“Oh, dear,” Lady Steffland said, peering at Lady Costner. “Harriet, are you quite all right?” Lady Steffland fully entered the room and bobbed her head back and forth in an attempt to watch as Grovemont easily lifted the sizable Lady Costner in his arms. He took three long strides toward the leather sofa near the wall and laid her upon it before stepping back. The muscle in his jaw ticked faster.
One of Lady Costner’s pale-blue eyes peeked open to assess the situation before she let out a dramatic sigh. “I am a good Christian woman, and Iwill not standfor such sinfulness. My own,innocentdaughter has been gravely compromised.” She turned her head toward Grovemont. “You do understand, Your Grace, that my Mary is the most innocent, unassuming,puregirl.”
“Your daughter wasn’t even—” Gemma’s words were cut off as Griffin, Meredith, and Mama came rushing into the room led by Lady Cranberry.
“What is happening here?” Griffin demanded, glancing about and clearly doing his best to combat the effects of the champagne he’d been drinking all night.
Gemma glanced out the crack in the door to see a veritable crowd standing in the corridor. She swallowed hard as anxiety rose like poison in her throat. Oh, this was even worse than she’d expected, and she’d expected it to be quite bad. Lady Cranberry had obviously wasted no time alerting the entirety of the ballroom’s occupants. Dear God.Whathad Gemma done?
She forced herself to take a deep breath and concentrate. This would all be cleared up in a matter of moments. She would help the duke explain the truth to everyone. It was that simple. She cleared her throat and shook out her shoulders, ready to do battle with Lady Costner if she must.
“What’s going on?” Griffin asked again, more loudly this time. “Grovemont?”
“Gemma?” Mama rushed over and gave Gemma a hug. Grovemont’s gaze swung to them as if he had just realized who she was. Gemma bit her lip.Ooh. She hadn’t told him. Had she? Poorly, done. That.
Grovemont stepped forward. His face remained stonelike. “Don’t worry, Southbury.” His voice was also completely devoid of any emotion. “While I assure you thatnothinguntoward happened. I take full responsibility for the appearance of impropriety. I was alone in this room with your sister when Lady Costner and her daughter happened along.”
“No! You were alone with my dear Mary!” Lady Costner insisted, ever shrill.
Griffin scrubbed a hand over his face. Gemma’s heart wrenched. Shehatedthat she was the cause of ruining her brother’s wedding ball. Griffin turned his head toward her, his face gravely serious. “Gemma,” he said, “were you alone with Grovemont?”
Oh, thank heavens. Her eyes fluttered shut momentarily with her relief. She had the chance to tell the truth. And Griffin would believe her. He knew she wasn’t a liar. Impatient and impetuous, perhaps. Prone to sticking her nose where it did not belong, granted. But no liar. “Yes.” She nodded. “I was alone with Grovemont, but only for a few moments before?—”
“No! That’s not true!” Mary insisted, stamping her foot. “It wasme!”
“Ladies.” Griffin rubbed his temple with a knuckle before he turned to Lady Cranberry and Lady Steffland. “Since there seems to be some discrepancy, what exactly did you see?”
Lady Steffland’s brow furrowed as she obviously attempted to recall what precisely she had witnessed. “When we came uponthe scene, Lady Costner and Mary were in the corridor. And Grovemont and Gemma were in here together.”
“No, Bertha, you’re mistaken,” Lady Costner insisted. Her eyes were shooting angry blue fire at Lady Steffland.
“It’s what I saw too,” Lady Cranberry agreed, clearly relishing her role as witness, perhaps a bittoomuch. “Gemma wasalonewith the duke.”
Griffin’s narrowed gaze shot to Grovemont. “Seems we have the right of it then.”
Grovemont nodded. “I shall do right by your sister, of course, Southbury.”
Lady Costner’s face fell, and Mary’s turned bright red. She looked as if she might wail.
Meanwhile, Gemma glanced back and forth between her brother and Grovemont, waiting to hear what came next. The little drops of sweat that had begun earlier were now rolling down her back and running down her temple.
Do right by?
Why, that sounded like…
That must mean…
No. No. No.
Her breathing became so labored that a wheezing sound issued from her dry throat. Meredith came to her and helped her into a chair.
Gemma looked up into Meredith’s pretty gray eyes and desperately whispered, “Please tell me this doesn’t mean…” But she couldn’t even finish the sentence. Pure undiluted regret gripped her chest and squeezed…hard. What had she done?What had she done?
“Just breathe,” Meredith whispered. “Griffin and your mother shall handle this, Gemma. It will be all right.”
The serious edge to Meredith’s voice caused panic to claw even harder at Gemma’s insides.
“I should hope so,” Griffin was saying to Grovemont when Gemma focused again on their conversation.
