One Night Scandal (19 page)
Somerton shook his head. “As you wish.”
Once Somerton had left, Nicholas walked to the corner of the room and reached for a decanter of brandy. After pouring a large snifter, he moved to a seat by the window. This way, he would notice if anyone tried to enter the room via the back of the house.
Both Sophie and Somerton had left with him a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Could they both be wrong? A sudden urge to run from the room hit him. Perhaps he should invite Somerton to wait with him.
“God, this is insane,” he mumbled, then sipped his brandy down in one gulp.
There was no one in the room with him. There was no way in which anyone could enter without Somerton letting them in. He pulled out his pocket watch again. Where the bloody hell was Middleton?
He refilled his glass and stared out the window. The rain had kept most of the people inside the ballroom tonight. One young woman laughed as she raced down the gravel path followed by a man. He would have to remember to never let Emma out of his sight at balls such as these.
The sound of wood sliding made him turn away from the window. Justine Littlebury silently entered the room with a slight smile on her face.
“Good evening, my lord,” she said coyly.
The world around him started to spin. Why hadn’t they thought to check for secret passages? Somerton knew better.
Miss Littlebury moved closer to him, holding the bodice of her gown with her hand. “You are dreadfully quiet, my lord.”
“You must leave, Miss Littlebury.”
“But I was told to come here and be with you. That you are my perfect match.” She stepped closer until the overpowering scent of her rose perfume made him sneeze.
“My perfect match?”
“Yes.” She started to move her hands up his waistcoat.
Grabbing her hands, he asked, “Who told you that?”
“Miss Reynard, of course. She is the imminent matchmaker of the
ton
.”
ton
.”
Sophie told her that she was his match! That made no sense. Sophie would have told him Miss Littlebury was the woman for him. So preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn’t notice that she had slipped her hands out of his grip and around his neck.
He blinked and her lips were on his. He grabbed her shoulders only to find that the back of her dress was unbuttoned.
Was this the reason Sophie visited him tonight? Did she suddenly have second thoughts on the scandal this would cause? Wild thoughts crossed his mind. She’d said his life was in peril. Was that just her way of stopping him from going? Or did she already know what Miss Littlebury was planning but had promised not to speak of it. None of the mad ideas in his head made any sense.
The door opened and Lord Middleton entered the room. Nicholas pushed Miss Littlebury away forcefully.
“Ancroft, what is going on here?” Middleton demanded.
“Bloody hell,” Somerton exclaimed as he walked into the room. “How did she get in here?”
“A secret passage,” Nicholas muttered as he dropped into a chair. He covered his face with his hands.
“Dammit,” Somerton muttered. “Why didn’t you listen to her?”
Why didn’t he listen to Sophie? Because he was a goddamned fool. He only thought to prove to her that her intuition wasn’t always right. Instead, he’d been caught in a compromising position by a friend of his father’s.
He never felt so angry with another person in his entire life.
Chapter 19
Sophie paced the small confines of her bedchamber until she finally heard a knock at her bedroom door. Her heart pounded so loudly she was certain the maid on the other side of the door could hear.
“Yes?”
“Lord Somerton is here, ma’am.”
Sophie dropped to the bed. She glanced over at her clock on the nightstand. It was nearly one in the morning. Deep in her heart, she knew this would not be good news. “Put him in my study. I’ll be there presently.”
Inhaling a long breath, she slowly exhaled, trying to calm her frayed nerves. She took a moment just to feel the sensation. He wasn’t dead, she was certain. Nonetheless, something was dreadfully wrong with Nicholas.
With leaden feet she walked toward her study. Her mind continued to bounce with questions. Why hadn’t she just accepted his proposal? Why hadn’t she told him that she was carrying his child? Why hadn’t she told him that she was falling in love with him?
“Sophie,” Somerton said as she walked into the room. “You look like hell. Sit down before you faint.”
She barely saw her brother standing in the middle of the room. But quickly, he was there, holding her elbow and leading her to the divan.
“What happened, Somerton?”
“In a minute,” he said, fanning her face with a book.
She grabbed the book from his hand and hurled it across the room. “I need to know now.”
“Very well.” Somerton clasped her hands in his. “Nicholas attended the ball.”
“I assumed that. What happened at the ball?”
“I did everything I could to prevent it, Sophie.”
“Somerton, tell me what happened,” she demanded. “Is he alive?”
Somerton scowled at her. “Alive? You thought this was life or death and didn’t tell me? Had I known that I never would have left him alone in Middleton’s study.”
