He exchanged a long look with the earl. “Last night was my first visit, and my last.”
“Which did not answer my question.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard,” he said, “but it isn’t a place I’d urge a woman to visit.”
“Veronica didn’t attempt to hide her identity at all?”
He reluctantly shook his head.
“So there’s every chance she was recognized. She’s ruined, regardless,” the earl said, his tone dispassionate.
He held himself still, waiting for the earl to continue. The other man didn’t say another word, the silence measured by the soft ticking of the mantel clock in the drawing room.
Montgomery.Caroline’s gentle chiding annoyed him. Had she become the voice of his conscience?
The stark reality was that the Earl of Conley’s niece was in a damnable situation.
A ruined girl had no future in Virginia. Her only chance for a normal life was to be sent to a relative in another state, one as far away as possible. A soiled dove rarely returned to her family.
But the Earl of Conley wasn’t thinking of sending Veronica away. He was simply going to refuse to acknowledge her. She’d become one of those hopeless women Montgomery had seen often enough on his walks.
He was not responsible for the Earl of Conley’s niece. He didn’twantto be responsible for the Earl of Conley’s niece. Look how abysmal he’d already been at protecting a woman.
Do the right thing, Montgomery.Caroline’s soft and feminine voice had no business whispering to him.
Damn it, he didn’t want to do the right thing. The right thing had never brought him any solace or joy in life. The right thing had separated him from his family, destroyed his future, and brought him to this godforsaken country.
“Why are you here?” he asked. “To fetch Veronica only to leave her at your doorstep? Or are you simply going to dump her in the middle of London?”
The Earl of Conley took a few steps forward, his two sons flanking him.
“I’ve come to forestall any further scandal. All of London knows who you are, Your Lordship. Whether you believe that or not. Whether you also believe it or not, the situation is demanding to be rectified, by whatever means necessary.”
In Virginia society, the quickest and most expedient way to solve the situation would be for the couple to marry. They’d take their wedding journey to a relative’s home or perhaps visit the Springs. After a few months, they’d return home, and if a child was born, the old biddies would count on their fingers; but they’d do so quietly, without public comment. What they said in the confines of their sewing circles was another matter.
The problem was, he hadn’t done anything to warrant having to take responsibility for Veronica Macleod. He hadn’t touched her. He hadn’tthoughtabout touching her. In fact, he’d attempted to be the only honorable man among dozens.
Perhaps he should have remained in the background and let them do what they wanted to her, but he would have hated himself for his inactivity. He would have been as responsible for her degradation as those who caused it.
Doing nothing would have been the response of a coward, both last night and, regrettably, now.
Doom settled over him, the same cloud of doom he’d felt all night long.
“I see no other alternative, sir,” the Earl of Conley said, as if hearing his thoughts.
Neither did he, damn it.
“I’m not prepared to marry,” he said.
The Earl of Conley’s lips turned upward in a half smile. “Nor am I prepared to have scandal touch my family’s name, sir. We’ll let it be known that it’s a love match. Society is accepting of impulsiveness.”
“Just not reason.”
The other man inclined his head slightly, an imperious gesture that annoyed him further.
“You have a choice, of course, Your Lordship.”
To marry Veronica MacLeod or leave her to her own fate. In that moment, he honestly wished he could. She’d been foolish and improvident, yet she didn’t deserve the punishment that her uncle—and society—would mete out to her.
