sound of her uncle’s voice had her startling violently, turning her head to see her uncle framed in the doorway, his brows lowered.
“Yes, Uncle?” she asked tentatively. “Is there something wrong?”
Lord Denholm came a little further into the room. “I have not heard of an engagement as yet, Delilah. What is it you have said to Lord Coventry that has had him refuse to do so?”
Delilah’s heart slammed furiously into her chest. “I have said nothing, Uncle,” she stammered, wishing desperately that Lady Newfield had already arrived. It was a lot easier to be courageous when her godmother was present. “He is to call upon me very soon and I am sure that—”
“When your godmother insisted on this ridiculous nonsense of courtship, I only agreed due to the pressure she put me under!” Lord Denholm continued, coming a little further into the room. “This ridiculous charade must end, Delilah! You will accept his proposal without further hindrance!”
“He—he has not yet proposed, Uncle,” she said, only to realize that such a statement was not at all what she ought to say. Her uncle’s expression grew dark with rage, his color rising and his eyes narrow slits as he drew closer to her, one hand held out and his finger pointed out towards her.
“The only reason he has not done so is because of you!” her uncle roared, making Delilah stagger back for fear that he was about to hit her. “I do not know what you have done but you have said something to him or behaved in some miserable, uncouth fashion that has thrust him from you! I am not at all certain now that you will even continue with the engagement!” His hand snaked out and grasped her wrist painfully. Delilah cried out with both fear and pain—and suddenly, the room was filled with another, all the more powerful voice.
“Unhand her at once!”
Lord Denholm turned around, his hand still gripping Delilah’s wrist. Delilah cried out again as he pulled her with him, her eyes suddenly resting on the figure of Lord Coventry. Just behind him stood Lady Newfield, her eyes wide with shock.
“Lord Denholm!” Lord Coventry shouted again, authority in every word. “Let Miss Mullins go at once!”
Lord Denholm dropped Delilah’s hand but his expression had not changed. “I think,” he exclaimed, striding towards Lord Coventry, “that you will find that I am still the guardian of my niece and that, as such, I will—”
“Should I discover that you have behaved in such a manner again,” Lord Coventry interrupted, not backing down from a confrontation but rather sizing Lord Denholm up without fear. “If Miss Mullins tells me that you did such a thing, if I come across a scene such as this again, then I shall make quite certain that the additional gifts I have agreed to give you thus far in exchange for your niece’s hand in marriage shall not be given to you at all.”
Silence enveloped the room. Delilah did not know where to look, her breathing ragged and tears burning in her eyes. Lord Coventry remained precisely where he was, glaring furiously into Lord Denholm’s eyes. Her uncle remained quite silent, his lips taut and his eyes blazing with anger.
“We have already had the papers signed,” he growled, sending a shudder down Delilah’s spine. “You cannot—”
“I have the most excellent of solicitors,” Lord Coventry interrupted, for what was now the third time. “Do not test me on this, Lord Denholm. I can assure you that I mean every word.”
With a throwaway gesture, Lord Denholm thrust out one hand to Delilah. “She requires guidance,” he said as though she were not in the room. “I have not heard any comments regarding your engagement and I am certain that it is entirely to do with her behavior.”
“It is not,” Lord Coventry replied, striding towards Delilah and, to her astonishment, placing one hand about her waist and pulling her a little more closely to him, so that she was now entirely protected from her uncle’s wrath. “It is entirely my own doing, I can assure you. But I can promise you that I have not even considered ending our agreement. The proposal will come when I believe the time is right.”
Delilah could see that her uncle did not know what to say with this. Lady Newfield walked across the room to stand on Delilah’s other side, and Delilah felt a single tear trickle down her cheek, her heart both filled with the pain of her uncle’s demanding fury