“I wasn’t certain what any of this was about,” she admitted slowly. She told him about Lady Cantwell’s death and the blackness she saw when she read Nicholas. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“He went into the study to give his father’s note to the man. I checked the room before I left him and no one was in the room. When Middleton and I entered the study, Miss Littlebury was in the room with him, kissing him. The back of her dress was undone.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “How did she get into the room?”
“A secret panel.” He moved away from her. “I blame myself, Sophie. You warned me to watch his back and I failed you. I should have insisted on staying in the room with him.”
Sophie stared down at her dressing gown. “You couldn’t have known about the panel. I wonder how she knew.”
Somerton picked up the book she’d thrown and placed it on the table. “Her father, Witham, is good friends with Middleton. They might have conspired to get the match and told her about the panel.”
She nodded. It all made sense now. Miss Littlebury had come to her seeking information on Nicholas. When Sophie had told her that she’d seen Nicholas in her future, Miss Littlebury must have assumed she meant as a match.
“What will happen now, Anthony?” Even as she asked the question, she knew the probable outcome.
“Witham will call him out if he doesn’t propose marriage, Sophie.”
“I assumed so.”
“There might be a way for you,” Somerton said and stopped his pacing.
Sophie shook her head. “I have always known that we would never be together. It was a risk I took when I seduced him.”
“Tell him you are with child, Sophie.”
She looked up at him agape. “How did you know?”
He smiled down gently at her. “I can tell these things,” he said with a shrug.
“You mean like I can?” While Somerton had some intuitive sense, his appeared nowhere near as strong as hers.
He tilted his head and smirked down at her. “Your breasts are larger, your skin is radiant, and every time I visit you in the morning you look like hell. I am dealing with the same issue at my own home.”
Sophie smiled up at her brother. “Of course. Still, I cannot tell him, Anthony.” She played with the tucks on her gown. “Nicholas is a good man. He will do the right thing by Miss Littlebury.”
“He needs to do the right thing by you.” Somerton sat down on the edge of the divan. “I can take care of Miss Littlebury.”
“You will do nothing. It has been obvious to me since I returned from Venice that we were not meant to be together. You cannot force these things, Anthony. It was no different between you and Victoria. Had you two met before the timing was right, it never would have worked for you. That is why I never told you her name until last year.”
“You are still basing everything on the fact that you don’t see him for you. You might be wrong this time, Sophie.”
“I never saw anyone for him either,” she admitted.
“And what about Miss Littlebury? Did you see anyone for her?”
Sophie explained how she saw a very blurred image of Nicholas and a clearer vision of another man. Someone she didn’t know. “Which again leads me to believe Nicholas isn’t meant to have a long life. After he dies, Miss Littlebury will marry the other man I saw for her.”
“What does he look like?” Somerton asked.
She shrugged. “Blond hair with green eyes. He seemed tall to me but other than that . . . wait, I remember, he had a small scar on his chin. I never mentioned that to her, though. She never would stay long enough that I could ascertain his surname. All I discovered was his first name was Edward or possibly Edmund.”
Somerton turned away from her. “Hmm, I’m not certain I know anyone named Edward or Edmund with a scar on his chin.”
Sophie yawned. “It doesn’t matter. Nicholas will propose and she will accept.”
“Go to bed, Sophie. You look exhausted.” He kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the house.
There was nothing else she could do now. She’d never felt so conflicted in her life. If she told Nicholas about the baby, he would ruin Miss Littlebury. If she didn’t tell him, she would be ruining herself and denying Nicholas his child. But as long as she was the bastard daughter of an earl, she was nobody. Nicholas could not choose her over Miss Littlebury.
And once again, Sophie would be alone.
She wiped away the tear that fell down her cheek. The one time she desperately needed her mother’s advice, she wasn’t here.
“You will propose to Miss Littlebury this afternoon.”
Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the window frame of his father’s study. “No, I will not.”
His father slowly rose to his feet with the assistance of a cane. He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed roughly. After his coughing fit had subsided, he stared at Nicholas. “You ruined that girl’s reputation.”
“No, Father. She ruined herself. The room was empty when I entered it. I had a friend guarding the door so no one but Middleton could come inside. She slipped in by a secret panel. Her gown was already unbuttoned to make it look like I was attempting to seduce her.”
His father stepped forward. “You should have been more careful.”
