Page 105 of His Lordship's True Lady
Mrs. Braithwaite’s gaze slewed around, for this was London on a fine spring day, and a crowd was gathering. “I know what I know, Miss Ferguson. Don’t expect me to remain silent.”
Hessian took Daisy up on his hip. “Do as you please, Mrs. Braithwaite, though I’d urge you to wait for a call from my brother before you undertake another rash act.”
The widow stomped off, the crowd parting for her.
Worth came up on Lily’s right, Jacaranda beside him. “Her companion warned me she’d try something like this.”
Jacaranda watched Mrs. Braithwaite marching for the park gates. “Flirting again, Worth?”
“Gathering intelligence. I offered Miss Smythe a hundred pounds to put Daisy’s interests ahead of Mrs. Braithwaite’s. The young lady was all too happy to take that offer. I believe she’d like to open a millinery shop and has caught the eye of a young tailor who’d be a perfect partner in that enterprise.”
“Well done,” Hessian said. “And Lily, very well done. I hadn’t grasped how to manage Mrs. Braithwaite—gentlemanly manners can be such a burden when one longs to throttle a woman in public—but you’ve given me some wonderful ideas.”
Lily remained between the two brothers, knowing full well that their conversation was intended to give her time to calm her nerves.
“I wanted to push her down and bloody her nose,” Lily said. And that waswonderful. To have felt a sense of injustice and been able to act upon it. To have sent at least one conniving toad packing with a few unvarnished truths.
“I’m glad you made her go away,” Daisy echoed. “She was not nice.”
Lily found the nerve to look Hessian in the eye. She anticipated distaste for a public spectacle, or for a spectacular lapse in manners. Patience maybe, if she was lucky, or even amusement.
She found great, beaming approval.
Hessian kissed Daisy’s cheek, though Lily sensed the gesture was for her.
“You have the right of it, Daisy,” he said. “The widow was not nice. Our Lily, however, like the true lady she is, would have none of that. What say we all go for an ice? I’ve been told that in my absence, Gunter’s has set aside a table for the exclusive use of the Kettering family.”
Hessian took Lily’s hand—again in public, this time before his family—and restored her sense of balance and her hope. Mrs. Braithwaite could start talk, Uncle Walter could bring criminal charges, Oscar could contest the annulment, and the ducal Fergusons might be scandalized fourteen times over, but Hessian would be by her side.
And Lily by his.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Your annulment,” Worth said, tossing a sealed document onto the desk. “You may thank the Earl and Countess of Rosecroft, who both provided information regarding the suddenness of the ceremony, the bride’s obvious reluctance, and the celebrant’s utter failure to establish her consent. Their recollections match up in every detail with Lily’s version of events.”
“Because Lily’s version is the truth.” Hessian examined the document, reading it word for word and checking the date twice. “I’ll want copies. Can Leggett contest this?”
Worth snorted and leaned back in his chair. “How many ways do you want to ruin him? He can make a fuss, but the facts speak for themselves. To reveal the defect in the license is to reveal Leggett’s own criminal wrongdoing where Lily is concerned. He’s better off leaving the annulment at lack of consent. He can blame that on a misunderstanding or his unruly son.”
Hessian wanted to ruin Walter Leggett as many ways as a man could be ruined. Lily, abetted by her sister, had come up with a plan that met with Hessian’s heartiest approval.
“And how will Leggett account for the money gone missing from the trust accounts?” For he’d lost nearly every penny, thanks to the diligent efforts of the Royal Navy.
Careful investigation over the past week had revealed that, indeed, Leggett had invested heavily in various forbidden trades. While the war with France had been in progress, risk had been low for Leggett and men of his ilk. Peacetime had resulted in more resources devoted to enforcing the laws at sea, and more risk for those intent on eluding justice.
“I’ll be curious to hear his explanation for funds gone missing,” Worth said. “If an explanation he has.”
“Your guests have arrived,” Hessian said as the Leggett town coach rolled up on the street below. “The first order of business for you is to prevent violence.”
“You think they’d be that stupid? We’re bigger, stronger, and faster than either noddy—Leggett Senior or Junior.”
“I’d be that angry. Lily counseled restraint, but I have spent the past week being restrained when I wanted to call out the pair of them.”
Worth rose from behind his desk, shrugged into his coat, and assumed the air of a man of serious business.
“Rosecroft and I have already agreed we’d make a fine pair of seconds. Lady Rosecroft volunteered to bring the medical kit.”
Her ladyship would do it too. Such were the friends Lily had made despite all effort to the contrary on Leggett’s part.
