Meanwhile, across the room, Maggie sat in a chair near the window, perusing the morning copy of theTimes. Maggie loved to read the gossipy bits of the paper aloud. Thea listened with one ear. She was slightly amused by, but not particularly interested in, theton’s gossip.
“Lady Haversham is hosting a musicale at her home in Berkeley Square,” Maggie announced.
“What a pity I wasn’t invited,” Thea replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“A musicale might do you good,” Maggie retorted, without glancing up.
Thea smiled to herself. She could just imagine the story that would appear in the paper the day it became known that the former Duke of Harlowe’s brother hadn’t died in the war after all and was taking his place in Society. Maggie would fall off her chair. Of course Thea longed to tell her friend such important news, but she’d promised Ewan that she would keep it a secret and she would. As far as Maggie knew, Phillip was just a house guest and friend of Lord Clayton’s.
“Apparently, Lady Cranberry’s ball was a smash,” Maggie said next. “Despite the fact that the ice sculpture melted precipitously and created a small flood near the dance floor, causing more than one dancer to slip.”
“Did anyone break their leg?” Thea asked absently.
“If anyone did, it’s not mentioned,” Maggie replied with a sigh.
“Good, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Thea replied, glaring at her own currently useless leg. “Though I’ll soon have a wheelchair someone may borrow.”
“Lord Whitmire and Miss Laura Footwinkle are to be married,” Maggie reported next.
“Lord Whitmire is a blowhard,” Thea replied. “And I’ve never heard of Miss Footwinkle.”
“You should at least pretend to care about these things,” Maggie said with a note of scolding in her voice. The maid shook her head.
“Why should I, Mag, when I haveyouto care for it all for me?” Thea replied with a wide smile. “But if it makes you feel any better, I wish Miss Footwinkle luck. She’ll need it if she has to listen to Lord Whitmire’s dull stories the remainder of her life.”
Shaking her head, the maid made a few more random announcements that Thea was barely paying attention to, until a small, short gasp came from Maggie’s throat.
Thea glanced up. Her friend’s face had turned a ghastly shade of white. A skitter of apprehension traced its way down Thea’s spine. “What is it, Maggie?”
Maggie lifted her gaze from the paper and met Thea’s stare. Maggie’s eyes were filled with trepidation.
“You’re frightening me,” Thea said warily. “Tell me. What is it?”
“I’m afraid you won’t like this,” Maggie replied with an obvious gulp.
“What?” Thea heard the note of rising panic in her own voice. “Bring me the paper.”
Maggie slowly rose from her seat and walked even more slowly toward the bed. When she finally got there, she handed the paper to Thea, opened to the spot she’d been reading. She pointed to some wording near the middle of the page.
Thea’s eyes scanned the area until they alighted on what Maggie had obviously been horrified by.
This author has it from an impeccable authority that under the utmost secrecy, in Devon, Lady Theodora Ballard, daughter of the Earl of Blackstone, has been living under the same roof as Viscount Clayton!
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Bloody hell,” Ewan called out as he scanned theTimesgossip page. “Humbolt, get in here.”
Humbolt materialized at the door to Ewan’s study moments later. “Yes, my lord.”
“Call for Dr. Blanchard. Tell him he must come immediately. Then send a letter to Lord Blackstone. Tell him the same.”
“Yes, my lord.” Humbolt nodded and hurried away to do what he’d been asked.
DR.BLANCHARD ARRIVED FIRST.He was summoned directly to Ewan’s study where Ewan was pacing the floor, his options looking bleaker and bleaker.
“Have you seen the paper this morning?” he asked the doctor.
Dr. Blanchard shifted uncomfortably on his feet and cleared his throat. “I have, my lord.”
