Page 36 of Pining for Lord Lockhart
“She is of course most suited to a dear friend, someone who’s known her the whole of her life, who would not hold this over her head the rest of her life. And since you have spent the first part of this Season without forming a formal attachment, I wonder if perhaps we might meet both needs right here. Bring two best friends back together, and save our dear Penny from a fate worse than death.”
They both turned to him, Penny at last meeting his gaze. And when he said nothing for what must have been deemed too great a length of time, Mrs. Westchester cleared her throat. “And when you already have an understanding between you…”
He shook his head. “Surely you received my express.”
“That does not signify.”
“What do you mean?”
“Changing one’s mind is not a valid reason to break off an engagement. Particularly if a child is involved.”
He jerked to his feet. “Surely you don’t mean to insinuate…You know that I have had nothing…I will not sit here and listen to this falsehood.”
“No matter.” Mrs. Westchester rose. “We think of you as family. If you do your duty by her, marry her straight away, nothing more needs to be said about it.”
“And what if I told you that I have made connections, that I am on my way tomorrow to speak to a woman’s father?”
Her expression was so smug, he wished to wipe it from her face. She nearly purred her response. “Then I know that you are unattached as of right now, and therefore free to honor your prior engagement.”
“There was no prior engagement.”
“We say there was.”
Penny was once again looking down at her slippers.
“Might I have a word with Miss Penny?”
“Of course.” She slipped out and shut the door.
In two large strides, he then opened it again. “Timothy would you please join us?”
“Yes, my lord.” His loyal servant stepped just inside the door.
He lifted Penny’s hand in his own and waited until she looked up into his face. The hesitancy there, the shame, softened his heart toward her. But not enough to let her see his softening.
“I loved him,” she whispered. “Mama doesn’t want you to know. He didn’t force himself.”
“Who is he?”
“A tenant farmer.”
“Mine?”
She nodded. Then she reached a hand out, clutching his arm in a most desperate manner. “If I don’t wed a man in the next month, all will be known. I shall be shamed forever. And my life ruined, as well as my child’s life.”
The truth of her words barreled into him.
“You are our only hope. Who else do we know that would step in? Who else has such a strong tie? Who else has Mother cared for?”
Her implication hit him where it was supposed to. Right in the gut. And he’d already been feeling nudges of responsibility where she was concerned. Writing that letter telling her he no longer had feelings was freeing as much as it was a force of willpower, but now this, this desperate need from a family who had been everything to him growing up, lowered on him like an anvil. His breathing tightened. Was this his future? Was he to marry a woman who pined for another? While he longed for Charity with his every breath?
He swallowed twice. “This is news indeed. I shall need some time. It’s late. I think you should leave.”
Her face went white. “You won’t deny me!” She threw herself into his arms. “You cannot deny me. You mustn’t. I will be ruined! My mother, my child.” Her desperate eyes peered up into his face. “Would you have all that on your hands? Would you be able to be happy with someone else, knowing that peace came at the cost of lives destroyed?”
An odd assortment of their shared past flashed before his eyes. Games on the green fields that separated their estates; dinners with their families; all the moments he was joining in whatever she was doing, instead of at his home. All the times he himself had been lonely and desperate in a world that seemed to have abandoned him, and she had rescued him.
“Just go.”
