Free Regency 03 - Deception by Jaimey Grant

of
contempt. It was sickening to see adults behaving so very much like
children.
    “ Of course I have no proof,
Weatherby. How would I have proof?”
    “ Miss Weatherby was not
compromised, my Lord Weatherby,” Aurora inserted in her soft tones.
The crowd silenced instantly. “I attended them the whole time.
Nothing untoward occurred.”
    Levi gave Aurora a searching look. She returned a
barely perceptible nod that he follow her lead. He looked back at
his would-be wife and her father. “Miss Glendenning is right.
Nothing happened.”
    “ And who are you?” Lord Weatherby
asked insolently, as if her identity had anything at all to do with
her honesty.
    Aurora smiled brilliantly at him. “As Lord Greville
just said, I am Miss Glendenning…of the Staffordshire
Glendennings,” she added after the briefest of pauses. “Who are
you?”
    Apparently, no one there had known she was one of
the Staffordshire Glendennings, a family that could trace their
noble lineage as far back as William the Conqueror. There may not
have been any titles in the family, but one of Aurora’s ancestors
was one of the knights who crossed over from Normandy beside the
first King of England—King William’s most favored knight, in
fact.
    The hush that fell over the guests was deathly. Then
it became a buzz of sound as everyone turned to the lady or
gentleman next them.
    “ How utterly ridiculous to believe
the word of a person based entirely upon their lineage.” She turned
laughing eyes up to the earl and froze at the look of suspicion she
saw there.
    “ What is it?” she
whispered.
    Levi murmured something placating and wondered what
else she had kept from him. And she had lied for him so easily,
quite as if it came naturally to her to tell less than the truth.
What did he actually know of this girl?
    “ But you cannot be!” insisted
Baron Weatherby, quite beside himself with outrage. “You cannot be!
I knew the late Theodore Glendenning. He had no
children.”
    “ Of course he did not, Lord
Weatherby,” Aurora offered, her soothing voice washing over the
assemblage. “He was my father’s brother and never wed. But I am
indeed a Glendenning, my lord. I am sorry if this distresses
you.”
    “ All stuff and nonsense,” the
baron sputtered rudely. “And this has naught to do with Greville’s
compromising my Suzy.”
    “ It does not, does it?” Miss
Glendenning’s thoughtful tone swept over the crowd. “The fact is,
Lord Weatherby, I fail to see how anyone could have been
compromised. We were in the refreshment room. Anyone could have
entered at any time. This disturbance should never have occurred.
”
    Dark laughter floated over the gathering. The crowd
turned as one to the door, witnessing the odd merriment of the Duke
of Derringer. Lord Connor had been mistaken. Derringer had not
left. Then again, what patroness, or lock for that matter, could
stop Lord Heartless if he chose to return?
    Applause filled the room. The duke’s delight
apparently knew no bounds. Levi couldn’t repress a groan, knowing
his friend well enough to suspect they were in for a scandal of
monumental proportions.
    When he had everyone’s attention Derringer stopped
clapping. His dark gaze surveyed the crowd, finally settling on
Lord Weatherby. “Good evening, Weatherby. Enjoying the party, are
you?”
    The baron sputtered out a response, flummoxed by the
duke’s mild tone.
    “ For the love of…” Levi
muttered, closing his eyes briefly.
    Derringer smirked, a flare of what seemed to be
annoyance lighting his black eyes. “I do hope you are enjoying
yourself, Weatherby. It will be the last gathering you will attend
for quite some time, I should imagine.”
    Levi, although the wronged one, felt the need to
step forward at his friend’s dire words. “Hart, this is really not
necessary.”
    The look he received for his impertinence was
eloquent. “This doesn’t concern you, my lord.”
    “ How does this not concern
me?”
    The blasphemy that