Free Somewhat Scandalous (Brambridge Novel 1) by Pearl Darling Page B

once or twice like lead.
    Victoria prodded her with a spoon. “Charles does seem to be something high up in government, Aggie, and so I expect you’ll attend all sorts of really exciting foreign meetings and diplomat’s balls.” She took a sip of her soup. “I hear all of the prince and princesses attend them, even if they don’t come to the society ones.”
    Agatha sighed. Victoria only knew that Aggie had been caught in a compromising position with Charles, not that the man had forced her. With no support from Henry, Agatha felt too ashamed to set her right.
    “And of course he is the direct heir to the Fashington estate. I hear that the current Lord Fashington is childless and very rich. And he likes discussing science with you.”
    “Enough, Victoria.” Henry put down his own spoon with a clatter. Victoria turned to face him, her mouth open in an o.
    “I was just trying to make Aggie feel better. She doesn’t seem happy about what has happened.”
    Aggie could have squeezed her friend then. But she couldn’t very well tell her that Charles had probably just humored her with the discussions of scientific principles in order to take advantage of her. He’d landed her as easily as a hungry flounder.
    Henry’s forbidding countenance remained stony. “If you have finished, Victoria, please leave. I need to speak to Miss Beauregard alone.”
    Victoria glanced quickly at her half full bowl of soup and stood up with a swoosh of her skirts, squeezing Agatha’s shoulder as she passed her chair. Agatha grasped her hand and wished that Victoria would take her with her.
    Henry stood, putting his hands behind his back. He turned and studied a painting of two horses galloping that hung on the back wall of the dining room. All Agatha could see of him were two broad shoulders and the bright blond hair curling at the nape of his neck.
    “As your guardian in your brother’s absence, I have accepted the offer from Charles Fashington on your behalf. You will be married next week in St Martin’s church in a small ceremony.”
    He stopped. Agatha flattened her hands against the table, as she gasped for air.
    “I have even, out of my own pocket, provided you with a dowry.”
    A dowry. Agatha bowed her head, a great weight pressing against her chest. She was sure she detected a sneer in the voice that bounced off the back of the dining room wall towards her seat. He was paying Fashington to take her off his hands.
    “Why do I have to marry him?” Agatha put a hand to her heart, unable to contain herself any longer. “He forced me, you saw that.”
    Henry turned slowly on the heel of his boot and gazed back at her, his eyes on her hands. “I’m sorry, Agatha, but I saw no such thing.” He flicked his gaze up to her face. “What I have seen is a reckless individual who has been leading Fashington around by the nose for the last few balls. She has been caught in a compromising position with no thought for her place in society. I even told you before you left for the ball, no experiments. ”
    Agatha gripped at her bodice, her heart hammering against her chest. She couldn’t break his gaze. She hadn’t been experimenting, she’d made every effort not to; in fact she hadn’t breathed a word of physics, chemistry or biology all of that night, the effort almost killing her.
    He raised an eyebrow at her continued silence and put his hands on the back of one of the dining chairs. “Moreover, until the wedding, you are forbidden to leave the house, or go to any more balls, and definitely no more science. Your reputation must remain unimpeachable until you are married.”
    Letting go of her bodice, Agatha put her hands to her face. Heat poured through her cheeks.
    “Did you hear me, Agatha?”
    “Yes, Lord Anglethorpe.”
    Lifting his white knuckles from the back of the dining chair, Henry strode from the dining room without a backward glance, banging the door as he left. The interview had taken ten minutes. To Agatha it