The footman helped her down from the coach and delivered her trunk, and the conveyance remained in the street until she made it safely up the steps and entered the front door.
The moment she stepped inside, her mother’s voice rang out from the gold salon. Delilah closed her eyes as misery washed over her.
“There you are!” Mother marched into the foyer, her eyes blazing with anger.
“I cannot talk right now, Mother. I’ll speak with you in the morning.” Delilah tried to turn toward the staircase, but her mother caught her arm and whirled her around to face her.
“How dare you lie to me?” Mother raised a hand and slapped Delilah across the face. Delilah’s ears rang and tears filled her eyes, but she’d barely felt the blow, and her tears weren’t for her mother.
She did her best to focus on the woman’s enraged face. “Lie to you about what?” she asked calmly.
Another backhanded slap across the face sent Delilah to her knees. She stayed there, staring at the marble floor. Her mother could beat her to death for all she cared at the moment.
“Don’t feign ignorance with me. Half the town is talking about theplayyou were in. The play at the Duchess of Claringdon’s country home. The one in which youkisseda man.”
So Mother was angry about the play. Delilah had expected this moment. It was still worth it to have raised the money for animals.
Delilah slowly raised herself to her feet and took a stepaway from her mother. “It was only Thomas I kissed, and the play was for charity,” she said in a voice devoid of all emotion.
“You think that makes it acceptable?” Her mother raised her hand to slap her again.
“Vanessa, we talked about this.”
The Earl of Hilton stepped out of the gold salon, and instantly Delilah’s mother dropped her hand.
“Yes, but I had no idea she’d be so insolent, Edgar,” Mother replied, her eyes still blazing.
Delilah cradled her rapidly swelling cheek in her palm. “I’m not being insolent. I was telling the truth.”
Her mother’s jaw was clenched so tightly the muscle in her cheek jumped. “The truth? Please. You’ve been lying to me for weeks. I had to be informed that my daughter had turned into anactressby a woman at church this morning. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was for me?”
“I’m not an actress. It was only one performance, and it wasn’t as if it was in public.”
“Public or not, I—”
“The damage is done, Vanessa,” came Hilton’s clipped voice behind her. “We should turn our attention to thefuture. Don’t you agree?”
“Ah, yes, the future,” Mother spat. “I’m certain the Duke of Branville won’t be pleased when he finds out you kissed Huntley in front of half theton. Tell me, are you betrothed or not?”
“No.” Delilah slowly rose to her feet. “I’m not.”
Her mother’s nostrils flared. “I knew it. You’ve always been nothing but a disappointment. Why I even entertained the notion that Branville would offer for you, I’ll never know.”
“I just want to go to bed now,” Delilah said, staring longingly toward the staircase.
“No, you don’t.” Her mother’s hands clenched in fists at her sides. “You may not have become betrothed, but I have. Edgar and I intend to marry, and we won’t have you hovering around our new home like the unwanted little spinster you are. We’re going to see to it that you’re married. As soon as possible.”
Delilah lifted her skirts and made her way toward the staircase. “I don’t care. Do what you like.”
“Fine, then. We’ll post the first banns for your marriage to Clarence next Sunday.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
The next morning, Delilah sat in the gold salon, hugging a sapphire throw pillow to her chest while her mother flitted around the room with two of the maids and discussed the plans for both of their weddings.
“We’ll need appointments at the dressmakers, the flower shop, and we must plan a wedding breakfast.” She turned toward Delilah. “Now that I think on it, I don’t see why we don’t all get married at once. It will save quite a lot of trouble and expense.” The woman seemed completely oblivious to both her daughter’s red, swollen cheek and her complete lack of interest in her words.
Delilah stared unseeing at the wall. “Whatever you like.”
