“Why did you not tell me of the duchess’s presence, ma’am?”
Lady Luthrie uttered a protest at his tone, but Lady Mere, a willowy female, waved her down. “My sister-in-law was insistent upon remaining incognito until I had spoken with Vergette.”
Alex stared at her, feeling baffled. “Incognito? But she’s the Duchess of Melkesham.”
“The second duchess, and only very lately married to my brother.”
Alex turned on his mother. “Why didn’t you tell me, ma’am?”
Lady Luthrie snorted. “Do you suppose I would have kept silent had I known?”
His father was at Alex’s side, a calming hand on his shoulder. “The marriage was secret, my dear Alex, and with good reason.”
Light dawned and a surge of hope entered Alex’s breast. He fixed his sire with a compelling eye. “She’s Apple’s mother then?”
“Just so.”
Lady Mere broke in, moving towards Alex, breathless and anxious. “Even I did not know until the deed was done, and I believe my brother would have kept it from me longer. Only Cordelia thought it right to inform me, and thank heavens she did! I journeyed to Trubridge the moment I received your dear mother’s letter.”
“But the duke had told Vergette to warn me off.” Suspicion, and cold rage, burgeoned in Alex, dispelling the rise of hope. “When was this marriage celebrated? Before Christmas?”
“Oh, in November, I believe, for —”
“November? The villain was married to Apple’s mother in November and he still sought to suppress her origins?”
“Alexander, your conduct is perfectly appalling!”
He turned on his mother. “Myconduct? And what of the wretch who has condemned poor Apple to oblivion?”
His father’s hand was once more upon his shoulder. “That, my dear boy, is not the fault of Lady Mere.”
True enough. Alex reined in his horns with difficulty. “Beg your pardon, ma’am, but this passes all bounds.”
“Alexander, will you please allow Lady Mere the opportunity to speak?”
His mother’s vibrant tone cut across the conflicting emotions churning in Alex’s breast. He tightened his lips on retort and was as much astonished as touched when his sister took up the cudgels in his defence.
“Mama, cannot you see poor Alex is distraught with disappointment? Don’t you understand how he feels about Apple?”
“I am neither so ignorant, nor so unfeeling as you suppose, Georgiana. But I will not have my dear friend Oriana subjected to his ill temper. Especially when she has done everything in her power to promote Appoline’s cause.”
She turned her gimlet gaze on Alex on this last, arresting his attention. He eyed her for a moment in frowning silence and then turned to Lady Mere.
“Accept my apologies, ma’am. I should not have spoken to you so.”
The lady waved agitated hands. “Oh, it makes no matter, my dear Dymond. To tell you the truth, I was quite as dismayed when I learned from your mother that my brother had instructed Vergette to scotch any possibility of… But Cordelia insists he did so only to save her face. He had not told her of it, you must know.”
“But you did, ma’am?”
Lady Mere shuddered. “You don’t suppose I took such a tale to Godfrey? Good heavens! No, no, I went on the pretext of welcoming Cordelia to the family and seized my chance when we were private.”
“So it was the duchess who wanted to meet Apple?”
Lady Mere put a hand to her bosom. “She burst into tears. It was so affecting. It was by no wish of hers, she told me, that the baby had been given away.”
Veering rapidly back to hope, Alex took a step closer, eager now. “Do you tell me she knew Apple was her daughter?”
“No, how should she? But the very thought that she might be was enough to set her on a quest. She insisted on accompanying me to Dymond Garth, and then, as you see, we were all obliged to follow you to London once we learned of the intervention of Bow Street. Cordelia would not rest until she had ascertained the truth from Vergette.”
