Page 78 of A Sight to Behold
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I didn’t see well because I developed cataracts at age twenty-nine. A side effect of heavy drinking. My connections are glorious and well-known, but they came at a cost. You learn more about diplomacy over a glass of whisky than in hours of debate.”
“So, Nick—”
“Yes, and there’s a bit more help from Mister Alfie Collins, but the point is that Violet has an unwavering sense ofniveau. She made me work to reclaim it, and when I did, she opened her heart to me.”
“And her legs,” Pippa whispered but the earl heard.
“I heard that. It’s true. And I’m proud to say that I bring my wife much pleasure now. Is that implausible?”
“No,” Pippa mumbled. However, she didn’t particularly want Violet to have much pleasure right now after she’d made Isabel cry like that. And she too had suffered at Violet’s hand. The name “clumsy goose,” for example, rang out in her mind.
Beside her, Isabel tossed her head. “What does it have to do with me?”
“What I’m trying to tell you—not well, I’m afraid—is that you need to embrace your flaws, Lady Ellington. I won’t lie to you and pretend that I cannot see the blemish in your face because I won’t insult your intelligence. But I’ve learned that one mustn’t be defeated by the cards we’re dealt. Sometimes, we must shuffle them around and still get a flush.”
With these words, he extended his arm to Isabel and waited.
She hesitated momentarily but then laid her arm in his and followed him back into the house.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Back in thedrawing room, the Earl of Langley settled back in his chair and lifted his cup of tea.
Isabel and Pippa followed suit. But then he grimaced and set the cup back down. “Faugh.There’s no amount of sugar that can make this taste like the schnapps I had in Vienna, darling. I’d rather drink water.” He pushed the cup aside and leaned back in his chair.
Considering his demeanor, Pippa was reminded of her father’s demeanor when he’d played “The Queen Comes for Tea” with her when she was six years old. He’d been big and imposing, yet loving, willingly drinking tea when it was clear he’d prefer something else. “My grown-up drink,” he’d told her. But he’d at least pretended to drink the tea she’d poured him.
It had been a long time ago now and she wasn’t waiting for the queen, nor was her father inclined to have tea with her. But it was a welcome memory, one that reminded her of how much he’d changed, and how much she needed to eliminate Wife Six from their lives as soon as possible.
“He’s a peer of the Realm and doesn’t like tea. What an earl I caught,” Violet said in a self-indulgent singsong. She was fishing for compliments. None came.
No time for dallying.
“Lady Ellington, please stay here with us as our guest. I will personally arrange for my carriage to take you back to your husband in the morning,” the earl said, demonstratively ignoring his wife’s gasp.
Pippa chuckled. He clearly had learned much about diplomacy and how to quiet Violet. Perhaps there was more to the earl than met the eye.
“I cannot stay without Pippa, my lord,” Isabel said.
Violet deflated.
He turned to Pippa. “Is it your wish, Lady Pemberton, to join us as our guest for the rest of the day and the evening?” the earl said.
Pippa remained quiet though the answer leapt to her mind immediately.Yes, please!Of course, she’d jump at the chance. It wasn’t exactly right for her to stay at 87 Harley Street but also going home was impossible. And if she wanted to be there for Isabel and Lance tomorrow, she didn’t have enough time to go to Silvercrest Manor then return to London. “Yes, my lord. I’d be quite pleased to stay with you.”
“Very good! Then I will send a note to your father to inform him that—” But Pippa interrupted the earl.
“Please don’t tell him where I am, my lord.”
The earl arched a brow and inclined his head. “Needn’t the Duke of Sussex know where his daughter is if she doesn’t come home?”
“He wouldn’t miss me if I were gone a week, my lord.” Heat rose to Pippa’s face when she said it, but it was true. As shameful as her relationship with her father was, she could barely explain why a lady of her social standing was free to come and go without being noticed. Although now, she understood that it was, in more likelihood due to the poisonous potion with which he was being manipulated. Again, she thought about the father she’d known, a duke, willing to play tea party with his little girl. He’d loved her very much once. Now, his mind was being poisoned, not just his body.
“Lady Pemberton, is there something I ought to know?” the earl asked Pippa.
Sitting in a chair kitty-corner to the earl’s, Violet looked up at the ceiling and sucked her lower lip in, the very expression she always used when…Oh no, she told her husband.
