Lord Fitzhugh?” asked Lexington.
Fitz abstained entirely from intoxicating beverages and usually contented himself with champagne cider at celebratory occasions.
But before anyone could answer, a footman announced, “Viscount Hastings.”
In swept the realities of Helena’s life; all the gladness drained from her heart. “Perhaps not just yet,” she muttered under her breath. “The champagne, that is.”
Fitz and Lexington both shook hands with Hastings, with Fitz looking openly puzzled.
“I didn’t expect to see you until later this evening, David. But I’m glad to see you now.”
Hastings glanced at Helena, then at the gathering, perhaps noticing for the first time the general good cheer. “What did I miss?”
“The duke and I will soon be parents,” a still giddy-looking Venetia told him.
“My goodness, this is the best news I’ve heard all day. I shall spoil the child rotten.” He kissed Venetia on her cheek and shook hands again with the duke. “Well done, old fellow.”
“My pride is nearly infinite,” said the duke dryly.
Venetia motioned the gentlemen to sit. “Tomorrow the news will be all over town—ladies Avery and Somersby will do the trumpeting. But we wanted all of you to know first.”
“I take it that in the face of your marvelous news, nothing else has been discussed?” asked Hastings.
Helena’s stomach tightened. “No.”
Hastings glanced at her. “I see that I have arrived too soon.”
Fitz, always perceptive, frowned. “What do you mean, David?”
“Do you wish to tell them, Miss Fitzhugh?” asked Hastings, his expression a wall of amiability. “Or shall I?”
The point of no return—they’d come to it all too soon. The dull burn in her heart was now replaced by the sheer void of inevitability. “I assume it will be no surprise to anyone in this room that Mr. Andrew Martin and I have been seeing each other in a manner that would not receive widespread approval.”
There was a collective intake of breath. Instantly, the atmosphere turned tense.
“But don’t fret. I am still a lily-white virgin.”
They’d been surprised by her admission of the affair, but this shocked them—especially Hastings, it would seem. Why, did he think she’d be so stupid as to risk a pregnancy? Or that Andrew was so lacking in honor and responsibility?
“But I did something unwise today. I agreed to meet Mr. Martin at the Savoy, not realizing it was a plot by Mrs. Monteth to expose us. I wish to stress that my mobility was not due to negligence on the part of either Bridget or the gentleman who has had the unenviable duty to stand watch beneath Fitzhugh and Company. I played a trick to get free—and walked into Mrs. Monteth’s trap.”
Millie gripped Fitz’s arm. Venetia gripped the armrests. Lexington rounded behind his wife’s chair and placed a hand on her shoulder. Only Hastings, now that he’d recovered from his earlier astonishment, seemed entirely unaffected. He sat sprawled in his bergère chair, for all intents and purposes twiddling his thumbs as he waited for her to continue.
“Lord Hastings arrived in the nick of time. To save Mr. Martin, we hid him out of view. To save me, Lord Hastings told Mrs. Monteth and the senior Mrs. Martin that we have eloped.”
“Good gracious,” mumbled Venetia.
Millie and Fitz exchanged a look.
“It was quick thinking on Lord Hastings’s part and I am indebted to him.”
The words were grateful enough, but she could not make her voice sound anything other than lifeless, as if she were reading her own obituary aloud.
Hastings crossed his legs at the ankles. “We will, of course, marry as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, it is advisable for Miss Fitzhugh to be addressed as Lady Hastings—and for her to remove to my house today, to keep up the appearance of having eloped. The news of our ‘elopement’ will spread with the speed of a wildfire; we do not want anyone to question its veracity.”
Remove to his house today? The possibility had not even occurred to Helena. She’d counted on a few days of privacy, at least, to come to terms with what was to become the rest of her life.
“We will, of course,” added Hastings, “conduct ourselves with the utmost decorum.”
There was nothing objectionable in his reassurance to her family. All the same, Helena shivered.
Fitz sighed. “Are you sure about this, Helena?”
It dawned on her that he was offering her a choice, letting her know that she did not need to force herself into marriage if it made her unhappy. Tears welled in her eyes. Before they could fall, she blinked and set her face to a blank nonchalance. “By