Page 53 of The Scoundrel and the Lady

“I’m so very sorry,” Iris said. “I never meant—”

“Of course you didn’t, dear.” She sighed. “My job right now is to protect the other girls, and our privacy. I’m afraid we’ll all have to suspend our clandestine activities so as to not draw unwanted attention, at least until I can discover whom is selling our secrets. I do hope this isn’t the end of our special group.”

Iris felt her heart sink. She, of course, didn’t want to be expelled from the group, but more than that, she didn’t want to have caused the demise of something so beneficial. “I hope that, too.”

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have other business to attend to. And I suspect that Harriet and Agnes are eager to come back in here.”

Iris took a shuddering breath.

“You are a strong woman, Iris, and you shall survive this. We all will.” And with that Lady Somersby walked out.

It didn’t take long for her friends to return to the parlor full of questions. She showed them the article and told them all that Lady Somersby had said. Though she’d been instructed to stay in town, she’d still post her advertisement for a traveling companion for when this mess blew over.

“However did he uncover all of the details of our group?” Agnes asked.

“Someone must have talked to him,” Harriet said. “You know there have been rumors before, but they always dissipated.”

“I’ve made a disaster of everything,” Iris said.

“At least you kept your wits about you and did not give Lord Ashby your virtue,” Harriet said.

She winced.

“Oh, Iris,” Harriet said gently. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“It would not have changed anything,” Iris said.

“Do you love him?” Agnes asked.

“I hardly see how that matters,” Iris said.

“Well, if he has taken your virtue, certainly he will do the right thing and marry you,” Harriet said.

Iris sighed. “He offered. I declined.”

“Whyever would you do that?” Agnes asked. “You’ll be ruined.”

“Why does anyone concern themselves with my reputation?” Iris said. “I’m unmarried, and until Merritt’s proposal, it would seem I was destined to stay that way. Jasper certainly isn’t concerned with any would-be scandals, the way he’s carousing through London.”

“Still, you must marry Lord Ashby,” Agnes said.

“Why? He has brought me nothing but ruination.”

“Because if you marry him, it will give you added protection if a scandal is about to break,” Agnes said. “No one would ever presume that he would publish a piece that would risk exposing his wife to a scandal.”

“He betrayed me,” Iris said.

“Precisely,” Harriet said, taking her side. “She shouldn’t have to saddle herself with that. She should get to marry for love.”

“No one marries for love,” Agnes said. “It is a business transaction, you know that. And I don’t see how he betrayed you, unless you were the one who confided in him the details of our organization.”

“Of course not,” Iris said. Perhaps he had not truly betrayed her. He had not taken her words and printed them. He had not given his word not to publish a story about the Ladies of Virtue and then done it anyway.

No, his betrayal was more insidious than that.

He must have known that the story would hurt her.

He must have known there would be consequences for her. For their relationship.

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