Page 76 of Marriage Most Scandalous
“This is nothing to joke about, Sebastian.”
“I agree. I told you she hired me. I told you why. The pretense of a marriage was to assist me in my investigation. I couldn’t very well do as she wanted if the door to Edgewood was still barred to me.”
Douglas was quite red cheeked by now. “Good God, I can’t believe that a son of mine—”
“I’m the dead son, remember?”
“What the devil are you talking about? You ruin that girl and for such a flimsy reason?”
“The reason was sound at the time. We didn’t expect you to have another accident, or to become so seriously ill with a fever that could very well have killed you. If you had been fit and hale, you would have kicked me out of the house without the least bit of discussion—just as you did eleven years ago!”
Sebastian turned away. The shield on his emotions was cracking. He had to fight to repair it. He’d had excuses eleven years ago that never got said, that Giles’s death had been an accident. He wasn’t going to make excuses for this.
“She will announce a divorce not long after I’m gone,” Sebastian said. “My desertion will gain her sympathy and understanding.”
“You’re leaving?”
Was that surprise in his father’s tone? He glanced at Douglas again, but his expression hadn’t changed. He was probably furious over the deception and bitterly disappointed that Margaret was not truly his daughter-in-law.
“Of course I’m leaving. I never wanted to come here in the first place.”
“Then you will marry her first. Or will you stand there and try to tell me you never touched her?”
“No, I can’t tell you that.”
Even more angry color shot up into Douglas’s cheeks. “Then by God you will marry her.”
“For what? So you can claim her as a daughter-in-law until she institutes a real divorce?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Douglas said, glaring at him.
Chapter 46
MARGARET TOOK PARTin several conversations of which she couldn’t remember a single word. Sebastian hadn’t returned yet from his private talk with Douglas. What was taking them so long?
She should have insisted on joining them. The marriage idea had been hers, after all. She would have explained it all to Douglas herself, after Sebastian was gone. She would have had to, when she announced the divorce. She wished she could do so now in order to alleviate some of the backlash Sebastian was no doubt receiving from his father.
She had a feeling Sebastian wouldn’t mention that the pretense had been her idea. She even had a feeling why. He seemed to want Douglas’s anger directed at him. It was what he had expected all along, so keeping it that way prevented him from finding out if they really could reconcile. Perhaps Sebastian was so certain his father would never forgive him that he couldn’t help but be defensive and resentful. Actually, it could be that he wouldn’t forgive his father. Good God, she hadn’t considered that. It would certainly explain why he had refused ever to return to England.
She was fretting herself sick on what was happening in the study. She didn’t doubt she looked it, too, so she sought out Alberta to let her know they would be leaving as soon as Sebastian returned. The duchess claimed to understand and even commiserated with her.
“Happens to all you young gels,” Alberta told her. “You let the nerves get the better of you. Why, I’ve had some of them faint, before and after the party I’ve given for them.” And with a stern eye, Alberta demanded, “You aren’t going to faint, are you?”
Margaret managed not to laugh. “I have an aversion to lying on floors, so I will most certainly restrain m’self. But I am feeling rather peaked, so I’m going to seek my own bed. I just wanted to thank you for the lovely party and to warn you that once Sebastian sees that I’m not feeling well, he’s likely to drag me straight home. He’s like that, you know.”
“Is he?” Alberta chuckled. “Well, some men do overreact when they’re concerned. Don’t give it another thought, m’dear. I confess that even I was a tad nervous about tonight, but it went splendidly, if I do say so m’self. Well, I need to rephrase that,” she added with a glower as she faced the door. “It was going splendidly.”
Margaret didn’t have to turn around to know what Alberta was talking about. She winced, hearing Juliette’s raised voice behind her. When she’d spoken with Abigail about a half hour ago, she’d learned that Denton and his wife had planned to attend the party, but must have been delayed in their return from London.
Alberta tsked in high annoyance, admitting, “I’ve asked that gel to stay out of my house. Even if I wasn’t obliged to invite the Townshends, I would have anyway because I adore Abigail. But Denton’s wife is not welcome here. I told her so as politely as I could, and when that didn’t work, I confess I was quite rude about it. Other hostesses in the area have experienced the same predicament with that gel. I swear her understanding of the English language is selective. She still comes and still disrupts.”
Margaret was surprised to hear that Juliette had become a social pariah. No one wanted to shun the Townshends, but everyone seemed to disapprove of Juliette and her appalling behavior. Denton had probably been beseeched to control his wife, but Denton had no control over her. Juliette seemed to control him.
Seeing the duchess so indignant when she was renowned for maintaining a social demeanor that never got ruffled amused Margaret.
“At least she keeps the gossips busy for a while,” Margaret said, trying to appear sympathetic.
“Which is quite the point. People should be talking about my parties, not the scandalous behavior of one of the guests, an uninvited guest, I might add. Now that you are a member of that family, I hope you can break through the language barrier and convince her to keep her outrageous antics at home where they belong.”
