But suddenly he was coldly clear. He’d destroyed Lillias’s reputation before the kinds of witnesses who fed gossip to the broadsheets the way rivers fed the ocean. He’d destroyed his own, for that matter.
And he may have destroyed that of The Grand Palace on the Thames.
There was only one thing he could do.
He silently aimed a request for help up to whatever deity or celestial entity would have mercy on him. He must have been heard, because he found the words. His mouth moved, and haltingly, but with remarkable coherence, the words emerged.
“We must beg for your forgiveness, as we never dreamed there was a possibility we might startle or offend. We sought privacy to celebrate the joy and solemnity with which we move forward into the next years of our lives. For you are looking upon the happiest man alive. Lady Lillias has agreed to be my wife. Our union awaits only the blessing of her parents.”
Her parents were utterly motionless.
They were riveted in what appeared to beamazement and horror, as if snake kittens had popped from the wall.
Lady Landover clapped a hand over her heart and her mouth dropped again.
“That is the prettiest speech I’ve ever heard.” She quickly fumbled for a handkerchief and dabbed the corner of her eye.
“I alwaysthoughtMr. Cassidy should be on stage,” said Mrs. Pariseau, proudly.
“Oh, is that his name? Mr. Cassidy! My heavens, how original of you, Lillias, to choose aMr.Cassidy. And an American, at that!”
“Does this make him a rogue?” Delacorte said quietly and received a quick sharp elbow in the ribs from Lucien.
“Oh, my, Lady and Lord Vaughn, you sly things! Is this what you meant when you said you suspected her engagement was imminent?” This was Lord Landover.
Wide and perilous as the ocean was the silence that followed this question.
Hugh could hear Lillias’s breathing behind him.
“We knew of their attachment,” the earl said very, very slowly, sounding as though he’d just been handed a stone tablet engraved in Turkish and was translating it aloud into English. But his tone was interestingly thoughtful. Like a judge handing down a sentence. “And they... have our blessing.”
Hugh could feel Lillias go rigid behind him. She’d stopped breathing.
“Well, isn’t that exciting news!” Lady Landover said gleefully. “Congratulations, you darling, rascally young ones. You must bring Mr. Cassidy toour ball. It’s typically quite a crush, but we can of course make an exception for Lillias’s fiancé.”
That was the first time anyone had used that word.
Both Hugh and Lillias flinched.
Delilah and Angelique ferried the marquis and marchioness swiftly away, followed by Dot and Mrs. Pariseau.
“My heavens, how very exciting and romantic,” the marchioness ventured. “Do romantic things often happen at The Grand Palace on the Thames?”
“Veryoften,” Angelique said, sensing a publicity opportunity.
“I’ll have a word with you in a moment, Mr. Cassidy,” the Earl of Vaughn said icily as he and his wife flanked their daughter.
Lord Bolt, Lucien, and Delacorte had surrounded Mr. Cassidy, managing to look both like jailers and medics.
Lillias was similarly escorted away by her terrifyingly silent parents.
In their suite, Claire was lounging on a settee, legs hooked over the arm of it, readingThe Ghost in the Atticby holding it straight over her eyes. It was a peculiar way to read and her mother despaired of it.
She gaped in astonishment when the three appeared, each parent holding Lillias by one arm.
“Go to your room, Claire,” the earl ordered.
Such was his tone that she scrambled upright, seized the book, and disappeared. Lillias’s lastview of her was the whites of her eyes before she closed the door.