Mary swiveled on her heel as a woman with a similarly pinched face, who Lucian could only assume was her mother, stepped closer.
“Mama! Noooooo!”
O
CHAPTER FIVE
“Oh, dear heavens!” Lady Costner said as she stopped short after seeing Grovemont standing inside the study so close to Gemma. Gemma swallowed and stepped back toward the desk.
“What is the meaning of this!” came Lady Costner’s shrill shriek. She promptly pulled a lacy handkerchief from her sleeve and waved it about in the air as if she was swatting at an invisible fly.
Mary’s eyes were panicked, and her voice was low when she spoke. “Calm down, Mama. It’s nothing. We were just?—”
“It’s not nothing!” Lady Costner continued in that same shrill voice. “These twowere already in the room together. Alone!” She gave Gemma and Grovemont a condemning glare.
Mary turned swiftly toward her mother, her eyes wide and pleading. “No, Mama. You mistake the case.Iwas alone in the room withHis Grace.”
Gemma’s brows shot up. Well, how do you like that? Apparently, Mary wasn’t half the dullard she’d thought her to be. Mary had quickly read the situation and was trying to turn it in her favor.
A few long seconds ticked by before the same bright gleam slid into Lady Costner’s eyes. “Oh, yes. I do believe you are correct.”
“This is preposterous,” Grovemont said, his tone thunderous.
He was about to say more when Lady Costner opened her mouth and let out a grand shriek. It was somewhere between I’ve-seen-a-ghost and my-ladylike-sensibilities-have-been-irreparably-damaged. Impressive, actually.
“Southbury!” Lady Costner screamed at the top of her lungs. “Your Grace! Come quickly!”
Gemma gulped. Southbury? Why was Lady Costner calling for Griffin? Oh, no. This was not good. Not good at all. Gemma, who’d been rooted to the spot as Lady Costner’s dramatics unfolded, glanced at the duke. She bit her lip and gave him a look she hoped was filled with as much regret as she felt.
Grovemont’s face slowly turned to a mask of stone. A muscle ticked in his jaw. And the enormity of the situation landed like an elephant’s foot on Gemma’s stomach. Her neck began to sweat, and nausea pooled in her middle.Dear God. Please don’t let me cast up my accounts in Griffin’s study in front of these people. Because if Gemma didn’t mistake her guess, this hideous woman and her scheming daughter were about to cause quite a lot of unnecessary trouble for the poor, unwitting Duke of Grovemont. And it was all Gemma’s fault.
And that wasn’t the only awful thing about to happen. Griffin’s wedding celebration would be interrupted by this nonsense. Gemma closed her eyes and prayed.
Griffin was not the first person to heed Lady Costner’s shriek. Instead, Lady Steffland and Lady Cranberry, two of Mama’s friends, came hurrying to the study door.
“What’s the matter, Harriet?” Lady Cranberry asked Lady Costner. “We were on our way back from the lady’s retiring room and heard a commotion.”
Lady Costner, apparently satisfied with her audience, pushed her daughter into the study and followed her. Then she placed her curled knuckles on her forehead and declared in a still-shrill howl, “Wemustfind Southbury immediately. His Grace wasalonein this room withmy dear Mary.”
Lady Cranberry, always a devotee of gossip and scandal, peered into the room and locked eyes with Gemma. Gemma kept her countenance blank. But there was no mistaking the judgement on the older woman’s face. Lady Cranberry swiveled on her heel and immediately rushed off down the corridor, no doubt in search of Griffin.
Gemma was left with Lady Steffland eyeing the four of them from the doorway with a mixture of obvious disapproval and delight. This would be the talk of the wedding ball in minutes.
Grovemont remained stoic, but anger was clearly etched in his features. His face had flushed dark, and his cobalt-blue eyes narrowed on Lady Costner, but he remained silent. No doubt the man was wise enough to wait until Griffin arrived before making his case. And Gemma had every intention of helping him by telling the truth.
“What isshedoing here?” Lady Steffland asked, nodding toward Gemma when she spied her standing behind Grovemont.
“I was—” Gemma began.
“She happened alongafterI’d already found my dear Maryalonewith the duke,” Lady Costner lied.
“You did no such thing, and you know it!” Gemma planted her fists on her hips and stared indignantly at Lady Costner.
When faced with a denial, Lady Costner chose that particular moment to crumple toward the floor in a convincing pretend faint.
Left with little choice, Grovemont sprang forward to catch her.
“Mama!” cried Mary, wringing her hands as she hovered over her mother’s prostrate body.
