Diana was cut dead by Lady Marian Braverman. Lucia met the woman's eyes, and Lady Marian had the grace to blush.
Lucia kept Diana close until she could find out what had happened. It was really quite simple. Charlotte and that wretched Monsieur DuPres had busily spread the gossip that Diana Savarol and Lyonel Ashton had traveled together to his estate in Yorkshire, the journey there in the company of Lucia, of course, but the two young people had supposedly left her at her estate and gone to his. Alone. Obviously to disport themselves in improper, if not lewd, activities.
"I am going to kill her," Lucia said between her teeth. Knowing that this pleasure would be denied to her, Lucia immediately told a notorious gossip, Lady Gladstairs, in confidence, of course --- the truth of the matter.
Lyonel was unaware of the situation until he strolled into Renfrew House near to midnight. He had not intended to come --- no, he hadn't, it was just thatDamn. He shook his head at himself. He was met with a leering Monsieur DuPres and several cronies known for their salacious behavior.
He couldn't believe his ears. What made him more furious than the ferocious innuendos was the knowledge that DuPres was saying that Diana, the silly chit, had seduced not only him, but also Lyonel. She was, after all, from that ungodly West Indies, and equally as obviously, anything but a lady. She had taken Lady Cranston in.
He said nothing to either Diana or Lucia. He found Dancy in the card room. "I should like to speak to you. Now."
Dancy, no fool, paled. His arm still pained him occasionally from the bullet Lyonel had cleanly shot through it at their duel.
He rose from the chair, aware of many eyes watching, and followed Lyon into an antechamber. Lyon firmly closed the door.
"You know, do you not, what Charlotte has made people believe? Along with DuPres, of course."
Dancy nodded. "I have heard some things," he said, his voice wary. Damn, he had told Charlotte to keep her mouth shut!
"Have you so little regard for your hide, Dancy?"
"Look, Lyon, what do you expect me to do? Sew her mouth together?"
"Carlotte is your wife, Dancy, thus your responsibility. Either she halts all this malicious nonsense or I will let the truth be known. I will tell everyone that I found her on her back in the Haversham tack room, her skirts tossed up to her throat, with you between her legs. She will no longer rely on my honor as a gentleman. Do you understand me?"
Dancy Moressey swallowed. Lyonel hadn't raised his voice, not even a little bit. He looked as calm as if he were discussing the weather. But Dancy wasn't fooled. He'd known Lyonel Ashton since they were schoolboys.
"Do you understand, Dancy?"
"I --- I, yes, I understand, Lyon."
"Have you the guts to speak to her, or shall I?"
"I will fetch her to you."
"Damned coward," Lyon said under his breath as he watched Dancy flee from the room. He waited for ten minutes before the door opened and Charlotte entered, alone. He noted that she was an ethereal vision in paleblue silk, her face and figure stunning. She was the picture of innocence and soft vulnerability. He remained unmoved. If only he had seen her objectively before he'd made an abject fool of himself
Her chin was up and her eyes glittered. "Yes, my lord?"
"You are a miserable human being, you know that, Charlotte?"
"And you are a miserable bastard! Don't you dare speak to me like that!"
"And a whore ---"
"I will not stay here and listen to your filth!"
Lyon very calmly took her arm and drew her forward. He pressed her gently into a chair. He stood over her, his arms crossed over his chest. "I will tell you what I told your husband. I will tell the world everything if you do not immediately cease and detract all the filth you have spread about Diana Savarol, and me."
"You would not!" She looked scared
, for the first time. Had she always viewed him as such a weak excuse for a man? A gentleman without a spine? Evidently so.
"Oh, yes," he said very softly. "I will tell the gentlemen about your lovely white legs, how they were wrapped around Dancy's flanks, how you made such pleading little mewling noises when he was pumping into you ---"
"Stop it, damn you!" She clapped her hands over her ears.
"What is wrong, Charlotte? I have offended your sensibilities? Your modesty? Surely society will believe it most offensive of you to have taken a lover before you were married to me."