Betina Krahn by The Last Bachelor

Author:The Last Bachelor
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

WIDOW AND NOBLEMAN CAUGHT IN LOVE NEST!

The writer of the piece, Rupert Fitch, declined to supply the names of the unhappy couple, but provided enough details about their adversarial relationship, including the mention that the lady and gentleman were prone to “public wagering,” that it took little effort to deduce the identities of the lovers. The pair had been discovered in a compromising situation by a number of “leading gentlemen” paying a late call on the nobleman. And the details of the encounter were recounted with prurient accuracy: bare chest, unpinned hair, and all.

With heavy hearts the ladies realized that Antonia and his lordship had finally succumbed to the attraction growing between them. And instead of the start of a deep and enduring love, it had proved to be the disaster of a lifetime!

It was well on toward noon when Antonia emerged from her bedroom with puffy eyes and a pale, drawn face. She was dressed in unrelieved black, buttoned all the way from chin to waist, and her manner was every bit as grave as her retreat into full mourning colors suggested. Hermione and Eleanor hurried to her side the moment she set foot in the hushed drawing room.

“Are you all right, my dear?” Hermione asked, putting an arm through hers and directing her into their midst. The others gathered around, and she looked at their concerned faces and felt the dread that gripped her stomach loosen.

“You probably already know that … that for days now … that last night …” She paused and lowered her eyes, feeling her courage wane.

“We know all about it, Toni dear.” When she looked up, Aunt Hermione was holding a newspaper. “And by this evening I’m afraid the rest of London will, too,” she said gently, placing the paper in Antonia’s hands.

Antonia glimpsed the headline, swayed, and stumbled to the closest chair. In deepening shock she read the article that recounted in ghastly detail the humiliation she had suffered only hours before. The links to her and Remington Carr were unmistakable; what other nobleman and widow were involved in an ongoing and notorious wager? There was her humiliation, in pitiless black and white, for all to read.

“It was that Rupert Fitch,” Eleanor said, watching her distress. “He has been snooping around the house for days—”

“Th’ miserable little sod,” Gertrude added with a fierce expression.

Antonia looked up and found them gathered around her chair, some scowling, others smiling sadly, but all clearly offering her their love and support. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I knew it was wrong to go, but I believed him when he said he had changed his mind about women, about us. And I believed he really cared—” Her voice caught on a ragged emotion and she had to pause to free it. “I don’t care what people say of me. But I know that my indiscretion will reflect upon Sir Geoffrey’s memory and on you. I only hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive.…”

“There ain’t no

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