Eloisa, efficient as ever, helped Melanie into a simple morning gown of pale lavender, smoothing out the creases as Melanie’s mind raced with possibilities. Had her mother offended someone important? Had theton’sgossip ignited another investigation into her brother? Or did it have something to do with Josie?
Once ready, Melanie followed the maid down the stairs, where she found Josephine waiting, her hands clasped nervously in front of her.
"What…?" Melanie asked.
“I don’t know.” Josie’s usual lively demeanor was subdued, and she bit her lip. “Caroline and Lord Helton arrived early, and they’ve been here for over an hour.”
“Last night…?” Melanie’s throat closed up, so she tilted her head meaningfully. If she remembered correctly, Josie and their mother had attended a musical. Melanie couldn’t remember who the hostess had been. Perhaps Mother had been too pushy with one of Josie’s suitors. Melanie clenched her fists. “Last night?”
"Nothing. The evening was surprisingly boring, actually.” Josie had become quite talented at reading Melanie’s mind.
Melanie was even more confused now, shaking her head, silently asking the question.What, then?
"No one tells me anything, you know that,” Josie complained as they tiptoed toward the study. “But you’d better hurry. And you have to tell me everything afterwards, Melanie, even if it takes you all day.”
Her unease deepened, and with an anxious nod, Melanie sent Josephine one last look before pushing the heavy door open and slipping inside.
The mood in the room was even heavier than she’d expected.
Her mother sat rigidly on the edge of a chair, her hands folded in her lap, and Caroline stood by the window, her usualair of confidence tempered by concern. Beside her, Lord Helton, looking… disappointed.
Under the weight of an unnatural silence, Melanie glanced around the room.
All eyes were pinned on her, as though waiting…
And then it hit her. This was not about her mother. Somehow, they had learned that she’d gone to theDomus Emporiumyesterday—at the very least, someone must have seen her with the Duke of Malum. And if they knew, it meant someone else, a likely busybody, had told them…
She shook her head, a thousand explanations on her tongue, but her voice failed her.
"We know, Melanie.” Caroline said. “Everything.”
Everything?
Melanie dropped into the nearest chair, her knees suddenly weak, her mouth dryer, even, than it had been a moment ago.
She wanted to explain about poor little Ernest; that he’d cried all day, that she’d been concerned he might be ill, and that she’d gone to the butler first… The visit hadn’t been ideal, by any means, but she’d had good reason to go there.
But she couldn’t get the words to move up her throat.
Besides that, none of it mattered, not if thetonalready knew!
“I’m… sorry,” she finally managed, meeting Caroline’s accusing stare.
“As you should be.” It was their mother who responded.
"You went to theDomus, Melanie—theDomus,of all places—unchaperoned. I told you I would speak with Maxwell about the baby,” Caroline pointed out. “And yet, you chose to risk someone seeing you at that place! Yes, the duke helped Reed last year, but not without threatening him first. Being seen with him…” She shook her head. “There’s no coming back from something like that.”
“Especially if word gets out that you are involved with his bastard child,” her mother added.
"I—I—!" Surely, even someone with a massive imagination wouldn’t think…
Melanie’s voice failed, the words tangled high in her chest. The explanation she wanted to provide was all tied up as her thoughts ran ahead of her. Was her name, even now, being bandied around by theton?Caroline wouldn’t have allowed it to be printed in one of her husband’s papers, but his weren’t the only newspapers in London.
She frowned, frustrated that trying to do the right thing had led her to… this.
"Your concern for the child is understandable. No one faults you for that.” Lord Helton’s voice was calm but firm. "But what your mother and sister cannot understand, is why you would hide the fact that you’ve been able to speak normally again.”
Speak normally again?
