“Well, Frank, you are in a difficult position, I am afraid. Let me see if I can get it right. You want to marry Sophie, but you have compromised her best friend and are engaged to her. You have openly scorned Melissa by appearing to dote on your mistress. Sophie is angry at you for treating her best friend with such contempt. You cannot hope to gain her back even if you do succeed in breaking your engagement, unless you first do all that you can to repair that engagement. Even if Melissa were to cry off herself, I do not think Sophie would have you at this point.”
“This coil gets perpetually worse!”
“Yes, it would seem so.” Fanny took up her embroidery again. “Would you care for tea?”
“Tea? I’m afraid only a brandy will do. Thank you for seeing me.”
“You must take some steps to deal with Lady Manwaring, Frank. This is not the first time she has caused you problems.”
“You are right. I must clean house, as they say.”
~~*
Of course, Lila was overjoyed to see him.
“I knew you’d come,” she said. Her face held such delight that he felt a qualm. His anger still simmered, but he didn’t let it get the better of him.
As she was about to sweep him into her boudoir, he halted on the landing. “Let us go into the drawing room, if you do not mind.”
The gold and white room was decorated to set off Lila’s striking looks. Today, she wore tangerine muslin and delicate gold jewelry.
“Lila, you and I must have a talk. You know we must.”
She pouted.
“You are a married woman, needless to say. As such, our relationship was limited to what it was from the very beginning. There was never any chance of its becoming anything more.”
She put a hand to her forehead as though she were trying to block out his words.
“Because of your position in society, it was possible for you to be my mistress without any diminution of your social standing. Ours was a well-known liaison, was it not?”
“I suppose it was,” she acknowledged with a shrug.
Frank stood and began pacing the hearth rug, choosing his words with care. “I am here to tell you in the firmest possible way that it has come to an end. I do not wish to cause you pain, however. This day was inevitable, and we both knew it. Even though your husband is conveniently absent, the time has come that I very much wish to marry.”
Lila looked at him with eyes that resembled those of a wounded puppy. “And what difference does that make? Most married men in this town have a mistress as well as a wife.”
“That is an exaggeration, I believe. And then there is the fact,” he came and stood directly before her. “that I am very much in love.”
“Frank, you are not fun anymore. You have lost your wit. Your sense of humor. You are drearily serious.”
“My situation is serious. This is no drawing room comedy, and I wish you to understand that. You have caused a scandal and seriously affronted my fiancée.”
“Come now, Frank. You have caused a scandal yourself and that is why you are engaged to someone you do not even love. All this talk of being in love …”
“You are right about my engagement. However, Miss Edwards is privy to the situation surrounding my engagement. It is Miss Edwards that I love, but Lady Melissa is her best friend. We are trying to rid ourselves of this coil in a satisfactory manner, and you are doing nothing but making the matter a good deal worse than it needs to be.”
“Perhaps Lady Melissa will now call off the engagement, and I will have been a help to you.”
“She would still be ruined in that case. And her reputation would not be improved by crying off for such a scandalous reason.” Setting his fists on his hips, he said, “I have come here to ask your cooperation, Lila. For the sake of whatever fondness you may have felt for me in the past, please refrain from addressing me in public in a way that seems to indicate that our relationship is ongoing.”
His former mistress elevated her chin and came to her feet, sweeping her dress about her. “I never thought to find you to be so unfeeling, Frank.”
He could feel his temper rising. “Lila, you cannot pretend to feel any grande passion for me! Ours was never even an exclusive arrangement. You have had many lovers!”
“I dislike losing,” she said, elevating an eyebrow. The pout was gone, and now she looked like what she was: a dangerous female.
“Would you like me to repudiate you in public, then? That is the only choice you are offering me.”
Her eyes grew round.
“You would do that?”
“It is not beneath me.”
“I would be greatly distressed. I do not believe you would do it!”
“I will prove it to you, if you pull another stunt like you pulled at the rout the other night.”
“I would like you to leave now,” Lila said. “I do not wish to hear any more.”
Frank clamped his beaver back onto his head and took leave.
~~*
Sitting in the writing room at Brook’s, he penned a letter to Lady Melissa.
My dear lady Melissa,