Page 24 of Moaning Under the Mistletoe
“I didn’t win my bet at White’s.” He ignored all the worries about the perception around the financial state of the Earldom, ignoring years of training. “If you’d given me a chance to explain, I could’ve told you that Lady Lavinia married a Mr Smithson the day before we met. I found out the night we met.”
Oscar’s eyebrows raised. “I’m not sure using me to ease your hurt feelings after losing a bet makes any of this better.”
Ouch. The knife in his chest twisted again. “I wasn’t using you.” If anything Oscar had used him, inviting him to his office. “It was mutual.”
“What are you two talking about?” Jane asked.
It didn’t concern her. “Nothing—”
“So I’m nothing to you now? All that talk of...” Before Oscar could finish and completely give them away in front of two young ladies, he had marched over and pressed his palm over Oscar’s mouth.
“Shh.”
Oscar’s lips against his hand anchored him and everything made sense. He held his gaze, staring deep into Oscar’s dark brown eyes. Nothing on earth was a more beautiful colour than Oscar’s eyes, even as his eyes glared and shone with irritation.
“Marriage is a contract. It has nothing to do with love. The Earldom needs an heir, and I understand from Sir Moreton that Miss Mary is in desperate need of protection. Lady Lavinia chose love over the Earldom, and I wish the law allowed me to do the same.”
“Merh-fuffle.”
Ambrose removed his hand and stepped away to pace the room. “Sorry.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Oscar said.
“It will all become clear soon. Jane, why did you and Miss Moreton run away?”
“She was to be married to the awful Lord Bricknell, and we would be separated. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I couldn’t do it,” Mary said.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but is it because you are in love with the father of your baby?”
Now three people were glaring at him. He was obviously missing something important.
“No. Nearly four months ago, I was upset at—” Mary glanced at Jane who reached down held Mary’s hands. “—my old ... friend Ruth, and one of my father’s stable boys was so nice to me. We had relations, although I wasn’t really sure what he was doing because it was different when I was with Ruth. Anyway it felt nice and I didn’t worry too much, but then afterwards he stopped talking to me. I thought he was being friendly and didn’t understand why he wasn’t my friend anymore. Jane explained later that he’d taken advantage of the fact that I was upset...”
“He coerced you and used your ignorance to take advantage.” Jane was fierce in her defence of her friend.
“I will kill him.” Ambrose couldn’t let a man get away with such an atrocity.
“No, please. It was my fault too. It was nice to be held by someone.”
Jane leaned closer to Mary. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”
Ambrose had never experienced such a wild fluctuation of emotions. His body didn’t know how to react, cold and hot, and he was quite literally shaking. He was proud of his sister, helping her friend, and so upset at the stable boy for taking advantage of an upset woman, and angry at Bricknell for treating Mary as property to be thrown away when she didn’t meet his hypocritical standards. And most of all, he wanted Oscar to see that he was in love with him. He was—he breathed out slowly—he was in love with Oscar. Everything suddenly made sense, except it was all more broken than he knew how to fix.
“I have saved up enough pin money,” Jane said. “We can live quietly somewhere together. I’m good with a needle and Mary can look after the baby. We will just disappear from polite society.”
“No. I will marry you and raise the baby as a legitimate Bennington. You will be safe with me.” Ambrose needed an heir, and he didn’t want to make one. He knew the Earldom needed him to perform in that realm, but he’d been dreading it. This was the perfect solution, except Oscar was still glaring at him.
“And what about my Jane?” Mary asked. Understanding finally sunk in about the two of them and why they knew about The King’s Book Club and why they’d—as Jane had said—always wanted to come here. Mary and Jane were lovers. Jane, who went to society parties and only spoke to other ladies. What a fool he was to have not figured that out sooner. But he was good at hiding himself, so Jane probably was too.
“Jane is my sister. No one will think anything of it if my sister was to live with me forever.”
“And you truly don’t mind about the baby not being yours.”
“If we marry, the baby will be mine.” It was very simple. “I don’t believe that a child should carry the sins of the father.”
Mary leaned on Jane’s shoulder.
