Page 21 of The Mistletoe Countess
Truth won. It had to.
“Know?” Lillias continued applying powder to her face from her dressing table.
“About Anthony Dixon.” Grace forced volume into her words.
Lillias’s gaze flashed to Grace through the mirror’s reflection. Something flickered in her eyes. “What in heaven do you mean?”
“I know about Anthony and the deception.”
Her sister stared at her for a second longer, and her steady expression melted. “I knew it was bound to come out at some point.” She pressed her fingers into her crinkled forehead as she leaned forward against the dressing table. “He didn’t truly want to hurt anyone. He’s not the sort. He was jealous, you see.”
Grace paused her forward motion. Jealous? What was Lillias—
“If he’d been in his right mind, he’d never have considered it at all, Grace. You must understand. He even attempted to dispatch the saddle altogether, but one of the stable hands came in before he could hide it, and there you go.” Her gaze came up, pleading. “I was going to leave him in less than a week. Forever. He was trying to create more time for us, because it’s all we have left. He would never have wanted to kill Lord Astley. And he tried to make things right. You have to believe me.”
Mr. Dixon was the man who tampered with Lord Astley’s saddle! Grace stepped closer, redirecting the conversation from her previous plan. “And did Mr. Dixon try to run Lord Astley over in the village too?”
“What? Of course not. He had no idea who Lord Astley was before meeting him here, and if you recall, Anthony arrived a day later than everyone else. So he couldn’t have.” She turned from her mirror, her eyes red-rimmed. “As I told you, jealousy got the best of him with the saddle. It was a one-time offense, and he attempted to make things right. We must keep this to ourselves, Grace.”
“His jealousy could have cost a man his life. If Lord Astley hadn’t been such an avid rider or as strong of build, things could have turned out much worse.”
“I know. It’s such a horrible thing.” Lillias pinched her eyes closed and brought out her handkerchief. “Poor Anthony. Poor Lord Astley.”
“You cannot marry Lord Astley, Lillias. Not with these feelings you have for Mr. Dixon.”
“I must.” Lillias straightened in the chair, chin up. “It is the right thing to do for Father and for me.”
“But what about Lord Astley? What about Mr. Dixon’s heart?”
“So I should undo everything Father has planned just because of Anthony’s lapse in judgment?” Lillias stood, this time with fire in her eyes. “Really, Grace, you are too pious for your own—”
“I know about the baby, Lillias.” Grace’s throat burned, but she continued. “Mr. Dixon’s baby.”
“What?” Lillias blinked and released a puff of air from her parted lips as if she’d been hit in the stomach. “What on earth are you talking about, you ridiculous girl?”
“Stop it.” Grace marched forward, her voice shaking. “Stop lying and trying to justify your wrongdoing.” The same tears that had threatened her eyes all morning rose to the surface. “You can’t go through with this wedding. It isn’t right.”
Lillias’s plastered smile descended into a snarl. “It isn’t right?” Her laugh took an uncharacteristically sardonic turn. “No, none of it isright, but it must be done. I don’t live in your fairy world, Grace.” She pressed her finger against her chest. “I am the eldest. Raised to marry a man who will advance our family. I’m not allowed to have love. Or dreams. Or a happily-ever-after. Because I must forfeit it to save—”
“Your reputation and Lord Astley’s title are not worth this.”
Lillias turned her head away and walked to the nearby desk. “Someone of our standing has little else but her status and reputation.”
Grace shrank down on the bed. “There must be something we can do.”
“Don’t you think I would have thought of it, if there was another way? I cannot salvage my reputation and Father’s finances without this. The cost is too great.” She snatched a paper from the desk and slapped it onto the bed beside Grace. “Besides, everything’s already announced. There’s no going back.”
Grace stared down at the headline on the local paper: “One of the Illustrious Ferguson Daughters to Wed English Aristocracy.”
“Plans can change, Lillias.” Grace trailed her fingers over the words, emotions raking her voice to a whisper. “Theymust,reputation or not.” Her fingers curled into a fist. “Surely in your new situation, you will want to be with Mr. Dixon. After all, he should have some say about his own child, don’t you think?”
“I was not meant to be a middle-class businessman’s wife, Grace.”
“Then you shouldn’t have joined Mr. Dixon in his bed.”
The declaration came out so quickly, it shocked Grace as much as Lillias. She wasn’t quite sure what happened between a man and a woman in bed, but it clearly produced a child, along with all sorts of other mischief. Grace reined in her distracted thoughts and released a sigh. “Frederick Astley probably doesn’t wish to marry a woman who is carrying another man’s child either.”
“You know nothing of these matters.”
