Page 74 of When the Viscount Seduces
“Why is that?” Jo asked.
Min pressed her lips together. “Because my father speaks highly of him. That typically doesn’t recommend a person.”
Jo grimaced.
“Why did Miss Worsley wish to speak with you?” Tamsin asked. She was seated to Gwen’s right.
Gwen angled her body toward her. “I should probably have told you this privately as it involves your cousin, and I’m afraid it’s disturbing news.”
Tamsin’s features creased. “What did she say?”
Clearing her throat of the cobwebs that had suddenly formed, Gwen addressed everyone. “Miss Worsley is expecting a child, and she says Somerton is the father.”
Everyone spoke at once, and Gwen heard none of what they said. She held up a hand. “Please let me finish, and then you can ask me questions, though I doubt I’ll be able to answer them. She said they met at a party last autumn and that she only told him of the babe the day before yesterday because she’d been ill. She indicated she hadn’t realized she was carrying. She blamed naivete.”
“How does one not know?” Ellis asked. “Your courses cease. I would think one would notice that.”
“Perhaps she was ill enough that she didn’t realize?” Gwen suggested.
“Or she could have thought her illness was the reason she wasn’t having them,” Jo said. “I was very sick when I was younger—only a year or two after I started bleeding. I missed my courses for a few months.”
“I can’t believe Somerton would do that,” Tamsin said quietly. “He can be roguish, but he has never dallied with young unmarried ladies. Never ever. My grandmother has mentioned her relief about that many times.”
That was the man Gwen wanted to believe he was. “I’ve no idea what happened, but she claims he is the father.”
“Why on earth did she want to tell you about it?” Min asked.
“Because she heard the gossip about me and Somerton and wanted to ask me to step aside so that he would marry her.When she informed him of the babe the other day, he did not immediately offer for her.”
“That tells me it isn’t his child,” Tamsin said with a certainty that Gwen wished she shared. Why didn’t she?
Because he’d known about the child and hadn’t told her. Instead, he’d tried to push her away, then asked her to wait for him. He should have told her. That he didn’t prompted suspicion and doubt.
“I don’t think it’s his child either,” Jo announced, drawing everyone’s attention. “I know something of Miss Worsley. I hear a great many things at the Siren’s Call and at the literary salons. Last autumn, she fell in love with her dancing master. Her parents had to pay him to never speak of it.”
Gwen immediately thought of Mr. Tremblay. But that would be quite a coincidence. “Do you know the dancing master’s name?”
“Mr. Tremblay,” Jo replied. “He’s very attractive. I’ve seen him myself. He is purportedly quite familiar with his students.”
“I can confirm that,” Gwen said. “My mother engaged his services, and I had two lessons with him before I told her I could not continue. He flirted with me constantly and touched me inappropriately. I believe most firmly that if I’d shown even a modicum of interest, we could have had an affair.” She stared at Jo. “Do you suppose that is what happened between him and Miss Worsley?”
“I think it’s entirely possible. What if the child she is carrying belongs to the dancing master?”
“Her family wouldn’t want her to marry someone like him,” Min said. “They’d rather she wed a wealthy, attractive viscount.”
“With a rakish reputation,” Tamsin put in, sounding disgusted. “What a horrible thing to do. I can only imagine how Somerton felt being accused of such a thing.”
Gwen recalled the tension and distress he’d carried yesterday. He’d likely felt trapped. Here was this woman claiming he’d fathered her child, and he was in love with another woman he hoped to wed. Still, there was likely a reason he was in this situation. “Why would Miss Worsley accuse him unless there was a possibility that he could be the father? He had to have bedded her.” She looked at Tamsin with concern even while her heart was crumbling into bits.
“He must have,” Ellis said softly, her gaze falling on Gwen with sadness and sympathy.
Gwen couldn’t keep the sob from breaking through her lips. She clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Oh, Gwen, you have a tendre for him,” Min said. “This has to be so hard.”
“It’s more than that.” Gwen struggled to draw breath. “I love him. And…he loves me.”
There were several gasps, and Gwen fought against the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Tamsin turned fully toward her and reached to clasp her hand tightly.
