Page 90 of Tempted By the English Marquis
Enzo glanced from Gideon to his defiant daughter and scoffed. “Impossible. You are not Roman. You are not Catholic. You, Lord Holwell, are nothing.”
In that moment, Gideon knew. Enzo would never agree to their union.
The only thing left to do is to elope. We might make it. There has to be someone else in Rome who has a ship apart from the de Lucas.
Serafina opened her mouth and declared, “I have lain with Lord Holwell this night. Given him my virginity. As far as I am concerned, I am his, and therefore no longer fit to be Giovanni Magri’s wife.”
Where the guards who suddenly took hold of Gideon had come from, he had no idea. One minute, he was standing staring, gob smacked at Serafina; the next, he was being dragged away.
Enzo de Luca’s voice echoed in the gilded gallery. “Toss him out in the street. Then go and wake his mother and sister and tell them to pack. They will be leaving at first light. I shall wipe every trace of the Kembal family from this palace if it is the last thing I ever do.”
ChapterForty-Nine
“This is an utter disaster.” Viscount Flynn Cadnam had a talent for stating the obvious. In the past, Gideon had found it amusing, but in the cold light of a Roman dawn, he doubted there was anything which could raise a smile in him. Not even the thought of Serafina.
Serafina.She had thrown a bomb into the conversation, and her father, in his righteous fury, had thrown her paramour out into the street. And right this very minute, back at Palazzo Lazio, his mother and sister were hurriedly packing, following him into exile.
His thoughts did go back to Serafina, to her magnificent defiance. Her claiming of him had been both the stuff of legends and bloody insane. If only it had worked. But it hadn’t. They were back to where she had said they would be out of time.
The sparse wooden floors of the chapel echoed to Gideon’s constant marching up and down. “Cease,” Flynn groaned, still half asleep. “Or I shall do the same as Enzo de Luca and push you out the front door.”
Gideon sighed and dropped into a chair. “What should I do?”
“Well, setting aside all the delicate matters of this evening, our first problem is to find you a priest, an English one who can marry you and Serafina. Hopefully today,” said Flynn.
“No. Not hopefully. They must be able to make us man and wife as soon as possible. Enzo de Luca has already moved the betrothal forward to Friday. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t push on with the wedding by the end of next week.”
Especially now that he knew his daughter had been with Gideon. In her father’s eyes, she was ruined. Enzo wouldn’t risk waiting for Serafina to start showing the signs of any possible pregnancy; he would give his all to make certain she went with haste into Giovanni Magri’s bed.
“Gideon, it’s Thursday morning. You have less than a day until the betrothal ceremony. If I can’t find a Church of England minister, you will need to decide on another way out of this mess.”
Flynn was seated across the table from Gideon in the small office of the meeting-room-come-chapel. It was good to at least have someone to talk to—someone who was trying to help. The morning sun shining through an upper window was slowly tracking its way across the floor, lighting up the scattered chairs as it went. Gideon’s gaze followed its progress while at the same time his mind worked through just what the devil he was going to do.
“I shall go and deliver this note to the palace. That way, your mother and sister will know where you are and then come here,” said Flynn, rising to his feet.
He folded Gideon’s hastily penned letter and stuffed it into his pocket, along with some coins to pay a driver for the short coach journey from Palazzo Lazio to the chapel. Gideon wasn’t prepared to risk his mother and sister being left to sit out in the street or worse, lug their bags themselves. That would be the ultimate humiliation.
“Thank you. Once they are here, we should all go and find some food. I wonder if the owner of your favorite café can be persuaded to cook us a hot meal. Something tells me this morning is going to require more than just a cup of coffee and a sweet bun,” replied Gideon.
With Flynn gone to deliver the note, Gideon was left alone. He went back to pacing the floor of the main meeting room. His shock and anger over being tossed out of the palace had now dimmed. Serafina had done what she’d thought she had to in order to force her father’s hand. Any other man would not only have been outraged over what had happened but would have demanded that her seducer offer for his daughter’s hand. But not Enzo de Luca.
“That’s not what you want. You are blind to her, caring only for your selfish ambitions,” muttered Gideon.
Adding to his already long list of worries over the woman he loved, Gideon was now having to deal with his mother and sister. What would they make of all this?
He had been sent to Rome to help save his family. Now they were homeless, and he was without Serafina.
I have utterly failed you, Papa.
* * *
He didn’t have to wait long to get the answer to his question about his mother’s and sister’s reactions at being thrown out into the street. A short time later, Flynn returned. He was not alone. The Duchess of Mowbray, Lady Augusta Kembal, and a small army of servants followed him through the front door.
While Flynn gave instructions in Italian as to where the luggage was to be placed, the duchess made a beeline for Gideon. He braced himself for her fury.
“Viscount Cadnam has filled me in on most of the details of what transpired overnight. Donna Francesca came and spoke to me while I was packing. I think I have a pretty clear idea as to what went on and why,” said Lady Anne. To Gideon’s bone deep relief, she didn’t sound angry with him.
“I’m sorry that you and G got caught up in all this. I never meant to place either of you at any risk of harm. I would have spoken to you earlier this morning, but the guards threw me out the front door.”
