Page 51 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
“I am certain that this is all just a terrible misunderstanding,” Mr. Parr put in, his voice slightly higher pitched than it had been when he had first greeted Priscilla and the others. “Maybe we ought to go our separate ways, let everybody calm down and then set a meeting to discuss it in a more rational manner?”
The poor man’s words appeared to fall upon deaf ears. And suddenly, Lord Sinclair was not the only person Priscilla felt sorry for.
Lord Montgomery yelled, “Lord Sinclair, I demand that you make an honest woman of my daughter!”
He can’t possibly mean for Lord Sinclair to marry Lady Caroline this way,Priscilla thought, gritting her teeth against the terror that suddenly clawed at her insides. She remembered all too well Lady Caroline’s nerves and uncertainty towards Lord Sinclair.
It couldn’t possibly be true that she had been sneaking out to spend time with him, even if Lord Sinclair was a rake and roguish enough to have encouraged her to do such a thing. Priscilla could not imagine it of the woman.
“Lord Montgomery, I am not the man you believe me to be,” Lord Sinclair protested, his voice still calm, though it was clear from the slight edge that had entered it. He was having a hard time of controlling himself.
“Then prove it and marry my daughter before she is ruined!” Lord Montgomery insisted, sounding just as furious as before, though the volume had lowered somewhat. “I have witnessed my daughter sneaking back into the house several times myself and now I have come to learn of witnesses who have seen you both together!”
Priscilla’s stomach twisted painfully. She couldn’t bear to hear the words nor the argument unfolding, but stuck behind the drapes as she was, she had no way of knowing how to dismiss herself without giving them all away entirely. The look on Mrs. Lyttleton’s face suggested she would not go discreetly.
Just beneath the surface of rational thought, she couldn’t help but wonder,What if all Lord Montgomery is saying is true?
One way or another, she had to learn the truth.
Chapter 18
Lionel was absolutely horrified by the accusations being thrown at him. Taken aback by Lord Montgomery’s vicious fury, he had taken it upon himself to remain calm even though he had no idea where the conversation was headed, nor would he give Mr. Kenyon the satisfaction of knowing just how much he had been rubbed up the wrong way.
Both he and Miss Kendall were standing in the doorway of the drawing-room, looking quite contrite, though Lionel couldn’t help but feel that there was something more beneath their expressions, something far more sinister.
They would have to wait. Lord Montgomery was by far the one he must put all of his attention on now. Though he had not missed the ashamed look that crossed his cousin’s face, leading him to believe he knew exactly what had gone on. The longer Lord Montgomery threw his accusations at Lionel, the paler his cousin became.
Max, what have you been up to?Lionel thought, gritting his teeth and forcing his gaze away from his cousin. No matter what had gone on, he would not throw his cousin to the wolves. There had to be a way out of this.
“Miss Kendall and I are great friends of Lady Caroline,” Mr. Kenyon announced, stepping forward as though he meant to rile the situation. “And we have both become terribly afraid for her welfare of late. Ever since she metyou, Lord Sinclair.”
Lionel glowered back at the weasel-faced gentleman, wishing that he could plant another fist in his face. It was only his promise to Miss Lloyd that kept him from doing so.
“Lord Sinclair, I demand that you marry my daughter!” Lord Montgomery repeated, yelling the words to Mr. Kenyon before Lionel could even think of a word to say against the gentleman.
Horror shivered through Lionel’s entire body all over again. For weeks now he had been encouraged to spend time in Lady Caroline’s presence and for all that time he had only ever seen her in public, at balls and dinners and bumping into her in town or at the park for a walk. Never had he ever been alone in her presence, but it was clear from the look on his cousin’s face that he had.
And when Lionel heard the next threat from Lord Montgomery’s lips, he knew that he had to do something in order to protect Max. “Lord Sinclair, declare yourself for my daughter, or I shall meet you for pistols at dawn!”
The gasp from Miss Kendall who had remained utterly silent behind Mr. Kenyon in the doorway only aided in causing Lionel’s skin to crawl.
“Now, my lord, let us not be hasty about this!” Max protested, shaking his head and stepping between the two noblemen. “I am sure this has to be some mistake.”
“There is no mistake!” Lord Montgomery insisted, shaking a fist. “He shall have my daughter’s hand or I shall have my duel!”
Bile rose in the back of Lionel’s throat as he felt himself being caught between a rock and a hard place. He could not deny Lord Montgomery’s logic. After all, who would suspect his daughter of sneaking out to meet the shy, calm-mannered Max when his cousin, the rake, was in town?
For just a moment, Lionel allowed himself to imagine what would happen if his cousin admitted the truth. At the image of Max lying dead in a field, fallen at the end of Lord Montgomery’s pistol, he realised that there was only one thing he could do.
“Lord Montgomery, perhaps you might go and fetch your daughter?” he suggested, hoping to deflate the situation a little. But at his suggestion, Lord Montgomery seemed to inflate all the more. The short man, with his portly belly and his round cheeks, grew so red that he looked like a sun-ripened tomato.
“Do you mean to force me out to give you time to run away, my lord?” Montgomery snarled back at him, taking a step towards Lionel, and it was abundantly clear that there was nothing that would dissuade him from what he had already decided in his own mind.
I just need a minute to talk to my cousin,Lionel thought, his jaw clenching. If only he could find out how Max truly felt, if only he knew that he was certain of what he felt for Lady Caroline. Perhaps then Lionel would feel more at ease with revealing who the man was she had truly been meeting.
But when Lord Montgomery stormed across the room, headed straight for him, Lionel realised that there would be no time for that. The moment that the nobleman grabbed hold of the front of his jacket, holding him by the lapels in such a way it would be impossible to remove himself from his grip, Lionel knew that he was steadily losing ground in his options.
“You will marry my daughter, Lord Sinclair, or I shall have your guts for garters!” the threat, coupled with Max’s even more horrified expression over the nobleman’s shoulder, caused Lionel to close his eyes and suck in a deep breath.