Nicholas’s ire grew with each step his father took. “No, Father. You should have been more careful.” He tossed the note he was supposed to give to Middleton last night toward his father.
He caught the note. “You read my note?”
Nicholas laughed in a low tone. “Yes, it was supposed to be a note about an investment. Instead, it only says thank you for your assistance in this matter.”
“Yes, his assistance in my investment.”
“You told me that he needed the note before this morning so he could act before losing money.”
His father coughed again and then looked up. “I must have given you the wrong note.”
“Enough lies, Father,” Nicholas ordered. “Why did you and Witham do this?”
“Because you need to marry and Miss Littlebury is a fine young woman. Far better than that little medium slut you have been with.”
Nicholas clenched his fists at his sides. “Miss Reynard happens to be the daughter of an earl.”
His father laughed coarsely. “Of course that is what she tells everyone. How convenient that he doesn’t want anyone to know.”
“I know who he is,” Nicholas countered. Not that it mattered at this point.
“Then tell me. But it will change nothing. She is and always will be a bastard.”
“I promised her I would tell no one.”
The old duke sneered. “Again, how convenient.”
“It changes nothing, Father. I will not propose to Miss Littlebury.”
“Oh?” His father stepped closer then poked Nicholas in the chest with his cane. “And I suppose you wouldn’t care if it got out that your daughter might not be your daughter after all.”
“Damn you to hell, old man. Don’t you dare put Emma into the middle of this.”
“Marry Miss Littlebury and no one will know that your daughter might just be your sister.”
Nicholas closed his eyes against the painful memories of discovering his father in bed with Nicholas’s mistress. He’d never been able to forgive his father for that transgression. His father had said it was the only way to make Nicholas realize that Maggie was nothing but a whore. And he had been right.
Still, there was no way to determine which of them had fathered Emma.
Not that it mattered. In his heart, he would always consider her his daughter. If this became public knowledge, it would only make her life harder. She hadn’t faced the biting tongues of the
ton
yet. But once they found out that both Nicholas and his father had made love with the same mistress, the tongues would never stop wagging.
ton
yet. But once they found out that both Nicholas and his father had made love with the same mistress, the tongues would never stop wagging.
While he could handle the embarrassment it might cause him, he would never do anything that would harm Emma’s reputation.
“I will speak with Lord Witham and his daughter this afternoon.”
Sophie heard the knock at the front door and her muscles stiffened. After staying up most of the night, she had finally come to the most difficult decision of her life. She had no idea how or why, but she loved him. She could not let him make the wrong decision.
Marrying her would bring him monetary hardship and the ruination of his reputation. Even though men thought less of their reputation than women, it was important. He would become the duke when his father passed.
He needed the right type of woman. A woman who knew how to move about in Society. Miss Littlebury would fill that position. She was the legitimate daughter of a viscount. Other than what had happened last night, she had always kept her reputation without blemish. She would make a proper duchess.
Sophie would manage on her own. While she felt horrible about not telling Nicholas about the baby, she knew it was for the best. He had Emma and would have more children with Miss Littlebury. This would be Sophie’s only child. Never again would she trust her heart with another man.
Now that he was here, she would have to face him one more time. Somehow, she had to make him believe that she didn’t want to marry him. She had to be strong. This was the best thing for him.
And the hardest thing for her.
She took a long breath in and slowly released it. She finally understood why she saw his image in Venice and not since. He was never supposed to be anything but a brief affair for her.
Concentrating on him, she could feel his anger radiating from him even at this distance. The front door opened and male voices sounded from the entryway. She could feel his anger resonate from the front of her home. Footsteps shuffled along the hall indicating that only Hendricks was coming near.
“Miss Reynard,” Hendricks said from the threshold of her study. “Lord Ancroft is here.”
“Show him in.”
“Shall I bring tea?”
Sophie doubted this would be a casual conversation over tea. “No.”
“As you wish.”
This time, loud footfalls preceded Nicholas’s arrival. The closer he came, the more she felt his anger grow. She wanted to be able to ease his ire, but she was certain this conversation would only increase it.
“Lord Ancroft, ma’am,” Hendricks announced before turning and leaving them alone.
Nicholas closed the door behind him. “I can only assume you know what happened.”
“Yes.” She looked away from his handsome face, desperate to keep herself from blurting out news that would only make this decision harder. “Somerton called on me and explained what happened.”
“Of course he would do that for you,” Nicholas muttered as he crossed the room. He picked up the bottle of brandy. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
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