Page 58 of Three Weeks with a Princess
An anticipatory murmur whispered through the gathering throng. Even though the orchestra still played and some of the sets continued to dance, the people closest to the tawdry drama had stopped pretending they were doing anything but watching with avid attention.
Jack moved up to join his mother, his expression frozen into a stonelike mask. Still, his touch on her arm was so gentle, his demeanor so protective, that Lia’s heart broke for him.
“Mother, please go with Sir Dominic,” he said quietly. “You will simply cause yourself more anguish if you insist on doing this.”
When she angrily jerked her arm away from him, Jack made an impatient noise and glanced at his sister. “Anne, this is madness.”
His sister cut a quick, troubled look between them, then lifted her shoulders in a shrug that indicated she wouldn’t interfere.
“Lady John,” the Duke of Leverton began.
She flung up an imperious hand, cutting him off. Her gaze finally skated past Gillian to Lia. Jack had gotten his dark, laughing eyes from his mother, but there was no laughter or kindness or love in her ladyship’s gaze as it latched onto Lia now. There was only loathing and contempt.
“You,” she said in a throbbing voice, pointing a dramatic finger. “Why must you bedevil my family? Why can you not leave my son alone? Your family is like a blight we cannot be rid of no matter how hard we try.”
A collective gasp, at once both delighted and appalled, went up from the assembled guests.
“Good God,” Gillian said with disgust.
Lia had to repress a wildly inappropriate impulse to laugh at Lady John’s melodramatic language and pose. Under other circumstances, Mama might even have offered her ladyship a position in the troupe.
“My lady, it is neither my desire nor my intention to trouble you or your family,” Lia said, forcing a calm tone. “And I barely see Jack these days, so you needn’t worry about that either. There is nothing between us but a childhood friendship.”
As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she knew she’d made a fatal mistake.
Lady John seemed to grow inches taller in her righteous indignation. “How dare you speak of my son with such casual regard, as if you were equals! Do not think for a moment that I will allow you to drive a wedge between us, or drive me away from my rightful place in society.Youare the one who doesn’t belong here.”
The woman would be surprised to know how much Lia agreed with her.
Jack’s hand landed on his mother’s shoulder. “That’s enough, Mother. You’ve said your piece and now we’re leaving.”
She ignored him, once again jabbing her finger at Lia’s nose. “I know you to be a whore, Lia Kincaid, just like your mother. And if you don’t stay away from my family, I will make you regret it for the rest of your life.”
As everyone absorbed that exploding squib, Gillian shoved her ladyship’s arm out of the way and stepped in front of Lia. “Right, that’s enough out of you,” she snapped.
Lia tried to pull her back. “Gillian, it’s all right. She can’t hurt me.” Not anymore than she already had anyway. A lifetime of hatred had seen to that.
“I won’t allow her to insult you,” Gillian replied, keeping her gaze squarely on Lady John. “Madam, allow me to tell you that you are nothing but a nasty, crabbed-up old biddy. And if you don’t get out of my house this instant, I’ll toss you out on your backside myself.”
Lady John’s eyes went wide with shock. A moment later she hauled back and slapped Gillian across the face.
Chapter Thirteen
“Please stop apologizing,” Gillian said in a voice muffled by the cold cloth she held to her cheek. She patted Lia’s arm with her free hand. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes, it was,” Lia replied miserably. “I wasn’t strong enough to say no to this terribly misguided notion of introducing me into society. And now I’ve landed you all in the worst sort of scandal.”
Although the party was still going full force downstairs, they’d retreated to a private sitting room at the back of the house. Lia sat next to her cousin on a chaise while Dominic and Chloe were across from them in comfortably overstuffed chairs. Both looked concerned but remarkably calm under the circumstances.
Leverton, however, prowled like an annoyed lion from one end of the room to the other, working off the fury of Lady John’s insults to both his wife and Lia. Thanks to Jack’s mother, what little had been left of Lia’s reputation was now thoroughly shredded.
Predictably, Dominic recovered first. “It’s a setback, I admit,” he said to Lia, “but no rational person could blame you. You did nothing to provoke Lady John’s unfortunate reaction.”
The duke stopped in midstride and scowled at the older man. “Unfortunate reaction? Demented and mean-spirited would be a better description. The woman is a lunatic.”
Chloe cast him a troubled glance before directing a comforting smile at Lia. “My love, you’re still looking very pale. Let me give you some tea and perhaps a bit to eat. Gillian’s housekeeper brought some lovely treats with the tea.”
“Actually, I’d rather have a brandy,” Lia said.
