Page 40 of A Sinful Viscount's Mistletoe Affair
Her father’s voice broke through her reverie, and she dropped the paper onto the desk, her cheeks burning.
“Father, I – I did not see you coming in,” she stammered.
“Evidently,” he said, striding across the room towards her. “What on earth are you doing in here, interfering with my private things?”
“I was looking for some paper so that I could write to Sarah,” she said, aware of how small her voice sounded. Her father’s temper was legendary, and she knew there was no point in lying to him or trying to hide anything. She had learnt long ago that that was pointless.
“And you decided to start reading my correspondence while you were at it?”
Her father’s face was dark with anger, and she felt a twinge of fear coursing through her.
She nodded dumbly. “Father, I am sorry; I just thought that it might be something to do with Lord Ashcroft.”
Victor snatched the letter from where it lay on the desk and scanned it quickly. “Well, it is. But he must never know. You understand?”
Felicity thought quickly. She had heard that Lord Ashcroft’s father had died in prison; of course, everyone had heard about the scandal. It had been the talk of thetonat the time. But she had never suspected her father of being involved. The story was always that Julian Ashcroft was the one who had betrayed his business partners, not the other way around. But her father’s words in the letter implied something quite different.
She stared at her father. “You – you were the one who betrayed them all? Who caused the ship to be lost?”
Victor nodded curtly. “Do not look at me as if you never heard of foul play in your life, Felicity. These things happen amongst gentlemen all the time. I never intended for Julian to go to prison or for him to die there, for goodness’ sake! But someone had to take the blame, and it was not going to be me! Imagine what would have happened to you if it had been me who ended up locked up in prison?”
Felicity felt a lump in her throat forming. She forced herself not to cry; tears would not endear her any further to her father, that was for sure. But how could he have done such a thing? And if Lord Ashcroft ever found out …
As if reading her mind, her father continued, “If the son ever finds out, the consequences will be grave indeed. You do understand that?” He looked at her as if he thought she was rather stupid, and she felt her cheeks flushing with a mixture of shame and anger.
“I am not a complete imbecile, Father,” she retorted sharply, then immediately regretted it when she saw the look on his face.
“Well, you could have fooled me!” he bit back. “Here you are in a houseful of fine young gentlemen. This is the perfect opportunity to find a husband, and you are hiding away up here, moping and writing letters to your friends at home.” He let out a furious huff. “Honestly, I could not have given you a better chance to make a decent match, and you are wasting it.”
There was silence between them for a moment as he stared at her furiously. “It does not matter how hard I try, Father,” she said eventually. “Gentlemen like the Duke of Harbridge and Lord Ashcroft will always prefer young ladies with large fortunes. Even if I were as pretty as them, I would not stand a chance.”
She watched as her father digested this statement. Surely it was not news to him that this was how things worked? But she saw an idea coming to him and waited patiently for him to tell her his plan.
His eyes lit up with a malicious gleam. “I think we can use this situation to our advantage, Felicity. If Lord Ashcroft finds out what happened to his father all those years ago and who was responsible, then the consequences will be dire. I need you to understand that. We would lose everything.”
She nodded. The risk was grave indeed, and she did understand that.
“And if that young man gets too close to Lady Isabella and her father, then things might all come out, somehow. I am sure he is here to try and uncover the secrets of the past, and I do not like it. But if he were to be entangled in another scandal, perhaps with you, Felicity, he would be entirely distracted from his mission. Do you follow my thoughts?”
Felicity smiled a little slyly. “I do follow your thoughts, Father.”
“Felicity, if you managed to entice him somehow, or even entrap him, then he would become bound to our family and would not be able to probe any further into the murky depths of the past.” Victor was smiling now, too, clearly pleased with himself for thinking up such a neat solution to the problem.
Felicity nodded. Her mind was racing. Could she really do what her father was asking her to do?
“Felicity, do you accept the challenge?” Victor said gravely.
She looked at him and tried to sound more emboldened than she felt. “Indeed, Father, I do,” she declared.
“Well then,” he said, crumpling up the half-written letter and throwing it into the fire. “Let us return to the party, and you can begin your work.”
Felicity swallowed down her nerves and followed her father out of the room.
Chapter 19
“I think there should be plenty of time for a couple of games of billiards before dinner,” George said, leading a group of gentlemen into the billiards room. “The ladies will be busy with their crafting for a while, and I’m sure that none of us want to get caught up with all that nonsense!”
He laughed heartily, and Sebastian felt a surge of emotion at the jovial expression on his face. He wished that he could be so carefree. He wondered how George Langley could seem entirely free of troubles when Sebastian was convinced he was hiding a great secret.
