“Lucy, please listen to me—”
“Once I’m gone, you’ll be free to return to Scotland, and—”
“No!” Ciaran’s voice was hoarse with panic. “I don’t want—”
He was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door, and the muffled sound of a servant’s voice on the other side. “Mr. Ramsey? Lord Vale is here to see you.”
Ciaran’s gaze didn’t leave Lucy’s face. “Ask him to wait.”
The servant paused, then said, “His lordship says it’s urgent.”
Lucy tugged her hands free of his. “Go, Ciaran. He might have news about Eloisa and my aunt.”
Ciaran hesitated, but then rose to his feet and pulled on some clothes. His knees were shaking. When he reached the door he turned back, his pleading gaze falling on Lucy. “I’ll go, but I’ll return soon. We’re not done with this discussion, Lucy.”
She nodded, but the look on her face…
Ciaran thought he might indeed be done, whether he wanted to be or not.
Chapter Twenty-three
Anyone looking at Augustus Jarvis’s face would believe him to be a man whose carefully laid plans were falling into ruin right before his eyes.
He cradled his throbbing head in his hands. He’d been so deep in his cups the night before he couldn’t quite recall what had happened, but one thing was certain. He’d left the card room at the Weatherby ball four-hundred and nine pounds poorer than he’d been when he entered it, and Godfrey had his vowels to prove it.
It hadn’t been a fruitful evening at the tables, but whatever twinge he’d felt at losing a few pounds was nothing compared to the hammering pain in his skull this morning.
Lord Godfrey was stalking back and forth in front of the fireplace, every inch of him quivering with fury. “Call that chit down here at once, Jarvis, and force her to explain herself!”
No need for Godfrey to name which chit he meant. His lordship only ever became this agitated over one chit.
Jarvis’s niece, Lady Lucinda Sutcliffe.
A termagant of the first degree. She’d seemed biddable enough at the start, but after that business in Brighton Jarvis had decided Lady Lucinda was a vixen sent straight from hell to torment him.
Vixens must be dealt with. Lady Lucinda certainly would be, but Jarvis had to survive this encounter with Godfrey first.
“Wake up, damn you!” Godfrey’s fist slammed down onto the desk in front of Jarvis, making him jump. Papers flew in every direction, tradesmen’s bills fluttering to the floor at Jarvis’s feet.
It seemed a bad omen, that.
Godfrey’s livid face was mere inches from Jarvis’s own, so close Jarvis could smell his lordship’s hot, fetid breath. His stomach heaved as the bottle of port he’d drunk the night before threatened to reappear, but he managed to gag it back down before it spurted from his mouth and splattered onto the desk between them.
“Now, my lord, I’m certain it’s nothing more than a rumor.” Jarvis wiped his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief and offered Godfrey a weak smile. “I can’t believe my niece would disgrace herself in such a manner, and you know how thetonloves their gossip.”
Lord Godfrey’s eyes narrowed to angry slits. “I warned you once before, Jarvis. I won’t be made a fool of. Not by you, and not by some uppity little chit like Lady Lucinda. I won’t take a whore as my wife.” Godfrey reached into the pocket of his coat, pulled out a piece of paper and shoved it into Jarvis’s face.
It was the special license Godfrey had procured at Doctors Commons the day before. Jarvis watched, eyes narrowed, as Godfrey marched over to the fireplace and dangled the paper over the flames.
Jarvis heaved himself up from his chair, but he didn’t approach Godfrey, and he made no effort to snatch the paper from Godfrey’s hand. “Now, now, my lord. You’re being much too hasty. I’m sure it’s nothing more than a misunderstanding. Lady Lucinda is, er…a trifle spirited, but she’s not a wanton.”
Not as far as Godfrey knew, anyway.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Godfrey spat. “I can assure you I don’t intend to take Ciaran Ramsey’s leavings. For your sake, I hope I find Lady Lucinda’s explanation satisfactory.”
“I’ve no doubt of it, my lord.” The lie slid easily enough from Jarvis’s lips, and it did seem to appease his lordship.
For now.
