Innocence (27 page)

“It’s
not
done. My father has taken leave of his senses and will pay the price when his wife’s true nature is revealed.”

“But I’ve heard the new duchess is a caring and compassionate woman. The servants have nothing but good things to say about her.” Lisa would have been honoured to meet Thomas’s wife if circumstances had allowed.

“Maybe you’re right.” Nathaniel’s expression softened, and he drew her against his side. “She seems to be cut from a different cloth, and Father says she makes him happy. Time will tell, I suppose, but I think he’ll regret his folly.”
 

Lisa hoped, for both Thomas’s and Nathaniel’s sake, he was proven wrong in his assumptions. He seemed to have neatly compartmentalised the entire female population according to class, attributing aspects Lisa would have thought had more to do with character, upbringing, and education than to breeding.
 

Where Lisa fit, she no longer knew.

With Ruth’s encouragement, she ventured back to the kitchen one afternoon when Nathaniel was busy with estate matters. Despite her friend’s assurance all would be well, Lisa questioned the wisdom of her actions. With Ruth’s company and Nathaniel’s regular attention, she could have chosen to remain in her rooms, but she missed baking and the camaraderie of the kitchen. Plus, she had an ulterior motive.

Though it pained her to do so, her thoughts were regularly exercised with trying to devise a plan for a future
without
Nathaniel’s support and involvement. If she was required to earn her living, references from Mrs Donaldson and Chef Peters would prove invaluable, as she still had no idea how to translate her mother’s pearls into a nest egg. Lord Copeland’s name—and that of his runaway bride—were no longer being mentioned in the papers, but she feared attempting to sell the pearls might alert him to her location.

To Lisa’s relief, she was treated civilly upon her return to the kitchen . . . mostly. A few of the servants looked at her askance, not that she blamed them. Her conscience had taken a battering when she had attended service one Sunday in the Worthington chapel. While she attempted to comfort herself with the knowledge that fornication was listed alongside gossip and covetousness, it still seemed a more serious sin.
 

If only Nathaniel and she had lived in simpler times when a man offering a woman protection and taking her to live with him was tantamount to a wedding. She would not have fancied being one wife among many, but at least she would not have had to endure the grief of separation from the man she loved.

Almost three weeks after she became Nathaniel’s mistress, Lisa responded to a knock at the door. With Ruth busy attending to her laundry, she opened the door, half expecting to be greeted by another bunch of flowers or some other surprise. He had taken to bringing her gifts of chocolates, fripperies, even jewellery, though nothing too extravagant.

The surprise that awaited her was of an altogether different nature.

“Good afternoon, Miss Brown.” Lord McGivern’s greeting was offered politely, but there was no disguising the grim determination in his tone. “I think it’s time you and I became a little better acquainted.”

Chapter 23

Suspicions

Lisa’s heart lodged in her throat when Nathaniel’s enormous Scottish friend pushed past her, closing the door behind him. Her first thought was dismay Ruth wasn’t present to act as chaperone, followed by relief the maid was occupied elsewhere with a hope she did not return any time soon. The last thing she wanted was for the vulnerable girl to be put at risk.

“How may I be of assistance, my lord?” Lisa fell back on politeness but was unable to keep her voice from wavering.

“You can assist me, Miss
Brown
, by telling me who you really are and what game it is you’re playing.”
 

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

“Enough of this nonsense.” He perused her meagre possessions, taking several moments to look through the pages of a sketch book. “You’ll not find me so easily duped as my companions. Michael can’t see past a pretty face and as for Nathaniel, let’s just say you have my normally sensible friend wrapped around your little finger and leave it at that. I’ve been observing you for some time, and it’s clear to me you are not what you say but something closer, I’d gauge, to what you actually appear.”

“I am a commoner who has received an uncommon degree of education.” Lisa repeated the lie that had begun to feel like the truth, she had told it so often.

“I find that very difficult to believe.” Lord McGivern walked across the room and crowded her against the wall. “With your speech, comportment, and grace, Miss Brown, you would not appear out of place if you were a guest in this home. Whereas, I am yet to meet the daughter of a commoner who does not betray her ancestry within five minutes of opening her mouth regardless of how much effort has been put into gilding the lily. Who are you really?” He placed a hand to either side of her head against the wall, trapping her in place. “A young lady who’s fallen on hard times, or something more sinister? If we were still at war, I would suspect you of being a spy sent by the French, though I imagine they’d have devised a more plausible cover than your paper-thin story. I
will
have the truth, Miss Brown, or so help me . . .”

“Please.” She whimpered.

“Please what?” The softening of his expression gave her no comfort. His eyes darkened, and he raised a hand to run his finger down her cheek. It was the same simple caress Nathaniel had used many times, but she shuddered in dismay at Lord McGivern’s touch. She had thought he was a gentleman after his apology for interrupting them in the study. But it appeared she had been mistaken.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

Lord McGivern let his hand fall but did not move away.

