Practically Wicked (41 page)
Theories as to how the grasping little minx had landed the dashing rapscallion (and whether or not it was in some way connected to Mrs. Wrayburn’s sudden emigration to Norway) were bountiful. Speculation as to where the viscount had run off to with his new bride after the nuptials was rampant.
Society had seen neither hide nor hair of the happy pair. They were believed to be making a tour of Scotland, but only the Haverstons and Dane’s cousin, Mr. William Dane, knew for certain, and they remained annoyingly tight-lipped on the subject.
Terribly bold of the girl to have reached so far above her station, it was said. Foolish of the viscount to have so carelessly tossed aside his responsibility to the title, they whispered. Probably, they’d run off to the continent in shame, it was agreed.
The whispers ballooned initially, but tapered after a time, and then somebody heard that Lord Truch’s daughter had been caught sneaking out her window to meet with a merchant’s son in her own garden, and talk turned to that. And then, three weeks later, turned again when Eliza Tomlison was caught attempting to set fire to a rival’s home in a pique of professional jealousy.
By the time Lord and Lady Dane returned to London, a full year after their nuptials, they were no longer the talk of the town.
There were still whispers, as was to be expected. But before there was even a chance of the talk becoming widespread, the pair moved on to Caldwell Manor to welcome the birth of Lord Engsly’s first child, a daughter, and then to McMullin Hall for his cousin’s marriage, and then…And then all but their closest friends stopped paying attention to what the couple was doing. They were seen about here and there—at the theater, an exclusive dinner party, Lord Dane at his club and Tattersall’s, and their names popped into conversation from time to time.
Have you heard Lord Dane’s sister has been made a widow at last? I do wonder if she plans to return home.
But for the most part, the pair was no longer so interesting as to require particular attention from society. It was last noted that the couple had purchased a moderate country home outside the village of Menning, but that they were planning a trip to Venice, or possibly Rome.
What did it matter, really, when everyone who was anyone was talking of something else.
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