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Daisy panicked. Desperation churned in her gut. To this point she’d lied by omission, but now … “It is not his baby!” she cried. “It is my baby!”

Miles didn’t respond, but Regina curled her lip.

“My child,” Daisy repeated, her voice croaking.

Regina fixed her with a basilisk’s glare. “Obviously. The resemblance is unmistakable. I am appalled that you disguised your debauched relationship by pretending that you and Lord Devin were merely old friends.”

“I had not anticipated a morning call from you, Lady Regina,” Miles said.

“And I thought you, Lord Devin, to be an honorable gentleman, despite your tawdry reputation,” Regina retorted. “It is salutary to know the truth. This situation is remarkably distasteful. I feel tarnished by proximity. My mother will be horrified.”

She showed no sign of taking her outraged self out the door, though.

As if on cue, Belle let out a high screech that made Daisy jump.

“Young woman,” Miles said to Regina’s maid, “take this child downstairs and ask the cook to feed her some porridge.” A vein was throbbing in his forehead.

After a nod from Regina, the woman walked out of the room, holding Belle at arm’s length as if she were a cat fished from a rain barrel.

“Please don’t let us keep you, Lady Regina,” Miles said with biting emphasis, “since you feel so … What do you feel? How precisely do you think that standing in this room will tarnish your person?”

“I rang the bell out of Christian charity, worried that Miss Wharton’s reputation would be dented by spending time under your roof without a chaperone,” Regina said righteously. “Had I known that I was entering a scene of debauchery, I would have stayed far away.”

“I congratulate you on your benevolent instincts,” Miles replied. “However, I’m afraid that you are de trop. Miss Wharton and I are in the midst of a significant discussion.”

“I imagine that you are,” Regina said, looking as if her feet were glued to the floor. “Very significant. That child is clearly yours, Lord Devin. It has its mother’s eyes and its father’s bone structure.”

Daisy opened her mouth, but Miles glanced at her and snarled, “No.” Then he turned to Regina. “I would like you to leave. No explanation is owed to you, nor shall any be given.”

Regina sniffed. Her face had settled into lines of heavy disapproval, making her look several decades older than she was. “That child is some months old, which suggests that you, Miss Wharton, formed an alliance with Lord Devin sometime last year, presumably after you were absent from polite society due to your uncle’s misdemeanors or while in mourning for his death. To think that I was considering taking you, Lord Devin, for a husband. I was close to accepting your hand.”

Perhaps Regina expected Miles to look dismayed? Daisy fancied she could see thunderclouds forming around his head.

“I was not aware that I was being considered for such an honor,” he said with searing directness. “Your consideration does not align with my inclinations. I had no intention of proposing to you.”

A ringing silence filled the room.

Regina had been red with indignation; now she paled, blinking rapidly.

“You shouldn’t make any rash judgments, Lord Devin,” Daisy said impulsively. “Lady Regina was shocked by the presence of a baby.”

“I wouldn’t take your leavings, Miss Wharton,” Regina said, regaining some of her fire.

Miles turned to Daisy. “Really? Are you encouraging me to propose to Lady Regina?”

Another terrible silence.

“No,” she whispered.

“Excellent,” Miles said. “Since you’re marrying me, it would have been most disconcerting to have you foisting me onto another woman.”

“He has despoiled your innocence,” Regina spat. “I blame Lady Wharton for the scanty nature of your bodices, which necessarily drew male lust. I fear that society will not take this news well.”

“Lord Devin didn’t know of the baby until today,” Daisy said, trying desperately to think of a way out of the morass without bringing shame to her mother.

“Some will excuse him on those grounds,” Regina said. “I shall ever fault him for his ungentlemanly behavior in seducing you in the first place, low bodices or no!”

“I will have to live with your opinion,” Miles said grimly. His eyes weren’t contemptuous. They were blank. Void of any feeling.