“I cannot imagine why you thought it necessary to show me the results,” she said stiffly.
“Has Foxford been here yet?” he asked.
She put a hand to her chest. Their conversation had gotten out of hand. He had no right to ask any such thing.
“State your business, please,” Purity said firmly.
“As I said, I want you to heed my warning. A nice young lady such as yourself ought not to be anywhere near that rake.” His voice caught on the last word, and she realized he was distraught.
“My lord?”
“Foxford ruined my first engagement, snatching away my happiness due to his own careless philandering. And my wife has been harmed by his insatiable hunger, too. He’s a menace. After nearly destroying her with unfulfilled promises, he fled to the Continent. Now that he’s back, I believe he is trying to renew their acquaintance.”
He had started pacing but stopped abruptly as if realizing he was in someone else’s home.
“If my wife spoke to the papers, and I’m not saying she did, mind you, it was only to shed light on the doings of London’s infamous Bachelor Baron. True, she bears a grudge against Foxford as do half the ladies in Mayfair, I expect, and Paris, too, if he continued his outlandish indiscretions while away.”
Purity wished her unwelcome visitor wasn’t giving voice to all her worst fears about what an ardent seducer Foxford was. Finally, he took a deep breath.
“Perhaps withThe Timesstory, my wife hoped your parents would sensibly put a stop to any association between you and that hell-born satyr.”
“I see.” Purity could think of nothing more to add. She’d never had such a bold, disturbing conversation with a stranger before.
“I once more find myself apologizing, this time for distressing you. I know at Syon House, Lady Varley and I should have turned immediately away upon discovering you.”
Purity winced, wishing the maid wasn’t seated where she could see and hear everything, but that was the point of a chaperone.
“However, I have come across him before in a similar situation.”
“I do not understand,” she said.Although she feared she did.While she hoped Lord Varley had the sense and manners not to mention Foxford with another woman, she suddenly had a notion why the man hated her fiancé so much.
“Are you referring to your former fiancée?” she asked, her voice soft due to the delicate subject. She knew only that the eldest daughter of an extraordinarily wealthy family, even by theton’s standards, had given him the mitten.
Lord Varley responded with a sigh, leaving her none the wiser. But she assumed Foxford had enjoyed a tryst with the bride, causing her to break it off.
“Andwith your current wife,” Purity said, this time without question. Foxford had already admitted such.
Lord Varley pressed his lips together, saying nothing. He rose higher in her esteem for not speaking of anything sordid.The poor man!
Was it possible Foxford had made a paramour of two of this man’s lady loves?
“I shall take my leave. But heed me, Lady Purity. The Fox is no gentleman, nor can I imagine him making an honest husband of himself. While I confess I threw the first punch, it was only after Foxford taunted me that he’d been intimate with my wife. You may ask him whether I lie.”
He bowed. Wordlessly, she gave a shallow curtsy, and he left.
Well, hell’s bells!She certainly hadn’t expected that.
Purity had agreed todance twice with Foxford at the next ball, which was the following evening at the Lowther Rooms on King William Street. She intended to hold her head high and let the rumors of her ruin swirl around her without effect, like water off a duck’s back.
Lord Varley’s visit had shaken her, and she’d considered writing to Foxford to tell him she would not attend. However, after reflection, the disclosure that her fiancé had tormented the other man, not once but twice, with acts of selfish passion didn’t really change anything.
It was all in the past,she kept reminding herself. Foxford vowed he had been with no one else since meeting her, and after their discussion on the bridge, she had no reason to doubt him.He could have walked away if he had wanted to continue a life of debauchery.
On the other hand, she could and did blame him fully for the slander inThe Times. If he hadn’t angered Lord and Lady Varley, apparently each of them separately, then Purity wouldn’t have ended up “getting her lips polished,” as the paper had described it.
With a sigh, she descended from her father’s coach. She had always known no good would come from a lifetime of such immoral behavior, and dreadful consequences could occur. But it was beyond aggravating to have been caught up in someone else’s consequences.
With both her parents attending the ball, she was bolstered by the combined strength of the earl and countess. Moreover, Purity recalled Foxford’s words about making everyone jealous with their happy engagement and entered the building with a stiff smile.
