Page 50 of One Night with a Prince
The girl looked positively panicked. “Oh, my lady, please don’t have me turned out! I will do anything you wish, only don’t tell Mrs. Watts about how Jim and I were card cheats. Please, I beg you, don’t have me sent to the magistrate—”
“No, certainly not! Why would you think I’d do such a thing?”
The woman eyed her warily. “You’re Mr. Byrne’s mistress, aren’t you?”
Christabel colored. “What has that got to do with it?”
“The mistress he had before—that Lady Jenner—she would have had me turned off for sheer spite.”
“No doubt,” Christabel muttered. “I, however, am not so beastly. But I admit to being confused. Doesn’t Mrs. Watts know of your past already? I mean, since Byrne got you the position—”
“He told her I was the daughter of a tenant. From his estate in Bath.”
She gaped at the woman. “Byrne has an estate?”
“Oh dear, oh dear, I wasn’t supposed to tell, but I thought you would know, you being his mistress and all!” Tears filling her eyes, Lydia pleated and repleated her apron between her fingers. “He told me and Mrs. Watts not to tell anyone, and now I’ve gone and—”
“It’s all right—I’ll keep his secret safe,” Christabel reassured the girl, but her mind was awhirl. Byrne reallyhad gone to Bath on business. But who would have guessed that he possessed land, and outside of London, too? In all the gossip she’d heard about him, no one had ever mentioned it. “I’ve only recently become acquainted with Mr. Byrne.” And clearly the man shrouded whole portions of his life in secrecy.
“I suppose you’ve visited his estate?”
“No, my lady. Why would I?”
“Because you…that is, you and he have…”
The girl’s eyes went wide. “Oh no, we have never—I mean, not that I would mind, he’s been so kind toGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlme; but he never expected it, not even that night when Jim was so cruel as to leave me to him.”
The blood pounded in Christabel’s temples. “I thought you and your friend Jim played a rather wicked game of cards with Byrne and Lady Jenner.”
The girl blushed. “Yes, we did. And when that awful woman—” She stopped herself. “Forgive me, I shouldn’t speak of her like that.”
“It’s all right. She’s a nasty sort, isn’t she?”
“She enticed my Jim off to her bed,” Lydia said hotly, “and left me to Mr. Byrne.” Her tone softened.
“But he was a gentleman, didn’t lay a finger on me, even though I was…well…naked. He could tell at once that I—” She thrust out her chin. “I was raised for better, you see. My father was a gentleman farmer. Nearly broke his heart when I ran off with Jim. But I thought Jim meant to marry me, and once I was ruined, it just got worse and worse until…”
She trailed off with a heartbreaking sigh. “Anyway, Mr. Byrne said he could get me a respectable position if I wanted. That’s how I came to work for Mrs. Watts.”
“I see.” Yes, she saw a great deal. Byrne talked like a scoundrel, but somewhere buried in his cynical soul was a kernel of good.
Mrs. Watts bustled back in with the other items, but as Christabel tried on the “adorable little hat,” her mind was elsewhere.
What was she to make of the rascal?The girl was just a night’s entertainment. She snorted. What a liar. He spoke as if he were the greatest debaucher in the world, yet he hadn’t tried to force young Lydia—or Christabel—to his bed.
And he had an estate—an estate, for pity’s sake! Next she’d be hearing that the man regularly attended church.
Careful,her conscience whispered.This is how it begins—you soften toward a gentleman because he shows some merit, and next thing you know you’re sunk. Byrne keeps secrets—that should be reason enough for caution. And he’s helping you with this only so he can gain a barony. Don’t forget that. She wouldn’t. But neither would she assume that Byrne was entirely the devil that he seemed. They were done, so she walked out with the dressmaker and Lydia as the woman babbled on happily about the gowns and when they’d be finished. Mrs. Watts climbed into the carriage, but as Christabel started back up the steps, Lydia excused herself to return to her side.
“Thank you, my lady, for keeping my secret,” she whispered. “Mr. Byrne is lucky to have you for…a friend.”
“I hope you’re right.” She waited until the girl entered the carriage, then strode back inside and found the nearest footman. “I understand that Mr. Byrne left some books for me.”
“Yes, my lady, I have them right here.”
As he handed them over, she said, “I’ll also need a deck of cards. Do you know what happened to theGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlones I had last night?”
“They’re in the study,” the footman said. “I’ll fetch them at once.” When he limped back with them, he said, “Going to play a little Patience, are you?”
