Chapter Fifteen
When barely sunrise, Purity climbed out of bed feeling raw, having scarcely slept through the longest night of her life. Her stomach grumbled since no supper tray had arrived the night before, probably because she hadn’t responded to the timid knocking of the kitchen maid.
Unable to bring herself to drink the stale, stone-cold tea, Purity dressed hurriedly and carried the tray down with her all the way to the kitchen in the cellar.
“I’m sorry I wasted the tea,” she told their staff upon entering.
Both their cook and their kitchen maid wore the same expressions of surprise and then worry.
“I know I am up dreadfully early, but if you could make me a pot of chocolate and a slice of toast, I’ll wait in the breakfast room.”
The two women glanced at one another, and Purity knew they thought her off her rocker for not simply tugging on the bell-pull upstairs. After all, she understood how routine and schedule made the house run like a top. She was throwing off both.
A few minutes later, in the intimate green-and-cream-colored salon where they always took their breakfast, she drank the soothing chocolate and felt better. Cook had made her a stack oftoasted bread slathered with butter and provided raspberry jam, too.
After being much fortified, she made an attempt to read the prior afternoon’s papers, yet when her father appeared an hour later, he caught her dozing on the only small divan in the room.
Ruminating upon what they must discuss, Purity wished she could disappear like the slices of toast.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead before tugging the bell-pull.
“Are you the only one who receives special early service, or do you think Cook will give me breakfast, too?”
Purity couldn’t speak.
“Your mother seems to believe you had an unpleasant incident during the picnic. Do you want to tell me about it? Is there someone I need to shoot?” he added.
That made her smile slightly as he took a seat. And then it came tumbling out of her. Not all of it, of course, but enough so her father understood she had been caught alone with Foxford and was now presumed engaged.
“Hm,”Lord Diamond said. “A sticky predicament, indeed. One thing seems heartening. Foxford immediately spoke up for you.”
“Yes, Father.”
“However, if you don’t like the fellow, then that doesn’t make a bit of difference. If you are absolutely against becoming Lady Foxford, then we shall sort this out in some other manner. I know you were helping him as a lark at the outset, but perhaps you have grown a sincere attachment. If not, then you shouldn’t have to be tied to the man for the rest of your life.”
Purity knew her father to be the best, kindest man in the world. Therefore, she decided to tell him the truth.
“I do have feelings for him as you guessed before. But I am unsure as to his in return. Even less sure about his character.”
“It is unlikely he can ever find anyone of your quality, dear daughter. He probably counts himself lucky the two of you were caught in the same snare.”
Purity hadn’t thought of that. It seemed there were many lovely ladies in London. He might fancy any or all of them.
“I hope he comes to speak with me today,” the earl continued. “If he doesn’t, then I will call him out as a blackguard. If he does come, then I will take his measure. If he seems the least bit slippery, I will forbid the marriage.”
That would not help her reputation, but she couldn’t bring herself to mention such to her father. Her mortification would be too great.
They stopped talking about the prior evening while he read the paper, and she remained with her eyes closed nearby, feeling comforted by his strong presence. When her mother entered not long after, they went over the whole thing again.
“All my fault,” Lady Diamond said. “I let the wolf into the sheep’s fold, as it were.”
“I am hardly a sheep,” Purity defended herself. “It wasn’t as if Foxford tried to get me into a risky situation. We were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
On the other hand, he had steered her away from the rest of the guests even before Lord Quinn and Miss Moffett caught up to them.
“I suppose if he wishes to marry you, then I can forgive his trespasses,” her mother said.
While both her parents were eating, Purity realized she was waiting on tenterhooks. If Foxford didn’t show up at the earliest polite minute, then—
