Page 83 of One Night with a Prince
He held her closer, brushing his lips over her frowning brow. “Haversham clearly did like your company, from what he said to Stokely. If he had any mistress at all, it was gambling.” He shook his head. “I’ve seen gambling turn father against son, mother against daughter, and husband against wife. It had nothing to do with you, my sweet. The obsession was probably there long before you came along. And once Haversham had the leisure to gamble whenever he pleased, there would have been no reasoning with him.”
She curled against his shoulder. “So you don’t think he had a mistress?”
“I never heard anything about him and other women. Apparently no one else did, either.” When she merely digested that in silence, he added, “Who told you that he had a mistress?”
She reached for the carriage blanket lying folded on the seat across from them, then pulled it up to cover them both. “It doesn’t matter. I probably jumped to conclusions—”
“Who, Christabel? Tell me.”
She swallowed. “His Highness.”
He stiffened. “Prinny?He’s the arse who told you Haversham had a mistress?”
“It wasn’t like that. I’m not sure he meant to imply—”
“Tell me exactly what he said.” When she bristled at his commanding tone, he nuzzled her hair to soften her. “And how did you come to discuss such a thing with the prince, anyway?”
She sighed. “The first time I became aware of the missing letters was when I was called to London for a private audience. The prince claimed that my husband had apparently sold my father’s letters. He was unsure how much I knew, but I admitted at once that I knew what letters he meant and what was inGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlthem. Then he said that Lord Stokely was threatening to publish them if His Highness did not…give him a certain boon.”
“What sort of boon?” When she remained silent, Gavin took her by the chin and turned her face to his.
“Come now, lass, surely it can’t hurt for you to tell me what Stokely wants for them. I’ve already guessed that they concern Prinny as much as your father, so you won’t be revealing that.”
She stared at him a long moment before uttering a heartfelt sigh. “I suppose not.” Her tone grew steely.
“The impudent scoundrel wants His Highness to broker a marriage between him and Princess Charlotte, now that her engagement to the Prince of Orange has fallen through.”
Gavin stared at her, stunned. “Is he insane?”
“Not entirely. She once carried on a clandestine correspondence with a handsome captain of the guards, so I suppose Lord Stokely figured that a baron would be an improvement over that.”
“I seriously doubt that her father sees it that way. According to Draker, Prinny means for Charlotte to make a politically advantageous match.”
Christabel nodded. “You can be sure that the prince has no desire to wed Princess Charlotte to Lord Stokely. But Lord Stokely seems determined to gain her as a wife.”
“I suppose he’s grown tired of being on the outside of society, even if he did put himself there with his scandalous house parties and wild living. Perhaps he thinks marrying a princess will erase his bad reputation.”
“That makes sense. But it doesn’t make his blackmail any less reprehensible.”
“No,” he agreed, though not wholeheartedly. After all, if he got his own hands on the letters, he meant to use them to gain something for himself, too. But at least he wasn’t aiming to marry the princess and drag her into it. That made him less a villain than Stokely. Didn’t it? And why did it matter how much a villain he was, anyway? When it came to Prinny, any villainy against the man was justified. “Go on. Prinny told you about Stokely’s threats, and…”
“I couldn’t believe Philip betrayed my trust by selling my family’s letters to Lord Stokely. So I told the prince that Lord Stokely had to be lying about having them. Even after the prince showed me the one letter Lord Stokely had sent as proof, I protested Philip’s involvement. But he said it was either Philip or me or…or someone else close to him…like…like…”
Tears filled her eyes, making an unfamiliar knot form in Gavin’s gut. “Like?” he prodded.
“Ph-Philip’s mistress.” She started to cry, and he wound his arms more tightly about her, cursing Prinny to hell. “I told him Philip didn’t…ha-have a mistress…and he pointed out that I wouldn’t know if he did…and the discussion ended there. I was too…shocked and numb…to ask who she was.”
Brushing away her tears, she pulled herself together. After a moment, she continued in a muted tone. “I assumed that the prince knew for sure that Philip had one. But now that I look back, he was probably speculating. And after he raised the possibility, it made sense to me—Philip came to town so often, and he never wanted me to accompany him.”
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“Was it during that meeting that Prinny got you to agree to this scheme?”
She nodded.
“Damnhim to hell. You were distraught, and he took advantage.”
“You don’t think he deliberately mentioned the mistress, do you?”
