Page 58

The viscountess startled, then turned, a soft smile blooming on her striking features. “Gwen, please. Call me Mama Abbott. We are family, dear.”

“I have ordered a tea tray, Mama Abbott.”

“Then I suppose we shall sit and talk.”

Gwen returned the smile, albeit with a thread of uncertainty. She crossed to a chair opposite and sat.

“I am not entirely certain why I am here,” her mother-in-law confessed.

Gwen blinked. It was as though her own unspoken thought had been plucked from the air.

“I suppose it is that Lord Moreland and I are preparing to leave for the country, and I have found myself thinking about you and Aidan.”

Gwen nodded, recalling that they were to retire from Town now that the wedding was concluded.

“Perhaps when I return to London, you will have good news for me.” Lady Moreland made a faint, almost unconscious gesture toward her own midsection.

Gwen’s cheeks flushed with sudden heat. She looked down, uncertain how to respond.

“It is just that … since Lily’s attack, I have begun to feel that our family is keeping secrets from me. And I cannot stop wondering what lies ahead.”

Gwen sat straighter. Surely she had misheard.

“Lily’s attack?”

Lady Moreland, who had been absently smoothing her skirts, looked up with a shadowed expression. “Last month. She was set upon by a footman … one who had been involved in the baron’s murder. She uncovered something and … well, he tried to silence her.”

Gwen surreptitiously pinched herself on the leg. Just to be certain that she was awake, and this was not some strange bad dream. The creeping suspicion that she was asleep was a common manifestation since her first meeting with Aidan, it would seem.

“The baron’s murder …” Gwen sifted through her memories. “You mean the late Lord Filminster, who was found dead last month?”

Lady Moreland nodded. “That is correct. One of the footmen was hired by the killer, and Lily figured it out, so he attacked her. If it were not for the butler, she could have been killed.”

Gwen gasped. “I have heard nothing of it.”

Her mother-in-law dabbed at her eyes with her forefinger. “It was all rather shocking, but only the family knows of it. It is only right you be aware because you are family now, dear.”

Gwen nodded in awe. “Thank you.”

“It is a frightening prospect, to think of losing a child. I find myself thinking of you this morning. I wanted to assure myself … that you would take care of my boy. He has carried such a burden of guilt since Lily was ruined. He feels he should have been with her that night, you see.”

Gwen did not see. She had no clue what her mother-in-law was speaking of. Aidan was burdened with guilt over Lily’s ruin? Was that why he had offered to marry Gwen when they had been discovered together on the terrace?

“Which night?”

“The night of the coronation, when Lord Filminster was murdered. Lily stepped forward as an alibi to Brendan Ridley, stating she had spent the night with him. She did not, of course. Lily is a young lady and would never do such a thing, but she said it because Ridley’s paramour would not come forward. Lily ruined herself to prevent his arrest.”

Gwen’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. What bizarre intrigue was this?

She had been vaguely aware of the murder, and the ensuing scandal with Lily and her husband when Lily had informed the coroner that she and the new Lord Filminster had spent the night together. Apparently, that had been a lie.

Did that mean that Lily’s husband, Gwen’s new brother-in-law, could have murdered his father?

But no, Lady Moreland had implied that there had been a legitimate alibi who would not risk her reputation, so Lily had taken it upon herself to step forward. Gwen took a moment to marvel at the young woman’s courage.

What, if anything, did that have to do with her and Aidan?

“It is very odd that Aidan managed to ruin a woman so soon after Lily’s scandal. I am still at a loss why this happened to both my children. Do you think I raised them correctly?”