Page 20 of Long Live the Baron
“Where were you?” Her mother’s uncharacteristic heat made Lily step back, almost stumbling on the stair. She grabbed the banister to right herself, and spread her lips back out. Her smile had been slipping, and it would not do to give her mood away. Not yet.
“I took a constitutional with Nancy.”
“On your own!” It was less a question and more a cry of distress.
“Nothing happened. I am here, all safe and sound.” It was a bald-faced lie which would soon be revealed, but Lily needed to compose herself before the next battle of discourse.
Speaking with Grimes had been an exhausting experience, especially after a sleepless night of tossing and turning. She had had to dig deep to find every ounce of insouciant chatter she could muster while his cold, beady eyes had surveyed her with patent disgust.
“What if someone had seen you? Of course, someone saw you! How will we explain this? What if it ruins you entirely, young lady?”
Lily withheld a grimace. If Mama thought that walking in the street with Nancy as chaperone was enough to destroy her reputation, she was going to have an apoplexy when she discovered the truth. She hated that she was going to cause Mama distress, but she could not have it on her conscience that they tried an innocent man for patricide. Mama would eventually get over it and turn her attentions to marrying Aidan off.
In the grand scheme of things, Lily was a rather inconsequential piece of the Abbott family heritage. Her making a good marriage would have meant one more connection, but Viscount Moreland, as all his predecessors before him, was very well-connected already. Mama would recover from the disappointment, and Mr. Ridley would be a free man.
“Mama, I had a chaperone, and I was in a good neighborhood in broad daylight.” Another bald-faced lie, but Lily really needed to end this conversation so she could go to her room and think about how to break the news to her family. One day, she hoped, they would accept that she had made the right decision. The adult decision.
“Oh, Lily! Why would you do this?”
Lily bit her lip, watching her distraught mother lament her inappropriate behavior, and she felt sad for the coming changes. Mama had always been a good parent. A little too suffocating, a little too worried about what high society thought and about keeping up appearances, but at heart Lady Moreland was a loving parent who wanted what was best for her daughter. They might disagree on what that was, but Lily had never doubted that her mother’s concerns were founded on genuine love.
She swallowed the knot that had formed in her throat. Lily sincerely hoped her mother might come to understand the decision she had made, and accept that she had taken the only path she could under the circumstances.
“I needed some air because I have been cooped up all week with all the coronation happenings.”
“Is this my fault? Have I neglected you?”
Tears sprang to her eyes. She had not thought about that as a possible consequence—Mama would blame herself once the news broke. Hurting her slightly overbearing parent had never been part of the plan. Not that much planning had been done.
Lily descended the stairs to stand in front of Lady Moreland. Reaching out to take hold of her by the arms, Lily stretched up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on her mother’s smooth cheek. “You are the very best of mamas, and you have never neglected me.”
Dropping to step back, and trying to ignore the look of utter astonishment on her mother’s face, Lily turned away and ran up the stairs, holding her skirt up with both hands.
“Do not run! It is not ladylike!”
Lily huffed a laugh as she continued her course to her room. Running was the least of her problems now that she had taken such a defining action as she had done this morning.
* * *
“Grimes is here,”Richard intoned from the window.
The earl was a handsome man with an amiable smile. Before his marriage the year before, he had been a renowned skirt-chaser, with women practically lining up to enter his bed. Now that the former rake was tamed, he was no less charming than he had been. Rather, his affability seemed more genuine than it had before he had seen the error of his ways and taken steps to correct his past mistakes.
Currently, there was no sign of Richard’s amiable smile.
Reluctantly, the duke rose along with Brendan, whose body felt so heavy it was a struggle to lift it. He briefly kneaded his temple and then carefully reconstituted his composure as a mantle over his face and limbs as he squared his shoulders.
Stiff upper lip, Brendan Ridley. It is time to face your accusers.
The three of them filed out of the library while Brendan wondered if he would be allowed to pack a bag. Perhaps his valet would be permitted to attend him. Then he pulled a face as he thought about convincing the man to enter a prison.
Nay, you will have to do for yourself.
When they reached the entrance hall, Briggs was alone with Michaels, who had the sour appearance of a man who had been sucking on lemons. Brendan deflated slightly, his shoulders sagging just a fraction of an inch. He had just gathered his best masculine solemnity, and the coroner was not even there to witness his bravado in the face of adversity.
Richard peered up and down the hall and stairs as if expecting the coroner to jump out of the shadows. “Where is Grimes?”
“He has left,” Briggs replied. Brendan noted the man’s change in demeanor. His earlier reluctance had disappeared. “There will not be an arrest today.”
