The Problem with Seduction - By Emma Locke Page 0,20
much needed to be said.
Silence stretched between them until Elizabeth could stand it no longer. “Were you told I have a child?”
Her mother made a disgusted noise. Her father leaned forward and thwacked the bottom of his empty snifter against the low table. “I suppose you’ve brought him to meet us. Think it will butter us up, do you? Think we will take him under our wing and let bygones go by?”
Her throat tightened so much that she could barely form a response. “He’s a baby.”
Her voice sounded weak. She hated that her voice sounded weak.
“Exactly,” Wyndham shot back. “An innocent baby who has no notions of immorality. He ought to be raised as a gentleman rather than a whore’s son, but you’ll never be selfless enough to admit that, will you? You’ll keep him for yourself and hinder any help his father’s name might have lent him, bastard though he is.”
She stared at her father incredulously. He was on Nicholas’s side? But how did he know?
“You should have left him with his father,” her mother said, further confirming Elizabeth’s horrible suspicion that they knew about Nicholas. “But of course, it doesn’t surprise us to hear you refused the man his own offspring. You’ve always been a headstrong girl. Had I suspected you would have the nerve to come here, however, I would have kept Clara here another day. Now I must send her a letter with your whereabouts. How embarrassing it will be to have to explain this.”
Elizabeth’s vision blurred. She shook her head at her mother’s vitriolic words, though she couldn’t make sense of the last. “Clara?”
“Lady Montborne,” she replied with a disdaining scowl. “Lord Constantine’s mother.”
Elizabeth blinked. Her heart thumped against her breast. They didn’t know about Nicholas. They wanted her to give Oliver to Lord Constantine. That was much, much better.
“You’re exchanging letters with Lady Montborne?” Elizabeth still didn’t understand what this meant.
Her mother’s pinched derision matched her tone. “She said you aren’t cooperating with his efforts to bring his child into his care. It doesn’t surprise me in the least, given—”
“I am a headstrong girl. Yes, I’ve been listening. Why did she write to you?” Elizabeth’s heart pounded so loud she could hear it. What if Con were still determined to “borrow” Oliver?
Her mother draped her fingers over her heart, as if she couldn’t countenance what she was about to say. “Write to me? She came here. What an awkward tea! Never in my life did I imagine I would entertain the mother of my daughter’s paramour. I told her in no uncertain terms that I had no notion of your whereabouts and I most adamantly would not insert myself into a custody complaint over a natural child, even if he is my grandson of sorts.”
“He’s no grandson of mine,” Wyndham said with a harrumph. “I’m more than happy to step in if I must.”
Elizabeth’s head spun. Lord Constantine couldn’t have sent his mother here.
Her dizziness made it difficult to speak. Lady Wyndham had never required her daughter’s participation to brew a fight, however. “All the same, I certainly will not harbor him. What a scandalous circumstance that would be, when poor Lord Constantine is being denied his own flesh and blood. Elizabeth, do sit up straight. You’re looking very common these days.”
“You ought to rid yourself of that child, is what you should do.” Her father’s voice seemed to come from far away. “Turn him over to Lord Constantine before he becomes some dirty pickpocket.”
The edges of her vision turned black. Her stomach heaved and she cradled her abdomen. Oh, God. No, she would not retch on her mother’s low table. But how could they be so cruel? Did they not trust her at all to raise her own child? “No,” she whispered, out loud this time.
“If not him,” Wyndham intoned, “then Captain Finn will do just as well. He can afford to apprentice him out. Give him a trade to fall back on, so he doesn’t end up addicted to gin and thievery.”
She jerked her head up. “Finn?” Her father did know.
Her mother arched a thin eyebrow. Her sharp chin jutted forward and she looked down her long nose in disgust. “If we must entertain one more of your dirty conquests, Elizabeth…”
Elizabeth went cold as mortification set in. No wonder they were angry. She’d inadvertently sent her scandal straight to their doorstep. And yet, she wished with all her heart that her mother would put aside her offense and ask Elizabeth if she