Mateo unthinkingly stepped between the two men before it could come to blows, his arms stretched to keep them apart. “Gentlemen!”
“Please, everyone! If we could just take a deep breath, this can all be put to rights!” Lady Aleksander pleaded.
Everyone stopped talking. Lady Raney was weeping. The woman Mateo assumed was Mrs. Woodchurch was fuming. “How dare you come in here and make any demands!” she cried.
“Hush, Theodora,” Mr. Woodchurch said, and glared at Lady Aleksander. “How? How do we put any of this to rights?”
“Quite clearly there are affections here,” Lady Aleksander said coolly, gesturing to Hattie’s brother and Miss Raney.
“There are?” Mateo asked in surprise.
“Who areyou?” Mr. Woodchurch demanded of Mateo.
“May I introduce Lord Abbott,” Beck said. “Or his grace, the Duke of Santiava. Really depends on where you are. You were saying, Lila?”
She smoothed her gown. “I was saying that clearly, Miss Raney has affection for Mr. Woodchurch. Isn’t that so, Miss Raney?”
Miss Raney looked frightened. She looked at Hattie.
“Flora... If it’s true, now is the time to say it,” Hattie said carefully.
Miss Raney looked at Mateo. “I beg your pardon, my lord, but...it’s true.”
“GoodGod,” Lord Raney cried.“Him?”
“And now that everyone in thetonknows about the, ah...the scene,” Lady Aleksander said delicately, “then perhaps we ought to be about how to make this less odious than it is. What if... What if it was made known that Miss Raney never had any intentions of accepting the viscount’s offer?”
Mateo blanched. “An offer has not been extended,” he reminded her.
“Yes, yes, we all know that, but speculation has been wild. What if the rumor was that she never intended to accept it because she had already accepted an offer from Mr. Woodchurch?”
“Just like that?” Hattie’s father said. “I don’t know. Seems to me that some compensation—”
“Papa!” Hattie said sternly. “Now is not the time.”
“Mr. Woodchurch,” Lady Aleksander said, “a marriage to Miss Raney would lift the Woodchurch name in the eyes of society.”
Hattie’s father snorted. “I don’t give a good goddamn what society thinks of me,” he sneered. And then he paused. “Just how high would our name be lifted? Practically speaking?”
“Bloodyhell, Flora!” Lord Raney cried. “Look what you’ve done.” He gestured at Hattie’s father.
“And then, so that everyone comes away with their reputations intact and no one the wiser,” Lady Aleksander continued, speaking to Mr. Woodchurch, “you will accept an offer for your daughter’s hand and, naturally, provide her an excellent dowry. Were it not for her, none of this would have happened.”
“So she is who I have to thank?” Lord Raney said, eyeing Hattie.
“What?”Hattie exclaimed. “But I don’t have an offer of—”
“You do, Hattie.” Mateo felt a surge of gratitude for Lady Aleksander. “You’ve had the offer more than once. Mr. Woodchurch, I should like to ask for the hand of your daughter in marriage. That is, if she is willing.”
“You want to marryher?” Mrs. Woodchurch blurted in surprise.
“I do,” Mateo confirmed.
“Absolutely not,” Mr. Woodchurch said.
“Absolutelyyes!” Mrs. Woodchurch shouted. Dumping a cat off her lap, she came to her feet. “That’s it, Hugh! I will not have you stand in the way of our daughter’s good fortune! For once in your life, let loose the purse strings!”
“Let loose the purse strings?” he shouted back at her. “Woman, have a look at the number of clocks and tea services around you!”
