They sat side by side on the chaise longue. There was a long silence. Clarissa slipped a cold hand into Izzy’s. Izzy squeezed it in reassurance, but the expression on his face, the ice in his gaze were making her wary.
“Do you care to explain why half of London is under the impression that I gave that party last night? A party I knew nothing about?”
Izzy said nothing. There was nothing to explain. It wasobvious. And why would he be so angry about it now, when it was all over? He hadn’t been angry last night when he’d spoken to her in the summerhouse—only at first, but it hasn’t lasted. So why now?
And why was he wet?
“I’m sorry,” Clarissa began. “I will, of course, cover the cost.”
“Damn the cost!”
Clarissa flinched.
“And you’re not sorry, are you?” he snapped. Izzy stiffened. Nobody spoke to Clarissa like that, not if she could help it.
“I’m not sorry,” Izzy said boldly. “You told us we could not mix in society, you—”
“No, I said thatyoucould not mix in society.”
She tossed her head at that. “And we disagreed. You wanted us to stay at home with your aunt, twiddling our thumbs. Well, we weren’t prepared to do that. And so, when people invited us places, we went.”
“Invitations you no doubt wangled out of them—and don’t try to deny it. My aunt hasn’t set foot out of this house in several years, and yet within days of my departure, she’s out attending that literary society and holding court in the summerhouse.”
“And isn’t that something to celebrate?” She gave him a defiant look.
He clenched his jaw a moment, then said in a more moderate voice. “Yes, I was pleased to see it. But you don’t seem to understand the consequences of what you’ve done.”
“We held a lovely party—”
He cut her off. “ApparentlyIheld it!”
She lifted a careless shoulder. “Nevertheless, it was very successful.”
“So successful in fact, that when it comes out—and believe me it will come out sooner than later—that you are Sir Bartleby’s baseborn daughter, moving in society underfalse pretensions, society will be scandalized, and I don’t mean the delicious kind ofon-ditsthat pass for scandal in ladylike circles. People will beangry.” He took a few paces around the room. “Nobody likes being deceived, and you have tricked them all. And they won’t like it.”
“But—”
“You think it’s only about you, don’t you, Miss Burton?” He sounded savagely, coldly angry.
The harshness of his tone, his icy demeanor shook her. What had happened to the man who had kissed her so tenderly last night? The man who’d been amused when she’d pointed out the ways she could read his anger on his face—they were all there now, all those telltale features. And there was nothing amusing at all about it.
Now he looked as if he despised her. What could possibly have changed since last night?
He continued the tirade. “But you won’t be the only one who is shunned. Clarissa will also be blamed—”
“As I should. Izzy and I acted together in this,” Clarissa said bravely, though her voice shook a little. He really was quite formidable in his anger.
Lord Salcott ignored her. “Lady Scattergood will also come into her fair share of blame, as she has appeared as your sponsor.” He paused, his gray eyes hard, boring into Izzy. “So congratulate yourselves all you like for getting her to leave the house. Once this comes out, she won’t ever want to go out again—this time because she will not be welcomed anywhere.”
Clarissa bit her lip and looked down.
“And,” he finished coldly, “since the party was held in my name, I will be held responsible. And probably shunned as well.”
“But nobody knows‚” Izzy began.
“They will. This kind of thing always comes out.”
A tear trickled down Clarissa’s cheek. Izzy put an arm around her and glared up at Lord Salcott. Her sister hatedarguments; they brought back all those horrid scenes with her father.
