Once Upon a Scandal by Barbara Dawson Smith

Author:Barbara Dawson Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780312962777
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 1997-09-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Aghast, Emma stared at her mother-in-law. A clock ticked on the mantelpiece. In the corridor outside the library, a servant walked by with a swift tapping of footsteps. Emma wanted to bolt out the door, but her legs wouldn’t move. They were as paralyzed as her tongue.

The dowager knew. She knew.

Her blue eyes brimming with tears, the elder Lady Wortham groped for Emma’s hands. “Do not deny it,” she said in a pleading tone. “Have pity on an old mother. Tell me that little Jenny is really my Andrew’s daughter.”

The quivering of those gaunt fingers dissolved the wall around Emma’s emotions. In that moment she understood how deeply the dowager had loved her youngest son, how much she longed to know that a part of him lived on in Jenny. And Emma knew it was too late to withhold the truth.

She trudged to the door and closed it. Then she turned to the dowager. “Yes, it’s true,” she said in an anguished whisper. “How did you guess?”

“It was her laugh … I heard it from the corridor. I thought … I thought for a moment it was twenty years ago, and my sweet boy had come back to me. And then when I saw his blue-green eyes twinkling up at me … but it was Jenny.”

The dowager swayed alarmingly, and Emma hastened to help her across the library to the chaise. She was thin as a cadaver, flesh on bones. “Madam, remember your health. I’ll ring for a tisane.”

“Never mind the tonics. This news is the best remedy for what ails me. Sit, my dear.” She patted the cushion beside her. “We have so very much to discuss.”

Weighted by a sense of doom, Emma sank to the chaise. Her heart thudded in painful strokes, and her eyes burned. She had imagined this moment a thousand times, when she could shout out the truth and vindicate herself to the Coulters. But oh, sweet Jesus. How could she shatter a mother’s cherished memories of her son? How could she accuse a war hero of so despicable an act? “There’s little to tell,” she said tonelessly. “Please, try to understand. It’s difficult for me to speak of … what happened.”

“Of course I understand. And I respect your privacy.” Haloed by the golden light that streamed through the window, the dowager smiled like a radiant madonna. “No lady would wish to make known a love affair that went on before she was married.”

Love affair?

A furious denial choked Emma’s throat. No, she wanted to scream. No, you’re wrong, horribly wrong! I could never love such a monster.

Then it struck Emma that the dowager’s assumption gave her the perfect explanation. She had but to remain silent, to contradict nothing.

“It must have happened months before your betrothal to Lucas,” the older woman went on, a faraway look in her eyes. “It was the height of the Season. Andrew’s regiment was about to be deployed to that horrid war in Portugal. Lucas used his influence to obtain a few days’ leave for Andrew to visit us here in London.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.