Lila handed him her hat. “Is everything all right?”
Borerro said nothing as he took her hat and set it aside. “If you will come with me,por favor.”
He led her down the hall and paused before the study, rapping loudly three times before opening the door and walking in to announce her. The voices fell silent. Lila stepped in behind him—Elizabeth and her son were in the room. He was leaning against his desk. She was pacing. “Enter at your own risk, Lila,” Elizabeth said. “There may be blood spilled before the day is done.”
“Goodness,” Lila said. “May I be of assistance?”
“He won’t listen to reason! He means to destroy the duchy.”
“That is a terrible exaggeration, madam,” the viscount said calmly. He looked at Lila. “My mother and I are in the midst of a disagreement, and much to her displeasure, for once I will not do the polite thing and remain silent.”
“Polite!”Elizabeth shrieked. “Your silence is insulting! Why would you wait untilnow, when all the work has been done to arrange a marriage, to tell me how you truly feel?”
Lila’s pulse began to race with excitement. “What is happening?”
“Tell her!” Elizabeth cried, and pointed at Lila.
“Perhaps you’d like to sit, Mami,” he said, and pushed away from the desk. “Lady Aleksander, please forgive us—my mother is quite angry with me.”
“Livid!” Elizabeth cried.
“Livid,” he agreed. “Because I have told her I will not offer for Miss Raney. Or any of the other fine ladies you’ve introduced me to.”
Lila’s heart was pounding. He was speaking up when it mattered most. “What do you mean?” she asked, careful not to show any excitement. “I’ve worked so hard on your behalf.” She had to feign indignation, of course.
“See?” Elizabeth ranted. “I told you if you’d just been clear with her in the beginning!”
“I can’t disagree,” he said. “It has taken me some time to learn how to do that. I beg your pardon, Lady Aleksander, but my affections lie elsewhere, and I cannot, in good conscience, offer marriage to a woman I will never love for the sake of the duchy.”
Lila was so thrilled she feared she might faint. What was it that Valentin always said? When you least expect a miracle, one will come. But she needed Lord Abbott to tell her. “Who?” she asked. “Miss Porter?”
“Not Miss Porter. Hattie Woodchurch.”
With a cry of distress, Elizabeth fell into a chair. “Your father would turn over in his grave! How could you possibly settle on the least acceptable woman?”
“I love her,” he said simply.
“I love her, too,” Lila said.
Elizabeth gasped with shock and stared wildly at Lila. “What are you doing?” she demanded.
“But it doesn’t matter,” Lord Abbott said. “Miss Woodchurch has refused me.”
“What?”Lila exclaimed as Elizabeth shrieked again.
“Who would refuse you? Is she mad? Have you considered that she is quite possiblymad?”
“I think,” Lila said, “that she has refused you because of her family, my lord.”
That earned her a look. He frowned. “What of them?”
“Rather bluntly put, they are not the sort of people families like yours would want to associate with.”
“I don’t care about that,” he said dismissively.
“Yes, you do!” his mother insisted desperately. “You are the duke of Santiava! You are Viscount Abbott!”
“Those are titles, Mami. I am a person.”
