The Demon Rake by Gayle Buck

Author:Gayle Buck [Buck, Gayle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Victoria’s heart pounded. “What should I know of any child, my lord?”

Lord Damion said softly, “He must have loved you and the babe very much,” and caught the sheen of tears in her eyes. He leaned over to take her hands away from the pianoforte keys so that she was forced to turn her attention to him. He said carefully, “My dear lady, you have nothing to fear from me or anyone in this house. I swear to you that I only wish to assure myself that Charles’s child is alive and well.”

Victoria stared into his sincere eyes. She freed her hands to dash away tears that threatened to overflow. “Jessica is safe and is with friends, my lord,” she said in a low voice.

Some of Lord Damion’s tension eased. She had at least admitted to the child’s existence. But he still needed to understand why she had kept Charles’s daughter a secret. “Why did you never tell any of us that you and Charles had a daughter?”

Victoria looked away from him, shaking her head. “I did not know if Charles’s family would accept me or our daughter. For myself I did not particularly care. I have established my own life. But I feared for Jessica. I feared that she would be branded a bastard. I could not have borne that. I would not have stood for it.”

“I assure you, my lady, that would not have happened,” said Lord Damion.

She faced him squarely, her dark eyes flashing molten gold sparks. “You forced me to come with you here from spite, my lord. And because I was in your company I was subjected to insult by nearly every member of this family. Believe me, I was soon utterly convinced that Jessica did not need her father’s family. And so I said nothing about her.”

Lord Damion stared at her, white-faced. He was appalled by the consequences of his own hasty actions. “I can only beg your forgiveness, my lady. I had no right to treat you as I did, nor to question your motives for coming to England.”

Victoria gazed at him steadily. Her smile was cool. “But you were right, my lord, and so was Sir Aubrey in his way even though his opinion of my character was baser than yours. For I am at the very least a mercenary woman. I came to claim what rightfully belongs to my daughter.”

Lord Damion regarded her in silence. Finally he said, “When Sir Aubrey made public the contents of the solicitor’s letter, you did not seem in the least distressed. I thought then that it was odd you were so unmoved when even Margaret, who stands to gain nothing, expressed surprise. You must have realized almost instantly that the solicitor was referring to your daughter.’

At her nod, Lord Damion said, “Then I must assume that you contacted the solicitor immediately upon setting foot in England. It was a wonder that he gave you a hearing at all.”

Victoria smiled again. “On the contrary, my lord, Mr.

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.