Page 73 of Ne'er Duke Well
Lydia had figured it out. How long did she have until more people did? Until everyone in thetonknew?
She needed more time. Just a bit more time—just until theguardianship hearing was over. And then everything could fall apart.
“Selina.” Lydia’s voice was gentler now, and Selina looked up to find that Lydia’s eyes were no longer wet with tears. “I understand. Why you did it.”
It was almost too much to hope for. Selina wanted to ask her to say it again, but only swallowed hard against the desire to ask for comfort. She did not deserve it.
“I remember how upset you were when Ivy…” Lydia trailed off. “When Ivy.” Her eyes sharpened. “Doyoupay for her house? In Gloucestershire—near your family’s country estate. I cannot believe I did not see it before.”
“Yes. Well, Will does, officially. I simply arranged it.”
“You… simply arranged it.” Lydia laughed, amused and slightly harsh. “You arranged to finance a single pregnant woman’s living—presumably for the rest of her life. As you arranged the running of a circulating library and the re-education of the female half of theton.”
“Yes.”
“Good Lord, Selina. How did you even have time?”
“Honestly? I dislike French, watercolors, and needlework. Once I mastered dancing, there seemed to be plenty of hours to fill.”
Lydia’s eyebrows rose. And then she started to laugh.
Selina stared at her in horror.
“Oh God”—Lydia pressed her palms to her eyes, half bent over her lap—“I am so sorry. I know this isn’t funny. But only you would turn up your nose at embroidery and resolve to overturn society in its stead.”
“There’s nothing wrong with embroidery,” Selina protested inanely. “I am simply very poor at it.”
Lydia plucked up her now-empty reticule and threw it at her. “For heaven’s sake, Selina. What are you going to do?”
“I have to find out who is spreading the rumors,” she said. “Whether it’s Alverthorpe or another peer or someone else entirely. I have to stop them.”
“But the children,” Lydia protested. “Stanhope’s brother and sister. It will not look well for Stanhope, Selina, if this comes out.”
It would be a nightmare—her worst fears coming true.
Peter had come to her in the first place because he wanted her help in securing the guardianship. That was what she had to offer him. That was what she was good at. That was the only thing that had allowed her to permit herself to marry him—her certainty that she would be able to maintain her deception long enough for the lord chancellor to rule in Peter’s favor.
“I will pay them,” she said, half-frantic. “I will find out who it is and pay them for their silence. The hearing is less than two weeks away—I will make it worth their while to keep it to themselves.”
Lydia sighed. “You have an answer for everything.”
“I don’t,” Selina said miserably. “I wish I did.”
She considered for a moment going to Rowland House to unburden herself to her brother—but no. No. She needed to come to him with a plan in place—with the situation well in hand. She could not fling her problems in his direction any more than she had already.
Lydia tucked a coppery curl behind her ear. “You know I am beside you, yes? Whatever you need.”
“I know. That means—a great deal to me.” She pushed against the notched wood of the table, needing the way it grounded her. “More than I deserve.”
But when Lydia left the dining room, Selina did not stand.She did not leap to her feet and plunge into reckless action. She stared at her bare fingers against the wood and heard her unsteady breath echo in the silent room.
If she did not succeed—
She almost could not make herself think of it. If she was not able to find out who was behind the rumors—if she could not persuade them to keep silent—if somehow the truth of her involvement came outbeforethe hearing—
And yet she had to think of it. She needed to make a plan.
How would Peter feel if her secret came out now, when the guardianship hearing was so close at hand? He would be crushed—he would blame her—
