Free Emily Hendrickson by The Scoundrels Bride Page A

exiting Gunter’s with not only Miss Spayne, but Mr. Purcell and Mr. St. Aubyn as well. I said nothing, not wishing to risk a falsehood. It cannot be true, or can it?” She glared down at Chloe, who stiffened her spine lest she wilt.
    The ordeal was ever worse than Chloe had feared. Her grandmother was twisting the scene to sound sordid and dreadful instead of an innocent dish of pineapple ice.
    “We encountered Mr. St. Aubyn and Mr. Purcell at the Rotunda. They were most kind to assist us and offered to treat us to an ice. Even Ellen enjoyed a treat.” Chloe sought to remind her relative that she had been properly chaperoned, although it was but a maid. Ellen was of sober and decent reputation, not one of those maids who flirted and got into trouble.
    “I do not wish you to speak to these gentlemen again,” the dowager said in the most repressing of voices. She drew herself up and prepared to go to her room for a rest.
    “Is it true they are not only wealthy in their own right, but due to inherit a vast fortune as Laura said?” Chloe inserted before her grandmother left the room. “Laura said her mama told her the St. Aubyn jewels are worth a queen’s ransom.”
    The Dowager Lady Dancy pirouetted to face Chloe, a most peculiar expression crossing her face as she did. “I had heard something of the sort, true. However, St. Aubyn has a dreadful reputation,” she concluded with a wave of her hand.
    “He was all that was proper and kind to me,” Chloe said in reply.
    “Indeed.” With an exceedingly thoughtful expression on her face, the dowager left the room.
    Once alone, Chloe sank on the nearest chair, her legs finally refusing to support her any longer.
    “I did it,” she crowed in a whisper. “I managed to stand up to her in my own way and survive. I must tell Laura.” With that she dashed up to find her bonnet and gloves.
    * * * *
    In the drawing room of her new abode, having been forced to remove there even more quickly than she had believed necessary, Elinor paced back and forth. Mrs. Robynhod had told her little tale with such glee. To think that Elinor’s own twit of a niece should humiliate her in this way.
    Oh, that girl! To be seen laughing and flirting with Julian St. Aubyn in public, just outside of Gunter’s. He had expressed great glee over something Chloe had shown him. Drawings, perhaps?
    Elinor stopped her pacing to contemplate this thought. After a time, she rang for her maid, ordering her pelisse and bonnet, and the carriage to be brought around. Something must be done to halt an attraction before it could bloom. Although what St. Aubyn might see in that dab of a girl was more than Elinor could imagine.
    Her mind working furiously for the next half hour while she awaited her carriage, Elinor had a vague plan when she finally left her new house across the square from Julian’s elegant home.
    She darted a malevolent glance at it when she drove past, wishing she might make things most unpleasant for him. How dare he insult her so!
    When she arrived at the Dowager Lady Dancy’s home, Elinor sought an interview with her. Upon finding the lady unavailable, Elinor turned a speculative gaze on the butler. In her experience most of them were corruptible given the right sum of money.
    She withdrew a gold coin from her reticule, holding it so it might be seen by an observant eye. When he straightened and blinked, she knew she was closer to success. “Is my dear niece Lady Chloe also absent?”
    “Indeed, madam. I believe she has gone to the bookshop with her maid.”
    “I loaned her a trifle which she has failed to return. Might I just whisk myself up to her room to fetch it? Then I would not have to embarrass the child. One must be considerate of these young people, for they have such delicate nerves.” With a discreet and most graceful wave of her hand she transferred the gold coin to the butler’s.
    Within minutes Elinor found herself in Chloe’s little room. She looked around her with