Page 36 of The Virgin Who Humbled Lord Haslemere
“Yes, about then, I think. Lord Draven—the current Lord Draven’s father at the time—ended the house party with an extravagant Christmas ball. It was said to have been very grand, with all the most elegant members of thetonthere.” Lady Wylde tossed her head. “Most of them, in any case, but of course I was no more than a young girl then.”
Georgiana smothered a snort. A young girl of five-and-twenty, perhaps.
“So, Draven fancied himself in love with Jane.” Lord Haslemere lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “I don’t see what’s so scandalous about that. Many gentlemen admired my sister before her marriage to Kenilworth. She was the belle of her season, if you recall. A trueIncomparable.”
Lady Wylde let out a long, dramatic sigh—her ladyship had a decided talent for theatrics—and shook her head. “I daresay it wouldn’t have been a scandal, except your sister—forgive me, my lord—was rumored to return his affections. Ratherardently, from whatI understand.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Georgiana interrupted. “If Lady Jane was enamored of Lord Draven, and he of her, why didn’t she simply marry him insteadof Kenilworth?”
Lady Wylde shrugged. “No doubt she would have married Draven if Kenilworth had still been a penniless viscount when they met at the Christmas ball, but he’d inherited the dukedom that summer.”
Georgiana frowned. “I don’t see why that should make a difference, if Lady Jane truly was in love with Lord Draven.”
Lady Wylde gave her a pitying look, as if Georgiana were a dim-witted child. “My dear Miss Harley, theDuke of Kenilworthoffered for her. Why settle for a mere earl when you can have a duke?”
“You just said, did you not, that Lady Jane ardently returned Lord Draven’s affections? Mightn’tthatbe a reason for herto marry him?”
“Goodness, youarenaïve. What’s affection when weighed against becoming a duchess? You remember, Lord Haslemere, what a sensation it caused when Kenilworth became the duke? Quite extraordinary, that smallpox should have carried off the three cousins standing between him and the title! Rather convenient, really.”
“Convenient!” Georgiana gasped, appalled at Lady Wylde’s callousness. She hadn’t cared for the woman when she’d met her at her masque ball last night, and she cared even less for her now. She was every inch the sort of cold, calculating aristocrat who thought nothing of sacrificing every higher principle to fortune and title.
Lady Wylde gave a disdainful sniff. “Well, it certainly proved so for Kenilworth, didn’t it?”
“You’ll have to forgive Miss Harley, my lady,” Lord Haslemere murmured. “Not many ladies are as…sophisticated as you are.”
Georgiana pressed her lips together to prevent herself from screaming. If she had to suffer another moment trapped in this sitting room while Lord Haslemere coaxed and flattered this awful woman, she feared she’d do someone an injury.
“By all accounts, Lord Draven wasn’t at all reconciled to losing Lady Jane,” Lady Wylde went on, oblivious to Georgiana’s glare. “He went quite wild that season. He might have drunk himself into his grave if his father hadn’t intervened, and sent him off to the Continent. It’s my opinion he never would have returned to England at all if his father hadn’tbecome so ill.”
“By the time he did return, Jane had married Kenilworth. Ah, well. Love’s a damnable thing, is it not, my lady?” Lord Haslemere spoke as if the story of Lord Draven’s broken heart was unimaginably dull.
“Indeed, and best avoided, but passion is another thing entirely. Such a passion as Lord Draven and Lady Jane reportedly had doesn’t simply vanish, my lord, and now it looks as if Lord Draven’s had his way at last. One can’t really blame the duchess, can one? Why settle for a husband when she can have a lover who’s mad for her?” Lady Wylde nodded, as if she’d said something exceptionally wise.
Georgiana shook her head, but didn’t venture a comment. There was not, it seemed, any room for irony in Lady Wylde’s private sitting room.
Lord Haslemere rose to his feet, his full lips curling in yet another enticing smile as he paused and raised Lady Wylde’s hand to his lips. “Thank you for seeing us today, my lady. You’re an angel.”
“Notallangel, I assure you, my lord.” Lady Wylde eyed him from under her thick, dark lashes.
He gave a soft laugh, and brushed his lips over her bare knuckles. “Is there anything else you can recall that you think might proveuseful to us?”
“Not that I can think of, no, but I’ll send for you at once if I do.” Lady Wylde fluttered her eyelashes at him. “No matter how late at night it is.”
Georgiana was obliged to look down at her lap to hide the roll of her eyes, but this time she wasn’t quite able to smother her snort.
Lady Wylde turned on her with a huff. “Does something amuse you, Miss Harley?”
Before Georgiana could get a word out, Lord Haslemere took her elbow and hauled her rather unceremoniously to her feet. “You’ve been most helpful, my lady. We won’t keep you any longer, but will leave you to ready yourself for your engagement.”
He marched Georgiana to the door, but Lady Wylde called after them. “Oh, my lord? Now you ask, there is one other thing.”
Lord Haslemereturned. “Yes?”
“You might want to pay a call on Lady Archer. She and Lord Draven were…well, I don’t wish to offend Miss Harley’s delicate sensibilities with such lurid gossip, but they were lovers during Lord Draven’s year of debauchery in London, before he got himself banished to the Continent. She might be able to tell you a great deal more than I can.”
Lord Haslemere bowed. “As I said, my lady, you’re an angel.”
“So was Lucifer,” Georgiana hissed as he tugged her down Lady Wylde’s staircase and back tohis carriage.
