Heat rose in Cass’s cheeks, but it wasn’t shame. Not this time. It was anger. “I’m aware of how it looks, Hayward, but?—”
“Are you, Windham? Are you truly aware? Tell me, did you see Lady Dumfries’s face when she realized what had happened in her ballroom?”
“It happened on the terrace, not in the ballroom.”
“Splitting hairs, Windham.”
“I didn’t see Lady Dumfries’s face, no. You’ll have to excuse me, Hayward. I was a bit preoccupied with planting my fist in Egerton’s jaw at the time.”
“Well, I did see her face. Nearly everyone in the ballroom saw it, and you may be sure it’s all anyone will be talking about as they pay their calls tomorrow. By this time tomorrow evening, all of London will know of it.”
“I don’t give a damn what thetonsays.”
“That’s precisely my point, Windham! You can’t simply do whatever you?—”
“Egerton’s a brute. He got what he deserved.”
“Egerton’s a brute, so you deemed it appropriate to brawl with him in the middle of Lady Dumfries’s ball?”
“Can it properly be called a brawl? I struck Egerton, and Egerton toppled over like a nine pin. It was hardly a brawl.” He didn’t mention that he’d also slammed Egerton’s head against the wrought iron gate, as it didn’t seem likely to help matters.
But he didn’t regret it. Perhaps he would later, but not now. There’d be plenty of time for self-recrimination when he was alone in his bed.
“Are you entertained, Windham. Is this amusing to you?”
“Amusing, to find the lady I lo…a lady I care very much for suffering such an insult by a scoundrel like Egerton? He was hurting Hattie, Hayward.”
“What?” Hayward whispered, the color draining from his face.
“He was hurting her.” Cass clutched his glass tighter to keep himself from hurling it into the grate and watching it shatter into a thousand shards. “Egerton was…he tried to hurt Hattie, Hayward. What would you have had me do?”
“Dear God, Windham.” Hayward reached for the arm of a chair to steady himself and sank into it. “I had no idea.”
Cass leaped to his feet, unable to sit still a moment longer. “God, Hayward, Hattie’s face! I won’t soon forget her expression when I burst onto the terrace and found her pinned against the door with Egerton looming over her. She was utterly terrified.”
“I sincerely beg your pardon, Windham. I should have known better than to trust the rumors flying around the ballroom. The gossips always paint you as the villain.”
“Thetonalready has their own version of events, then?” It didn’t surprise him. They always did, and he’d been the villain often enough to give any lie the appearance of truth.
He was, after all, a St. Giles guttersnipe, and this was not his first brawl.
“They have it that you attacked Egerton in a hallway outside the ballroom and threatened to throw him from the second floor of Lady Dumfries’s townhouse.”
“I should have done just that, since I’m to be blamed for it anyway.” It was no wonder Egerton had returned to theballroom after their encounter. What better way to start that rumor than to appear in public bloodied and battered?
“I knew Egerton was a villain, but this?” Hayward shook his head. “How did he discover that Lady Harriet and Hattie were one and the same person?”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that Lady Laetitia Tremblay told him.”
“I might have known. That woman is pure poison. You’re well rid of her.” Hayward glanced at him, eyebrow raised. “Youarerid of her, are you not?”
“God, yes, and I hope my father is rolling in his grave right now. I hope he never has a moment of peaceful rest again.”
“It’s wicked to wish ill on the dead, but in your father’s case, I’ll make an exception.” Hayward hesitated. “Is Lady Harriet going to be all right?”
“I don’t know.” Cass dragged his hand down his face. “I don’t know, Hayward. She was badly shaken.”
Sweet, gentle Hattie, who’d never hurt a soul had been utterly at Egerton’s mercy tonight. He’d relive her terror again and again, but the part of tonight’s disaster that kept playing over in his mind, the part that would keep him up tonight was the question of what might have happened if he hadn’t reached her when he did.
