The Scotsman and the Spinster by Joan Overfield

Author:Joan Overfield
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: regency
Publisher: Ten Talents Press
Published: 2014-04-24T07:00:00+00:00

Seven

Addy stared at Hixworth in stunned disbelief. "You're mad," she whispered, her stomach pitching wildly into her throat. "No one can possibly believe such lies!"

"That's what I said!" Hixworth retorted, and then waved his hand in dismissal. "But that's neither here nor there," he added, sounding surprisingly firm. "What's to be done about it, that's what is important."

"Where did you first hear the rumors?" Addy demanded, her earlier unhappiness forgotten as she turned her attention to the matter at hand.

"At my club. I stopped there before coming here, and it was all anyone could speak of. Those who know St. Jerome are doing their best to put an end to such tattle, but . . ." He shrugged.

"Do you know who started the talk?" Addy demanded, wondering if she could get a message to the Duke of Creshton. The whole thing smacked of political intrigue, and the wily old duke would best know how to deal with it.

"No one seems to know," Hixworth answered grimly. "Or if they do know, they're not saying. I quizzed one gentleman rather closely, and he would only say he'd had it from some captain newly returned from the Peninsula."

"The captain's name and regiment?" Addy's voice was clipped, even as her mind was racing ahead. Between her brothers and herself she had access to half the men in Whitehall, and it would be an easy matter to learn everything there was to know about this mysterious captain. Including, she thought coldly, whether the wretch had even been in Spain.

"He didn't say." Hixworth's tone made it plain he was far from pleased with the situation. "I've spoken with an old friend of mine who works in the Admiralty, and he's promised to help. It will take a while, but he can provide me with a list of officers traveling from Spain to Portsmouth. Once we have the devil's name, we will better know what's to be done."

"Have you heard?" Aunt Matilda rushed up to them, her eyes sparkling with temper. "You won't credit it, my dear, but they are saying Lord St. Jerome—"

"I know what they are saying," Addy interrupted, not wanting to hear the vile words, not even from her aunt. "We were just discussing what we should do."

"Do?" Aunt Matilda snapped. "I'll tell you what you shall do! You shall find whoever has been spreading these dreadful rumors, and then you shall have him horsewhipped!"

The earl's eyes frosted over and he thrust out his chin. "Believe me, Lady Fareham, if I learn who is responsible, I shall do a great deal more than whip the fellow; I shall slit his throat!" And with that he stalked off, leaving the ladies to stare after him in varying degrees of amazement.

"Well, the earl has come into his own, I must say," her aunt observed, nodding in satisfaction. "I knew St. Jerome would do the lad a world of good."

Addy didn't answer, her only concern for Ross. "Do you think the Patronesses know?" she demanded, reaching for her aunt's hand.

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