Verity could not stand still however hard she tried. She could not stop pacing as worry surged through her veins. Never had she experienced such anxiety in her whole life. Not knowing how poor Philip was after the accident with the carriage was killing her.
It did not help that she had not slept. But every single time she went to close her eyes, all she could see was Philip’s body, unconscious in the middle of the street.
Of course, the scandal sheets were not helping at all. Every single paper had mention of Philip’s accident, and the speculation and rumors only served to fuel her fears. This was a nightmare, and she truly felt like she could not wake up however hard she tried.
“Lady Sinclair?”
Verity almost groaned out loud when the butler entered the drawing room. Could he not see that she wanted to be left alone?
“You have a visitor. Lord Aldford.”
Ambrose was here?
Now?
Verity’s stomach twisted up with dread as she envisioned talking to him, but what else could she do? She could not send him away, even if she really wanted to. It would be considered terribly rude and would only make things so much worse.
“Of course.” She forced a smile on her face. “Send him in.”
The butler said nothing of the state that Ambrose was in, but he must have been unimpressed as the gentleman stumbled into the drawing room. It was obvious that he was intoxicated because of his unsteady gait and the glaze over his eyes. The stench of alcohol was absolutely unbearable as it permeated theair. The sickness that was already swirling around her stomach before now intensified.
“There she is,” Ambrose slurred. “The very beautiful Verity Sinclair… Lady Sinclair should I say.” He let out a chuckle that seemed to come from the pit of his stomach. “Did you know that you are always very beautiful, no matter what you are wearing.”
Ambrose slumped down on the chair in front of Verity and smiled. Or at least that was what Verity assumed. She did not think he meant to sneer at her.
“You are a lovely… lovely… young…”
As his words trailed off, Verity found herself grateful. The praise and attempts at flattery were thoroughly unwanted, just like this whole visit. She had no idea what Ambrose was doing here, and she did not know if it was even worth asking.
“I have always admired you, Verity. I have always thought that you were, you know…?”
She could only smile back, gritting her teeth angrily. Her patience was already wearing thin, and she had not even said a word yet.
“It’s… lovely for you to visit me, Lord Alford,” she shot back thinly.
“It’s always lovely to see you,” he repeated, while twisting his hands around in his lap. “Always lovely. Yes, you are a very pleasant woman, Verity. Everyone thinks so.”
Verity had to bite down on her bottom lip to stop herself from bursting out with accusations about his daughters most certainly not thinking that about her. Amelia and Cordelia had truly been nothing but cruel to her.
He wasn’t even waiting for her to respond anymore, he just kept drunkenly rambling on. It was as if he had forgotten that she was even in the room. It was becoming increasingly challenging for Verity to maintain her polite façade. All Verity wanted to do was ask the man to leave, but she knew that wouldonly upset Henry more. Since she had done nothing but upset him recently, she did not want to do so again. Verity wasn’t sure that she had the energy to keep on fighting with her brother.
But Ambrose clearly could not see that she was getting irritated with him. He sidled closer to her and even dared to rest his hand on her thigh. Verity tried her hardest to gently edge her leg away from him without being too obvious, but she could not seem to get away no matter how hard she tried.
Anger began to brim up inside of Verity.She could hardly control the words that were about to erupt free from her mouth. They were on the tip of her tongue, about to come flying out violently.
Luckily, the parlor door swung open, and Verity was very much relieved to see that she was no longer alone with this man. It had been far too long.
Elizabeth entered the room first with a pensive expression on her face with Henry not far behind her. He had a strange smile playing on his lips which unnerved Verity.
Henry stood tall and cleared his throat. “Verity, you will be pleased to know that Lord Aldford has formally offered his hand in marriage, and I have given my blessing.”
No.
No, no, no.
The room started to spin around Verity. She did not know how to process this shocking news at all. How could Henry do this to her? Why would he do it when he knew that she was so against this? Especially with the man in this state. Ambrose was disgusting right now… even more so than usual!
Horrified, Verity glanced towards Ambrose who sat with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
