To Love a Tormented Earl - Bridget Barton Page 0,97

yielded.

‘Papa!’ Charlotte wailed.

‘I believed her wretched lies at first,’ Edward said. ‘But soon enough the contradictions—’twas plain to see she had fabricated the entire sordid tale.’

Charlotte began to weep.

‘Nevertheless, you must understand, my boy,’ Edward said to Max, his eyes pleading. ‘She is my daughter. My only living child. I could not turn my back on her. I wrote the blackmail letter.’

Ferriston made a wheezing noise.

‘There now, you see, old chap? We’ve had the truth out at last,’ Roberts said triumphantly.

Max gave him a nod. ‘Yes, we have. Charlotte had an affair with Mr. Reid, and I discovered them. She devised the scheme to blackmail me into marriage. Then you, Uncle Edward, chose to support it.’

‘It’s incomprehensible!’ Ferriston exclaimed. ‘But why has it all only come out now?’

‘I’ve been abroad,’ Max said mildly, a knot that had tied up his chest in a tight grip for three years finally loosening. ‘An illness kept me there. But never fear, Charlotte, you see I am quite well now.’

With that, he dampened his glove on a wet leaf and wiped his face.

The lady stared at him and then let out a choked cry, covering her mouth.

‘Well, I never! In all my days!’

It was a lady’s voice coming from behind him, and in the next moment, Miss Augusta Emma d’Este marched out from the same hedge from which Ferriston had appeared. Miss Whitmore and Miss Bromley followed her.

The young lady drew herself up straighter than Max had ever seen her stand before, and she glared imperiously at Charlotte. For the first time since he’d known her, Miss d’Este looked not like a young girl, but like the royalty she truly was.

‘I see I have made a profound mistake in befriending you, Charlotte Emery,’ Miss d’Este said. ‘You can be sure that error shall never be repeated, by me or anyone in my acquaintance.’

Charlotte would be shunned by all polite society.

Comprehension of this fact dawned on the lady herself, and she turned and fled.

Chapter 35

Edward Emery hurried after his daughter, and everyone else let him go.

‘What a tale I shall have to tell,’ Miss d’Este said, relinquishing the queenly poise she had affected. Then she laughed and ran back toward the house.

‘I daresay this ball will not soon be forgotten,’ Lt. Roberts said.

‘Indeed,’ Lord Ferriston said, his face pale and shocked. ‘What a mull Lady Charlotte seems to have made of everything. I suppose I should be happy to have escaped such a union, but I am most unsettled by all that has been revealed.’

Nicholas nodded. ‘She has that effect, my lord.’ He turned to Maximilian. The latter would be seen as the earl again now, Emilia realized. She must endeavour to only think of him thus, as Lord Ceastre. ‘What happens now, my lord?’ the footman asked.

Lord Ceastre gave Nicholas a grim look. ‘I cannot say for certain, but if I were my uncle, I might insist that you marry my daughter, after all you have confessed with regards to your part in the loss of her innocence.’

Nicholas gave a nod. ‘The idea is not entirely unwelcome. But surely if I do so, it would be best for us to move away?’

Lord Ceastre inhaled deeply, then said, ‘Something might yet be arranged.’

Lord Ferriston made a pained noise and stalked off. The rest of them watched him go, and Alice made a low tutting noise.

‘Poor lamb,’ she said softly to Emilia. ‘He seems the most guiltless in all of this, and perhaps the one most injured.’

Emilia nodded.

Lord Ceastre and Lieutenant Roberts began speaking to Nicholas in low tones, so she took Alice’s arm and led her back into an allée.

‘I should like to see if we can find Charlotte,’ Emilia said. ‘She seemed quite wild. I am afraid her father will not find her and she shall do herself harm.’

Alice narrowed her eyes. ‘Indeed, or she will find some way yet to harm his lordship. Let’s go.’

Together they hurried in the direction Charlotte had gone.

This path led round the side of the house to the stables and its courtyard. Emilia spied Charlotte speaking animatedly to a rough sort in a heavy coat.

‘Who is that?’ she whispered to Alice, putting out a hand to stop them both before they left the shelter of the garden.

Alarm stiffened Emilia’s limbs as the ruffian stormed away from Charlotte, heading directly for her and Alice.

‘Miss Whitmore?’

It was Lord Ceastre, coming up from behind.

With the earl coming from one direction and the tough from the other, Emilia felt quite trapped. She