His Scandalous Kiss by Sophie Barnes

Author:Sophie Barnes
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-07-25T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

When Mary awoke the following morning, it took an enormous amount of effort for her to get out of bed and dress. In fact, all she wanted to do was to go back to sleep so she could avoid the nightmare that undoubtedly waited for her downstairs. To her surprise, however, her aunt appeared to be in a very pleasant mood. There was no indication at all that Rotridge might have spoken to her or revealed anything to incur her anger.

Eventually, Mary decided that her worries had been completely unfounded and focused on her breakfast instead while her aunt spoke happily about another conversation she’d had with the great Mr. Young, as she was now prone to calling him. “Oh, I completely forgot to tell you,” she said after chewing on a bite of toast. “Lord Rotridge left Thorncliff this morning.”

Mary jerked at the mention of the earl’s name, effectively spilling her tea. “Really?”

Lady Foxworth nodded. “I thought that you would like to know since you did voice some concerns about him.”

“Of course,” she said, blinking. This was simply too good to be true. Surely.

“Now, I know that you and I have not spent much time together lately,” Lady Foxworth continued, changing the subject as if it held no more importance than the weather, “so perhaps you would like to take a ride into the village with me today. We can have a look at the shops, perhaps visit a teahouse?”

Mary nodded. “I think that sounds like a lovely idea. But what about Mr. Young?”

Lady Foxworth waved her hand in an almost absentminded way. “You are my first priority. Shall we depart immediately after breakfast?”

Agreeing to do so, Mary returned upstairs only briefly in order to retrieve her bonnet and write a quick message to Richard. But when she entered her bedchamber, she found Amy waiting with a letter. “This just came for you, my lady,” she said, handing the missive to Mary.

Recognizing her brother’s penmanship, Mary sank down onto a chair with a sigh and tore open the seal, her hand flying to her mouth the moment she finished reading what it said. “Dear God, he has lost everything,” she croaked, the words not sounding like her own. It was almost as if she’d stepped outside of her own body to watch a tragic play unfold.

Amy went completely still, her eyes meeting Mary’s “Surely not.”

“His house, the money I recently gave him . . . it is all gone.”

“How is that even possible?”

Mary shook her head as fierce anger stirred to life inside her. “According to this,” she said, crumpling the paper and tossing it aside, “he was taken advantage of. In fact, he claims he has no memory of how it happened but that there are witnesses who say he lost it all in a wager while he was too deep in his cups to think straight.”

“Then he should be able to argue momentary irrationality or something of that nature, should he not?”

“Not when he has already signed away the deed to Carthright House,” Mary gritted out.

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