When the door to the drawing room opened and Lady Henrietta entered, Justin immediately stood. Stood and then frowned when she closed the door behind her, leaving just the two of them alone in the room. She knew as well as he did that as an unmarried female, she required a chaperone for their meeting.
“Where is your mother?” he blurted, not particularly caring if he sounded rude.
Henrietta made her way to the light-blue upholstered chair directly across from him and took a seat. He waited for her to settle in before resuming his own seat.
“I didn’t tell Mother you were here,” Henrietta said.
“Won’t the butler tell her?” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Not if he’s wise. I gave him a pound note to watch the door and keep quiet. You’ll forgive me for not serving tea, won’t you, my lord?” She gave him a tight smile.
Justin shifted uncomfortably in his seat. What precisely was going on here? “Lady Henrietta, if you’ve asked me here to tell me that Madeline was once your lady’s maid, I already know.”
Surprisingly, Henrietta laughed. “Oh, that’s sweet. I wondered if you’d already tried to guess why I asked you here.”
Justin frowned. “That’s not why you asked me here?”
With a cunning smile on her face that Justin did not care for, Lady Henrietta leaned forward and slowly shook her head. “Not at all.”
“Then why—?”
“I asked you here,” she snapped, her voice becoming commanding and decidedly tinged with anger, “to offer you a proposition.”
An uneasy feeling roiled in Justin’s gut. What was she about? “A proposition?” he echoed.
“Yes, everyone at the party last night heard that you are planning to take a bride this Season.”
Justin scratched at his jaw, still not entirely certain what game she was trying to play. “It’s true, but—”
“I wasn’t finished, my lord.” Her voice had grown darker and angrier.
He eyed her carefully. “Very well, do finish,” he replied tightly.
She folded her hands politely in her lap. “My proposition is that you take me to wife.”
Justin had to turn his laugh into a faked cough, as Lady Henrietta was staring daggers at him and obviously quite serious. “You? My wife?” he repeated, skepticism dripping from his voice.
“Oh, I’m not stupid, my lord. I know you have never given me a second glance. I’m not beautiful, after all. I know that. But what I lack in beauty I make up for in cunning.”
Justin furrowed his brow. He was just about done humoring this woman. She’d obviously gone mad. “How so?” he asked, wanting to be finished with this and quit the room.
“If you don’t take me as your wife, I will ensure the entire ton knows that I saw you kissing your sister’s lady’s maid in the drawing room of your town house last night.”
His mouth snapped shut. A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Have I rendered you silent, my lord?” Henrietta prodded.
Justin clenched and unclenched his fist on the arm of the chair while carefully choosing his next words. He ensured he sounded as nonchalant and unaffected as possible as he said them. “You plan to ruin the reputation of a lady’s maid,” he scoffed. “Why bother?”
Lady Henrietta arched a brow. “That is where you are wrong, my lord.”
“Wrong about what?” he barked impatiently.
“About her being a lady’s maid.”
“She’s not a lady’s maid?” Justin said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Henrietta as if she’d lost her mind.
“At present, she is a lady’s maid,” Henrietta replied calmly. “But I happen to know something about her that you do not.”
