Page 19 of The Love Potion
“Miss Petrelli was feeling overheated. She needed air, and I merely escorted her.”
“Well, yes. Everyone knows how overheated she was. It involved nakedness.”
“Mother! She is sitting right there! She is a guest in my home who is blameless for the current situation.”
“Blameless!” the woman sniffed. “She chose to make a scene with a duke. It is one thing to have free manners in the country, but this is thehaut ton.” She looked down on Miss Petrelli. “It is unfortunate that you were not better trained on how to go on. But if you swim in these waters, then you must learn how to act or be eaten alive. And you, I’m afraid, have been devoured by a very large shark indeed. Mr. Pickleherring has destroyed you, and now you must go back to wherever you came from. Hopefully there is some country squire or some such who is too stupid to know or too desperate to care about your ruined reputation. Either way, your time in society is done.”
She spoke that last sentence like a judge pronouncing “Transportation!” at the end of a trial.
Meanwhile, Nate spoke up. His tone was hopeful though Ras knew he was clutching at straws. “What if Mr. Pickleherring were to write that he’d made a mistake? That Miss Petrelli was blameless?”
The duchess rolled her eyes. “There were witnesses,” she said darkly. “All the ladies of thehaut ton.”
“I have the answer,” said a small voice. It was Lady Zoe, who started speaking in a meek voice that grew stronger with every word. By the end, she spoke as if she were delivering a pronouncement from heaven. “It will set everything to right. It will be a bigger story and it will restore Kynthea’s reputation, allowing her to stay with me as my companion. It’s perfect.”
Everyone waited for her to explain. They held their breath waiting for this child to give her solution, but for some reason,she hesitated. Indeed, her gaze lay heavy on him, and Ras felt dread creep up his spine.
“Speak up, girl!” his mother snapped. “What is your idea?”
“Propose to me,” she said, looking straight at him. “If we are engaged, then all is forgiven. Kynthea was obviously not throwing herself at you, and it wouldn’t matter anyway because she will still be my companion. The bosom friend of a future duchess. No one would dare say a word against her.”
Ras swallowed. He understood the logic. Indeed, the noose tightening around his neck told him so quite specifically. But he waited for his mother to declare that solution as impossible, ridiculous, and completely preposterous.
Except it wasn’t. Hadn’t his mother specifically introduced the girl to him last night? She’d considered Lady Zoe an eligible candidate to be the next duchess. Her young age was completely irrelevant. The girl had pedigree and dowry. And if he demurred, she would point out that the child was also beautiful and would likely be a good breeder.
The very idea made him nauseous.
Meanwhile, Miss Petrelli whispered a single word. “No.”
“Yes!” Zoe retorted as she rounded on her cousin. “It’s not how I expected the love potion to work, but there it is. I’d be an asset to the dukedom. I can fix his stables if nothing else. You’d be at my side, completely redeemed. His Grace would get my considerable dowry, and everyone would talk about it with admiration. Indeed, it would be the engagement of the Season, and all done after one party!”
It was clear the girl believed her words. Worse, he could see his mother considering it. The financial alliance would do his estates no harm, and indeed, on a practical nature, everything made sense.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I will not marry a child.”
“I’m not a child!” the girl returned hotly.
“You bought a love potion to trap me and had your cousin throw it in my face. That, Lady Zoe, is the act of a child.”
The girl bit her lip, obviously embarrassed. Nate gasped, clearly startled. But the wildest reaction came from his mother. She pursed her lips and nodded.
“Clever girl,” she said.
“What?” Ras gasped.
His mother shrugged. “I’ve heard worse stories. And it worked, didn’t it? You’re considering her hand right now.”
“I am not because it will not happen.” He said the words as loudly and firmly as he could manage. And when no one appeared moved, he made his decision. “What will happen is that I shall return Lady Zoe and Miss Petrelli to their home where I shall have a frank discussion with her parents. I will explain that Miss Petrelli is the height of propriety—”
His mother released a snort of derision.
“And I shall consider it a personal insult if they sack her.”
Nate shook his head. “That might work to keep her off the streets, but it won’t help Lady Zoe find a husband. If her family stands behind Miss Petrelli, the hostesses will cut her from the guest lists.”
“Then I’ll throw a ball,” Ras declared. “A big one and make it known that anyone who cuts either of them will not be invited.”
Silence reigned as everyone mulled over the possibility.
