Page 19 of The Marquess of Temptation
Chapter Nine
She needed to escape.
Hestia's heart pounded in her chest as she pushed her way through the drawing room, past so many unfamiliar faces and out into the hallway. She closed the door behind her firmly, wondering how best to extricate herself from the unbelievable situation that had suddenly been thrust upon her.
Lord Delaney was her guardian?
The idea was so absurd, that if she had not been in such a panic, she would have laughed. How had her father thought to appoint the Marquess of Falconbridge as her legal guardian? She could think of no connection that would tie the perfect and respectable Lord Delaney to her criminal father --except...
Her mother.
A conversation that Hestia had heard, all those years ago, came back to her. Her mother's cousin Amelia had married a Marquess; it must have been Falconbridge.
Oh, this was terrible, for it meant that the already overbearing, self-entitled Lord had every right to act in his usual bossy manner around her --even more so, as he was her guardian. He would be even more insufferable than usual, now he had this to leverage over her. Hestia scurried up the hallway, determined to flee the boarding house and the village of St Jarvis at once.
She would never solve the mystery of what had happened to her father if Lord Delaney thought he was in charge of her. He would lock her up in some God forsaken estate, for her own safety and protection, and leave her there until she was a dusty old maid. Hestia quickened her pace and would have made it to freedom, had her way not been blocked by Jane and Lord Payne, who were engaged in an amorous embrace.
"Oh, Belinda, it's you!" Jane broke away from her betrothed at the sound of Hestia's footsteps, her face beet-red with embarrassment. Lord Payne, on the other hand, did not look in the least bit bashful at having been caught out kissing his future bride, instead he looked pleased as punch.
"I need to go--I need to go--" Hestia stuttered, wishing she could just shove the pair out of her way.
"Oh-ho!" Lord Payne nodded in understanding, "I think you'll find it's upstairs somewhere."
"I beg your pardon?" Hestia, who had been distracted by the sound of the drawing room door opening, turned to look at Lord Payne in confusion. Realisation dawned on her, after a moment, and her face flamed as red as Jane's. "No. Not that, my Lord. I need to go outside. Now. Please excuse me."
The lovestruck pair stood back, to allow Hestia pass, their faces wearing identical expressions of confusion.
"But where are you going, Belinda?" Jane asked, her brow creased in a frown; she was unused to the meek and timid Belinda Bowstock acting in such a firm manner. But she was not Belinda Bowstock, Hestia thought grimly, she was Hestia B. Stockbow and she needed to flee.
"She is going nowhere."
It was too late, she thought, as she turned to find the towering form of the Marquess behind her --though it had always been too late, for her plan had been silly, born out of panic. There was no way that she would have out-run Lord Delaney with a mere three second head start. Observing his dark, angry face, Hestia thought that she'd need a three week head start if she was actually to stand a chance.
"Good heavens, my Lord," Jane, who was usually a most mild mannered individual, rounded on the Marquess, wagging her finger as she spoke. "I will not have you terrify my companion again. You've already done it once and now you seek to do it once more--with witnesses, no less! Whatever has come over you? You usually have impeccable manners."
"What has come over me?" Lord Delaney questioned mildly, his eyes on Hestia. "Do you know, Miss Deveraux, I'm not certain that I could explain it properly myself. Why don't you ask Miss Hestia Stockbow here to fill you in on a few details you might be missing?"
"Who on earth is Hestia Stockbow?" Jane looked from Hestia to the Marquess, and back again, in confusion.
"I am."
Never before had Hestia silenced a room, but there was always a first for everything, she thought wryly as her quiet confession rendered her mistress and Lord Payne mute.
"Stockbow, Stockbow...Why does that name sound so familiar?" Jane pondered aloud, after an eternity of silence.
"My father was in the papers of late," Hestia mumbled, her cheeks burning red. "David Stockbow..."
"Oh, the pirate!" Lord Payne exclaimed, his face lighting up with excitement. "Why, you never said Belinda, I mean Hestia. I mean. Lud, I don't know what I mean."
"I was afraid that I would not find a position unless I lied about my family name," Hestia ignored Lord Payne's confused outburst and turned, instead to Jane. "I am sorry that I misled you Jane, and I beg your forgiveness."
"Pshaw,"Jane waved an airy hand, her eyes dancing with excitement. "Of course you had to lie, my dear. Emily's mother would never have accepted you for the position if there had been any hint of a scandal attached to you. Oh, Hestia, you should have told me! I have so many questions, piracy is a most fascinating topic. Did you know that the earliest documented instance of pirates attacking, was in the 14th century, when the so-called Sea Peoples attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations?"
"No,I did not know that" Hestia bit her lip to keep the giggles that were threatening at bay. Did Miss Deveraux honestly think that her father's murky past was an opportunity for an impromptu history lesson?
"Oh, but piracy has a most fascinating history that stretches back even further than this century," Jane continued, buoyed by her favourite topic of conversation, "Ancient Greeks actually condoned piracy as a viable profession; it apparently was widespread and regarded as an perfectly honourable way of making a living."
"Is that so?" Hestia asked, her eyebrows raised in what she hoped was an expression of interest, rather than the bemusement she actually felt.
