dreadful, have I? I was only seeing which young lady I might prefer and courtship – ”
“You are a coward also,” George interrupted, as Lord Neath’s jaw tightened, his lip curling. “Why not simply admit that you have done wrong instead of trying to seek a way out?” He spread out his hands. “There is nothing you can say about what you have done to me that will have me believe you innocent, so what purpose is there in pretending?”
George watched as Lord Neath turned his head away, perhaps looking to make his escape by running through the crowd. Triumph rang in his heart as Lord Warwickshire turned his head and looked straight back at Lord Neath, then shifting his entire stance so that he stood facing them both, blocking Lord Neath’s path to escape. Lord Neath shifted his gaze, looking from one place to the next, but George knew that he would see no way of escape. Lord Dorset and his wife, Lady Norah, Miss Williams, Lord Welton and Lady Welton, and even Lord Turnhill stood all around, not only protecting George but ensuring that Lord Neath would have nowhere to turn. It had not been George’s intention for them to speak publicly but given what the other gentleman and lady had said about Lord Neath, it seemed that the conversation would be so regardless.
“There is nowhere to go, Lord Neath,” he said, eventually. “You must face me.”
Lord Neath’s scowl darkened. “You seek to trap me?”
“Just as you did me,” George responded sharply, keeping his anger tempered. “Lord Turnhill owed you money, did he not? And instead of being gentlemanly and accepting his vowel, instead of giving him time, you came up with another scheme.”
Lord Neath’s eyes glittered. “There is no love between my family and his. Why should I show him any kindness?”
