Diana asked, “Does this mean…”
“That these proceedings are concluded?” Sir John answered. “I only have need of your signature on a statement, my lady, and then you are free to attend to your personal affairs.”
“I’ll conduct you both to my private study,” said DeVere.
***
“A brief word with you, my lord?” Diana asked DeVere after her business was finished with Sir John.
“But of course,” he answered and rang for a footman to conduct Sir John out.
“What did you mean by coming to my room last night?” She raged after the door had closed. “It was deplorable and unscrupulous to take such advantage of me!”
DeVere lifted a bland brow. “I do not recall any complaint last night.”
“Because I was drugged by laudanum and not in my right senses!” she cried. “And what do you mean by this?” she asked, retrieving from her pocket the document, now crumpled, that he had left under her pillow. “You give me a lease to my own house?”
She appeared both incredulous and infuriated. It was precisely the reaction he had sought to achieve, but it gave him little satisfaction. Ludovic found it a struggle to maintain his impassive facade and blithe tone.
“For obvious reasons, I am unable to convey upon you the title to the estate. Yet this ninety-nine year lease ensures your future security with continued and uninterrupted residence at Palmerston Hall at the negligible sum of one pound per annum. The execution needs only your signature.” With a gesture, he indicated the quill and ink awaiting her on the blotter.
“What of the stables, the horses?” she asked.
He laughed. “I fear my largesse does not extend as far as the horseflesh, as that was what I sought to begin with.”
“It was only for the horses?”
He inclined his head. Best to let her believe that rather than the truth—that he had bought the debt rather than allow her life to be destroyed by her wastrel husband. “You may keep your mare, of course, but all the others will join my stables.”
“I don’t understand. Why do you do this?” she asked, indicating the document.
“Is it not obvious? It is customary to provide former mistresses with a parting gift. While it is usually in the form of diamonds or emeralds, I thought this gesture would be more welcome in your straightened circumstances. I have also spoken at length with Lord Derby who has agreed to dispense with half of the prize money. Thus, you shall also have a comfortable nest egg of fifteen hundred pounds.”
Diana gaped. “P-parting gift?”
He brought her hand to his lips for a lingering kiss. “It was lovely while it lasted, my dear Diana, but my attention is sadly difficult to maintain for any duration. Ennui, you understand. It is a curse, really, as I am continually compelled to seek out new diversions…new companions.”
She blinked. Her lower lip quivered. “Then that is all this was to you? A brief diversion?”
“Don’t take it to heart, pet. Passion like we’ve shared never lasts. In my experience amorous idylls are best ended before the bloom is fallen from the rose and only thorns remain.”
“I see,” said Diana stiffly.
No. She only saw what he allowed her to see.
She picked up the document. “You flatter me with your generosity, my lord. I understand even the most exclusive courtesans may be had for one hundred per night. It seems in only two nights, I have warranted over four thousand.”
If she’d wielded a rapier, it would not have cut deeper. “Don’t sully what we had, Diana,” he growled.
“It is not I, but you who have done so, my lord. By your offer, you have made me your whore, but then again, a woman in my position would be a fool to refuse. And I am no fool.”
He could see the struggle for composure in her trembling hand and the splattered drops of ink as she scrawled a hasty signature. “I shall order my bags packed immediately,” she said. “The sooner I depart the better.”
“Perhaps that’s for the best, but you need not be anxious about crossing my path again, as I leave for London within the hour. Edward and Annalee will depart soon thereafter. You will accompany them back to your home where no doubt, given time, all will return to a state of normalcy.”
“Yes,” she said hollowly. “No doubt it will.” She turned for the door in an abrupt rustle of petticoats, but her hand paused on the knob. “There is something I must know.” Her back was still turned to him. “Did you do it? Did you kill Reggie?”