Except he had meant it, every word.
“I, ah… it seems I’ve made a rather drastic mistake.” She pressed her palm to her forehead with a little laugh. “Goodness, what a muddle. But perhaps you’d be kind enough to allow me to explain my reason for coming?”
Therewasa reason, then. “Very well.”
“Thank you. Have you heard from Lord Melrose since you left London, my lord?”
Ah, so she’d come here in search of Melrose, had she? But of course, she had. It made perfect sense. “It pains me to disappoint you, Miss Templeton, but I haven’t seen Lord Melrose since the night you and your sister and Lady Fosberry fled Covent Garden Theater, and he chased after you.”
Damn it, why had he broughtthatup? He didn’t want to think about that night. He’d done his bestnotto think about it since he’d arrived in Oxfordshire, and had sworn to himself he wouldn’t spare it any more of his attention.
Now here it was again, dragged right back into the present as surely as Juliet Templeton herself was. He could hear the whispers even now, as clearly as if he were still sitting in Melrose’s box, the snickers and hisses, and her name on every pair of lips.
But this time, it was worse. This time, the memories were assaulting him in his own home.Shewas in his home, in his study, his sanctuary, where everything was in perfect order, just the way he preferred it.
No carriage accidents. No scandalous young ladies falling through the air into his arms, then dripping mud all over his spotless marble floors. No surprises.
But it was his sanctuary no more. Now he was destined to be cursed with the memory of her face every time he dared to lounge in front of his own fireplace.
“Lord Melrose wasn’t chasingme, Lord Cross, but my sister, Emmeline.”
“Indeed?” He’d heard otherwise.
Melrose had kissed one or other of the Templeton sisters, had embroiled one or the other of them in a scandal, then had fallen in love with… one or the other of them, and every wagging tongue in London insisted it was Juliet Templeton.
The wagging tongues seldom had the right of it, of course, but in this case, the rumors made sense. Why would Juliet Templeton want him, if she thought she could have Melrose?
“Of course. It was always Emmeline from the very beginning, Lord Cross.”
“Forgive me, Miss Templeton, but Melrose didn’t seem to be at all sure which sister he was chasing when he left the theater that night.”
“That’s curious, because he didn’t appear at all confused when he came to Lady Fosberry’s house that night and begged for my sister Emmeline’s hand in marriage.”
Melrose had made Emmeline Templeton an offer?
Emmeline. Not Juliet, butEmmeline.
His heart gave a wild leap, but in the next breath he’d snatched the foolish organ up in his fist and squeezed until it dropped back into the center of his chest with a feeble whimper.
Good. That was where it belonged. Hadn’t he learned anything this season?
“Your sister and Melrose are betrothed, then?”
“No. She refused him.”
“Refusedhim?” RefusedMelrose, the Nonesuch. Emmeline Templeton, a lady of no fortune and questionable reputation, hadrefusedhim? “Whatever possessed her to do something so foolish?”
“It’s not foolishness, Lord Cross. There are a great many ugly rumors about my sister and me floating about London at the moment. If you’d remained in London another day, I daresay you’d have heard them yourself.”
He’d heard them anyway. “Oxfordshire might be remote, Miss Templeton, but it is still inEngland.”
“Yes, thank you, Lord Cross, I am aware of that. If you’ve heard the rumors, then you know thetonbelieves I’m the lady who, ah, caught Lord Melrose’s attention.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Another, less charitable way was that Juliet Templeton had set her sights on Melrose from the first, and that everything she’d done during the season, including her flirtation with Miles, had been in service of her goal of marrying Melrose.
Some even claimed the Templeton sisters had made a wager with Lady Fosberry over whether or not Juliet would catch her quarry in the parson’s mousetrap. Others—some of his guests among them—swore Melrose had made an offer to Juliet Templeton.
“One way, yes, but a lie, all the same. The trouble is, my sister is reluctant to expose me to the vitriol of theton. She’s refused Lord Melrose because she believes the only way to save me from ruin is for Lord Melrose to marryme, rather than her.”
