there is speculation it might have been at Rothbury’s hand, considering they were dueling.”
Her belly knotted, and Maryann could only imagine how dramatic the scandal would become. Why hadn’t he mentioned he fought with the duke when he saw her?
“Is…is Farringdon alive?”
“At the last report. I still cannot understand it. I thought the duke and the marquess were the chummiest of friends.”
They stole something precious from me.
She pressed a palm over her heart, as if that would slow its sudden pounding. Further reflection convinced Maryann that the duke must have had something to do with the girl Nicolas lost. But then, why had they been friends? It struck her then that the facade of a dangerous rake had been adopted to inveigle himself with their set. Revenge was an art that took patience and cunning, and it seemed the marquess had that in spades. “Crispin, please do not lie to me!”
“What are you about? Lie about what?”
“Please trust me and answer me truthfully.”
His eyes crinkled. “We do not lie to each other, poppet. Now what is the matter?”
“Did you…did you know someone called Arianna?”
The teacup slipped from his hand, dropped to the floor, and broke apart. A footman moved right away to clean the mess, and she could only stare at her brother’s flushed countenance. The fear that rushed through Maryann made her so aghast that she feared she would swoon. “Crispin, answer me!”
“Of course not,” he said. “Who…who is Arianna?”
Yet it was not her imagination that his voice trembled over the name.
“I believe her to have been a friend of Lord Rothbury.”
“You’ve spoken to him?” he demanded sharply.
“On a number of occasions,” she replied with casual ease.
“If he has the effrontery to ever approach you again…” Crispin choked on his outrage.
She would not lie to him about the attachment she felt for Nicolas. “Crispin, the marquess and I…we have an understanding of sorts. There will come a day when he will speak to Papa.”
The shock of that declaration propelled her brother to half rise from his seat. “Have you lost your senses?”
“Possibly,” she said gently. “And my heart is under threat as well.”
He slammed back down in the chair as if he had collapsed. Crispin pointed at the paper. “Do you understand this man’s reputation? He is disreputable. How…” He closed his eyes briefly. “You are to stay away from him. He is a threat to decency everywhere. This will prove to be the shabbiest affair, the worst scandal of the season, and we do not want to remind society that your names were recently associated. There is even a rumor at the club he is seeking a mistress,” he hissed.
A jolt went through her. A mistress?
“As you said, Crispin, it is a rumor.”
A black scowl settled on his face, and Maryann knew better than to agitate the matter any further, so she busied herself with slathering strawberry preserves on another slice of toast. But she did not remove her regard from her brother’s narrow-eyed contemplation. She held his gaze without wavering, appearing totally at ease.
“If you do not listen to me, I will most certainly inform our parents of this unsavory attachment.”
“Hmm,” she said around a bite of the crunchy toast. “I am positively quaking in my boots.”
His lips twitched. “Since I have been acquainted with you from the cradle, I can tell that you are decided, and I will not be able to aid you in this romance.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “Do you recall what I told you yesterday after the carriage mishap?”
“Yes.”
“Remember it.”
It took him a bit, but the tension eased from his shoulders.
“Crispin?”
He paused in the act of spearing most of a kipper onto his fork.
“Do you promise that you did not know an Arianna?”
He met her unflinching regard. “I promise it, poppet.”
“Good, then might I ask you to accompany me to Vanguard Manor next week?”
“Whatever for?” he asked, disgruntled. “It is at least a two-hour ride.”
Maryann was certain it was only a bit over an hour, but her brother tended to exaggerate whenever he did not want to do a task. “It is not today I wish to go, only that you add it to your calendar to take me there next week. We do not need to stay overnight. I would much prefer to journey down in the morning and come back to town in the evening.”
“What nonsense did you leave there?” he asked with a heavy sigh. “And can we not send a note and have one of the footmen deliver it