“I have no intention of
hurting
you, Miss Brown. I do not force myself upon unwilling women, nor would I
normally
encroach on a friend’s territory. I’m here for the answers Nathaniel would have demanded if you hadn’t beguiled him so completely. Is it money you’re after? I’m not sure how much Nathaniel has offered you. Are you open to a higher bid?”

Lisa gasped, shocked by the provocative nature of his comment.

“I don’t want money, yours or anyone else’s.”
 

His eyebrows rose at her denial.
 

“The reason I appear something other than a commoner is because my mother, a lady from a good family, married my father, a soldier and business proprietor, for love, something no gentleman seems capable of comprehending. I
did
fall on hard times. My father died, leaving me orphaned and without protection, and I came to Worthington Hall to find employment in a supposedly safe environment.
That is all
.”

“But you’ve found a great deal more than that,
Miss Brown
, if that’s even your name. No matter how enamoured he may be, Nathaniel will never marry you. If this is some misguided attempt to entrap him, you’ll be quite ruined when the truth comes out.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Lisa’s heart ached at hearing her sad reality spelled out, albeit with a sordid twist. “Lord Marsden pursued
me
, not the other way around. He offered me his protection, and I accepted. The only thing I am guilty of is naïveté, as I had no idea what was involved.”
 

Lord McGivern stepped back, and she sagged against the wall.

“So you’re saying you have no interest in him?”

“I
love
him. I always will, no matter how impossible my situation.”

Lord McGivern studied her for a long moment. “If you’re telling the truth, then you have my apology and Nathaniel my congratulations for finding a paramour of exemplary quality in the most unlikely of settings. But I’m warning you, if this is some sort of ruse to discredit Nathaniel, or an attempt to extort financial gain from a family well-known for their generosity, you will regret your deceit.”

“My intentions in coming to Worthington Hall were without guile. I never set out to
entrap
Nathaniel or to become his mistress—I had no idea such a role existed.”
 

“How could you
not
know?”
 

Lisa saw red, the hurt and betrayal she felt at the hypocrisy she had discovered inherent in her own class causing her to act without circumspection.

“Does Lady Rebecca know the gentlemen pursuing her for matrimony have lain with other women and intend to continue doing so once married? Or that she will be expected to behave as if she has a heart of stone, denying her the passion and pleasure her
gentleman
husband will take as his right? Or are you the exception to the rule, Lord McGivern, and planning on honouring your wedding vows after you wed?”

His stunned expression turned calculating. “I hope you’re not threatening me, Miss Brown.”

“How could I? It is not like I’ll ever get to meet Lady Rebecca. I am just pointing out a young woman who’s been sheltered in her upbringing would have no reason to be aware of such things. She will be lucky to have the vaguest clue as to what occurs in a marital bed!”

“Confirming my suspicion you are from a background other than that which you have purported.”
 

“Why, because only female members of the
ton
are raised in ignorance or have sensibilities that require protecting? What is it about so-called gentlemen that makes you assume a girl of common heritage has no reputation to protect or would automatically welcome the attentions of any man who wishes to take advantage of her?”

“Are you saying Nathaniel
forced
you?”
 

Her anger drained away with his query.
 

“Not at all. He gave me a
choice—
such as it was. I may not agree with his views in regards to the acceptability of married men keeping mistresses, views shared by most of
proper
society I gather, along with a determination to keep their maidens assiduously in the dark. But I care for Nathaniel and would never do anything to intentionally harm him
or
his family.”

Lord McGivern continued to study her, but Lisa could think of nothing else to say to prove her innocence.
 

“Why do I get the impression you have no intention of remaining in the role of mistress?” he asked when she made no further comment. “You must know it’s the only position available to you.”

“That does not make it an honourable one. Nathaniel must marry one day, and I could not in good conscience harm his wife by deceiving her in such a manner.”
 

“Your sympathies lie with the wife?” Lord McGivern seemed amused by her admission.

“My sympathies lie with women of all classes who are forced into untenable situations by the unrealistic expectations of a society determined to keep them in their place, wherever that might be.”
 

Lisa sighed, certain she was wasting her breath. The system she was criticising weighed too heavily in favour of the men who perpetuated it for them to be willing to recognise its flaws.
 

“I suspect I may have misjudged you, Miss Brown.” Lord McGivern frowned. “And I find myself in a rather perplexing situation. I came here expecting duplicity, in which case I was ready to demand you leave Worthington Hall and never bother Nathaniel again. Now I’m concerned that is precisely what you intend to do. Are you sure such a drastic move is the only one available to you? It was not my purpose to deny Nathaniel your company, merely to make sure he was not at risk of exploitation
.
”