Page 34 of Not Just Any Earl
“Why, only listen. Lord Batty grievously insulted Miss Goswick at his ball last night by inviting her to accompany him to his library!” Lady Fosberry lowered The Morning Gazette, her eyes wide over the top of the page. “It seems he was convinced she is the Lady in Lavender, and therefore was already ruined!”
Lady Fosberry tossed The Gazette aside and snatched up The Times, tutting as she scanned the page. “Well, how ridiculous! As if the ton weren’t in enough of an uproar, Lord Cudworth now claims the gown the Lady in Lavender was wearing wasn’t lavender at all, but…”
Emmeline’s heart quickened as Lady Fosberry squinted down at the gossip section of the paper. She’d kept well out of sight at Lady Fosberry’s ball, but if it got about that the gown wasn’t a gown at all, and wasn’t lavender, but amethyst—
“Periwinkle. Periwinkle!” Lady Fosberry threw her hands up in the air in disgust. “Periwinkle and lavender aren’t a thing alike! Lord Cudworth is a very great fool, to be sure.”
“May I see it?” Juliet rose from the settee and plopped down beside Lady Fosberry, who handed over the paper. “Do you suppose he’s in love with the Lady in Lavender after a single encounter? It would be excessively romantic if he were.”
“If he was in love with her, wouldn’t he know her the moment he saw her again?”
The bitter edge to Emmeline’s voice made Juliet’s brows rise.
Dash it. Why couldn’t she keep her mouth closed?
“If he has seen her again, that is.” Emmeline swallowed. “I have no way of knowing if he has or not, of course, or anything else about it, really.”
Lady Fosberry frowned. “How should you, dearest?”
“The scandal is far too delicious for the ton to let it go now.” Juliet folded the paper and set it aside. “The only way to prevent a truly ugly outcome is for the Lady in Lavender to become betrothed to Lord Melrose before her identity is discovered.”
“Of course you’re right, my dear. Honestly, I don’t understand why the lady hasn’t made her identity known.” Lady Fosberry wrung her hands. “I don’t like to see a young lady ruined. Why do you suppose her family hasn’t come forward?”
“Perhaps they don’t know. She may not have told her family about her predicament.” Emmeline tossed Mr. Whateley aside with more force than necessary. “Perhaps she hasn’t told anyone at all, or else she did, and the family fled London for the country with plans to return next season, once the scandal dies down.”
Lady Fosberry shook her head. “But surely anyone who knows Lord Melrose realizes he’ll do what is expected of any honorable gentleman who impugns a lady’s reputation.”
“Whether he’s in love with her or not, it’s clear he intends to marry her.” Juliet’s gaze was fixed on Emmeline. “If the Lady in Lavender were wise, she’d make herself known at once.”
“Make herself known, and marry a gentleman who doesn’t love her? A gentleman she trapped into marriage—whether inadvertently or not—who will likely resent her for it?”
Emmeline couldn’t say when love, of all things, had become so vitally important to a marriage when only weeks ago she would have said one thing hadn’t anything to do with the other.
Somehow, all that had changed.
“But of course she must marry him, dearest.” Lady Fosberry spoke as if it were perfectly obvious, and she wished the matter settled.
“Well, it strikes me as odd that the Lady in Lavender hasn’t come forward by now.” Juliet hadn’t taken her eyes off Emmeline. “It’s been three days! I tell you, there’s something strange about this business, my lady. What do you make of it, Emmeline?”
“I, ah…I hardly know. I’m at as much of a loss as you both are.” Emmeline didn’t dare look at her sister, but she could feel Juliet’s gaze still boring into her, so intense it was a wonder her hair didn’t burst into flames.
“Well, I can’t help but admire the Lady in Lavender, though an amorous encounter with Lord Melrose in the middle of a ball was a remarkably foolish thing to do. Remarkably foolish. Don’t you think it was a remarkably foolish thing to do, Emmeline?”
Emmeline squirmed in her seat. “Er, as to that, I daresay it wasn’t—”
“I begin to think you were right, Lady Fosberry, about the unpredictable nature of people. Why, the most unexpected events might yet occur before the season’s over. Don’t you agree about the unexpected events, Emmeline?”
The look Juliet gave Emmeline sent a rush of heat into Emmeline’s cheeks, and she slumped down in her seat, wishing Lady Fosberry’s plump window cushions would devour her.
“Still, I can’t imagine what could have come over the Lady in Lavender. She’s either very brave, or very foolish. Emmeline, can you imagine what might have come over the Lady in Lavender?”
“No. How should I?” Emmeline turned back toward the window to avoid the knowing look in Juliet’s eyes.
“Do stop teasing your sister, Juliet. She looks a trifle peaked. Are you quite all right, dear?”
“Just a slight headache, my lady,” Emmeline muttered, squeezing her eyes closed.
“I daresay you’ve had too much sun this morning. Come away from the window, child.” Lady Fosberry patted the seat beside her on the settee. “For my part, I think the Lady in Lavender need not despair entirely of a love match. There’s a desperation to Lord Melrose’s search for her that hints at something more than duty. I think he cares for the lady, and that’s why—”
