Page 81 of A Lady of Means
Moria looked to Olivia, no doubt not the only one of them all noting the red tip of her nose.Jasper’s voice dropped low and lethal.“What happened?”
Olivia shook her head, unshed tears in her eyes.“It doesn’t matter.”
Moria felt the remaining dregs of her willpower strengthening.A fury that tasted like spite fueled her.
Moria and the others all looked to Carina, “We were turned away by the butler.Apparently, Lady Olivia was no longer welcome.”
Moria registered Kathleen’s defiant scoff and her copper curls moving as she shook her head.It was their Mother’s voice Moria heard inside her head:
Head held high.Shoulders back.Smile like you have a secret.Even if they hurt you, don’t let them know it.You’re not their porcelain doll, you’re unbreakable.
“We made sure to convey the message that Lady Moria Pembrooke, future Duchess of Andover, would not be pleased to hear this pronouncement,” Gretchen said, an arm about Olivia’s shoulders and steely pride in her voice.
“That was very forward thinking of you,” Moria said, touching Gretchen softly on the arm.
The others all fell silent, but it was Fitz who cut through the tension first.
“I don’t know that I like that look in your eyes,” Fitz observed, glancing around his wife who stood next to his seat at the breakfast table.
Moria narrowed her eyes at him.“What look, Fitz Pomfrey?”
Olivia was looking at her not in fear, but in awe.“Like a warrior.”
A head of the darkest hair and a pair of eyes darker than any night flashed in her vision.He hadn’t shirked his calling or backed down from a fight, and neither would she.
Moria turned from her siblings and friends, and exited the drawing room.In the foyer, she scribbled something on a slip of paper in the escritoire, handed it to the butler who wrapped her coat about her.She turned to the eight souls who’d followed her out into the hall, who’d likely follow her to the ends of the earth if she asked.
“Are you coming?”she asked.
“Lead the way,” Her older sister returned, letting her husband wrap her in her coat.No questions, linking her arm with Moria’s and following her out onto the street.They followed her into Hyde Park, the place to be seen of an afternoon.
The green park was filled with carriages, with prominent people and their servants following behind, all talking closely with one another.At the sight of Lady Moria, flanked by a battalion of titled relations, their gazes and whispers seemed to find a focal point.
The woman in question continued walking, head held high, on her brother, the Earl of Westmoreland’s arm.The sky was conspicuously cloud free and the foliage of the park more verdant than usual.Who could accuse her of perfidy in a yellow and blue flowered dress, the sun wreathing her countenance, and birds chirping at her back?
“Lady Moria!”A man about thirty with a mustache called to her.
She waved at him, and he caught up with her.
He exchanged pleasantries with her family, then said: “Suppose I’d like a gander in that little book of yours.”
Moria harrumphed, crossing her arms.So would she, if she had it in her possession.
“I’ll reckon you would, my lord.”
“How much would you offer for it?”Lawrence parried.
Moria pulled on his arm and then gave the other man a pleasant smile.“Never let it be said of me that I am ungenerous.But as it happens, I have no written proof of your clandestine tryst with your ward.Though I’m sure if someone did, I could see why you might want to burn that before your wife finds out.”
Moria tapped her chin, mocking as though in thought, “On second thought, maybe she’s already suspicious given her zealousness to see the girl wed.”
The other man was agog.“That’s not…That’s slander!”His face started to redden.He took a step in her direction.Henry and Jasper pulled him back as he called out, “You will regret-”
“Watch yourself, Garth,” a voice interrupted from behind them.
The unmistakable, perfect brown and chiseled face of the Duke of Andover was plainly visible over Jasper’s shoulder.“That’s my betrothed you’re speaking to.”
Moria hadn’t been sure how quickly he’d receive her missive and find her in the park, but he’d answered her call for his aid.Other park-goers of all stripes had stopped to gawk, to listen.
