Page 146 of Doxy for the Ton
“Very good,” Westbury said. “Gentlemen?” He turned toward the footmen. “Be assured we’ll be on our best behavior from henceforth. And, in a gesture of goodwill, please bring Mayhew a drink of his choice, on my ledger. Mayhew, do join us.”
The footmen bowed and disappeared while Westbury and Thorpe took the seats either side of Mayhew. Alexander sat opposite, beside Westbury’s son.
“I must apologize, Sawbridge,” Westbury said, gesturing toward Mayhew, who flinched. “I trust you’ll forgive me.”
“You gave him what he deserved,” Alexander said.
“But it was, perhaps, moreyourright to give than mine.”
A footman reappeared with a glass of brandy, but before Mayhew took it, Westbury plucked it from the tray.
“Not yet, Mayhew—you must earn your reward and await my friend’s instructions.”
“Instructions?”
“Sawbridge, if you please.”
Alexander glanced at his friend, then nodded. “I want nothing for myself, Mayhew—but I demand that you atone for what you did to Lady Rex.”
“Lady Rex!” Mayhew scoffed. “You don’t know who she really is, do you?”
Thorpe leaned forward, a cold smile on his lips. “Of course we do,” he said. “She’s Jemima King, is she not?”
Mayhew’s eyes widened. “Who told you?”
Thorpe let out a cold laugh. “I believeyoujust did, but even a simpleton could work it out. I’ve suspected it for some time. Her alias gave her away. Rex is the Latin for king, though not having an Oxford education, one cannot expectyouto know that.”
“I went to Cambridge,” Mayhew said.
“Exactly,” Thorpe said. “Your poor father wasted his funds on your education.”
“Better than wasting his funds on that whore.”
“Desist!” Alexander cried. “Do you mean to tell me that you knowingly threw Baron King’s daughter out onto the street, to fend for herself—to subject herself to selling her body to survive?”
“She whored herself to bleed my father dry,” Mayhew said. “I did her a favor, sending her out onto the streets where she could spread her legs for the whole of England.”
“Take care, Mayhew,” Westbury said. “You still have the use of all four of your limbs. I take it you wish for that state to continue?”
Mayhew nodded.
“Perhaps you ought to enlighten us as to how your late father was—as you say—wastinghis funds.”
“He was spending my inheritance on jewels and trinkets for that”—Mayhew hesitated and glanced at Alexander’s curled fists—“for Miss King. He even gifted her my late mother’s ring.”
“For what purpose?” Alexander asked.
Mayhew wrinkled his nose as if he’d encountered a foul odor.
Alexander leaned forward. “Did he intend to marry her?”
Mayhew stared at him, defiance in his eyes. Then he nodded.
“She coerced him into offering,” he said. “I discovered it when his solicitor asked me to witness the signing of the contract—as if I’d sign away my rightful property to that slut!”
“Mayhew,” Alexander growled. Thorpe placed a hand on his arm.
“Continue.”
