‘After a long acquaintance with a member of the House of Lords, is it so surprising that I might want to use the education I gained to see that men like him are not the only ones making the laws?’
To this, she had no response. If this had been enough to shock her, he did not dare tell her the rest of the truth. But he did not want her to be disgusted with him. He wanted to hear her reassurance that it did not matter who he truly was. Could she still love a man who had gained his current life by taking money for the use of his body?
At last, she spoke. ‘You said before that there was a way out of our current predicament,’ she said, as if his past did not matter to her. ‘What did it have to do with what you just told me?’
‘I thought it would be obvious,’ he said. ‘I have given you all you need to betray me. If you go to Cottsmoor village, you will find someone who can corroborate what I have told you and give you some parts of the story I am honour bound not to divulge. I promise, they are more than enough to shock even the most jaded gossip.’
‘And what am I to do with this information once I get it?’
He carefully disengaged himself from her caress, threw back the sheet and swung his legs out of the bed. ‘Get the whole truth and bring it back to London. Share the news and ruin me. Your father will be forced to break the engagement immediately and Belle will be free.’
‘But what about us?’ There was a plaintive note in her voice that told him she had still hoped for a future. But when she sat up, it was on the opposite side of the bed, far from him.
He shook his head, wondering if she could see the denial in the dim light. ‘The truth will out and I will not have to break my oath to your father.’
Or to Cottsmoor’s family.
The thought actually cheered him for a moment. ‘And if I am not worthy of Belle, then I am certainly not worthy of her sister. There is no hope for us, my love.’
‘But Belle will be free,’ she said hesitantly.
‘I will marry her, if that is what you think best. And I will care for her, just as I promised. But you have seen her with me. She does not want this.’
‘She does not,’ Amy agreed.
‘If we truly want what is best for her, we should not force her to accept it. Help me to end this farce of an engagement. Ruin me. But what we have...’ He shook his head again. ‘It is over, my love. Do what is right, I beg you, no matter how much it hurts.’
Then he left her and walked down the hall to his room.
Chapter Twenty
Amy was gone before breakfast had finished, making mock apologies about a sick aunt. She must have explained to her sister, for Belle nodded along with the news as if it was the most natural thing to be left behind in the middle of a family crisis with the man who had walked out on their engagement ball.
He gave her a reassuring smile across the table. ‘She will be back soon.’
‘Because we do not have an aunt,’ Belle said quietly. ‘Once she remembers that, she will come back for me.’
‘You are probably right. In the meantime, please, make yourself comfortable in my home.’ He tried to think of something that might interest her. ‘There is a fresh litter of pups in the stables. I am sure none of them is as nice as Mellie, but they might welcome a visit.’
She smiled and rose from the table. ‘I will go see them directly.’
Now there was nothing left for him but the waiting. Amy would find the truth and form her own opinions of it. Then, if she was wise, she would do what he hoped and spread the news about London, bringing a halt to this foolishness.
If she broke the scandal, she would be seen as the brave rescuer of her sister. Belle would have survived a narrow escape from a duplicitous villain and not become the cast-off goods of a gentleman. The result would be the same. But in society, appearances were everything. At the end of the day, Arabella must be blameless.
When he looked up, young Cottsmoor was standing in the doorway of the breakfast room, hands closed into fists and held out before him. Slowly he opened them, revealing the black and white kings of the library chess set. His expression turned hopeful.
Ben pointed to black, as he always did, and smiled back. Then he led the way to the library.
‘You will regret giving me the advantage of the first move,’ the boy said with a grin, once the door was closed. ‘I have been practising since the last time we were together.’
‘I am glad to hear it, Your Grace,’ he replied. ‘If only for the sake of the country. We need clever men to lead us.’
‘Thank you, Mr Lovell,’ he said and broke out in snorts of laughter. ‘Can you not call me John, like you used to?’
Ben smiled. ‘It would be a great insult for me to be so informal, Your Grace.’
‘I promise not to chop off your head, or whatever I am supposed to do to people who do not behave.’ He moved a pawn tentatively forward.
‘Ask your uncle. I am sure he will have the answer,’ Ben said.
‘He would say you should be whipped,’ the boy said, sounding slightly worried.