uproar at her house party.
The two cousins remained barricaded in the library, from which stronghold they occasionally heard the thumps and bangs of footmen descending the stairs with the baggage of departing guests. But as the hour grew later without his aunt summoning him, Max guessed that some guests had chosen to remain another night, doubtless eager to grill their hostess for every detail over dinner, embarrassing Felicity, making Jane simmer and contemplate murder.
Alastair, ever loyal, kept him company, playing a few desultory hands of cards after he’d declined the offer of billiards. He wasn’t sure he’d trust himself with a cue in hand without trying to break it over someone’s head.
Probably his own.
So it was nearly midnight when a footman bowed himself in to tell him Mrs Ransleigh begged the indulgence of a few words with him in her sitting room.
Max swallowed hard. Now he must face the lady who’d stood by him, disparaging his father’s conduct and insisting he deserved better. And just like Vienna, though all he had done was assist a woman in distress, this time he’d ended up miring not just himself, but also his aunt, in embarrassment and scandal.
He’d not whined to Miss Denby about the black mark that would be left on his character by her refusal to wed; he wasn’t going to make excuses to his aunt, either. Girding himself to endure anger and recriminations, he crossed the room.
Alastair, who knew only too well what he’d face, gave him an encouraging slap on the shoulder as he walked by.
He found his aunt reclining on her couch in a dressing gown, eyes closed. She sat up with a start as the footman announced him, her eyes shadowed with fatigue, filling with tears as he approached.
His chest tightening, he felt about as miserable as he’d ever felt in his life. Rather than cause his aunt pain, he almost wished he’d fallen with the valiant at Hougoumont.
‘Aunt Grace,’ he murmured, kissing her outstretched fingers. ‘I am so sorry.’
But instead of the reproaches he’d steeled himself to endure, she pushed herself from her seat and enveloped him in a hug. ‘Oh, my poor Max, under which unlucky star were you born that such trouble has come into your life?’
Hugging her back, he muttered. ‘Lord knows. If I were one of the ancients, I’d think I’d somehow offended Aphrodite.’
‘Come, sit by me,’ she said, patting the sofa beside her.
Heartened by her unexpectedly sympathetic reception, he took a seat. ‘I’d been prepared to have you abuse my character and order me from the house. I cannot imagine why you have not, after I’ve unleashed such a sordid scandal at your house party.’
‘I imagine Anita Melross was delighted,’ she said drily. ‘She will doubtless dine out for weeks on the story of how she found you in the conservatory. Dreadful woman! How infuriating that she is so well connected, one cannot simply cut her. But enough about Anita. Oh, Max, what are we to do now?’
‘There isn’t much that can be done. Lady Melross and her minions will have already set the gossip mill in motion, thoroughly shredding my character. Frankly, I expected you to take part in the process.’
‘Frankly, I might have,’ his aunt retorted, ‘had Miss Denby not insisted upon speaking with me before she left.’
Surprise rendered him momentarily speechless. ‘Miss Denby spoke with you?’ he echoed an instant later.
‘I must admit, I was so angry with both of you, I had no desire whatsoever to listen to any excuses she wished to offer. But she was quite adamant.’ His aunt laughed. ‘Indeed, she told Wendell she would not quit the passage outside my chamber until she was permitted to see me. I’m so glad now that she persisted, for she confessed the whole to me—something I expect that you, my dear Max, would not have done.’
‘She … told you everything?’ Max asked, that news surprising him even more than his aunt’s unexpected sympathy.
His aunt nodded. ‘How Mr Henshaw made her an offer, so insistent upon her acceptance he was ready to attack her to force it! I was never so distressed!’ she cried, putting a hand on her chest. ‘Is there truly no way to lay the blame for that shocking attack where it belongs, at Henshaw’s feet?’
‘If Miss Denby disclosed the whole of what happened, you must see that there is virtually no chance we could fix the responsibility on him.’
‘Poor child! I feel wretched that someone I invited into my home would take such unspeakable liberties! With her shyness and lack of polish, she would never have found much success in the Marriage Mart, but to have her ruined by that … that infamous blackguard! And then, to have you wrongfully accused for her disgrace! ‘Tis monstrous, all of it!’
Max sat back, his emotions in turmoil. Though he hadn’t truly blamed Miss Denby for what had happened, he’d resented the fact that, at the end of it all, she had got what she wanted, while he was left a position that made obtaining his goal much more difficult.
Still, he could work relentlessly until he achieved what he wanted; her ruination couldn’t be undone. It had taken courage to insist on braving the contempt of her hostess so she might explain what had really transpired, thereby exonerating him to a woman whose good opinion she must know he treasured.
In refusing to allow herself to be forced into something she did not want, regardless of the personal cost, and in remaining steadfastly loyal to her childhood love, she’d displayed a sense of honour as unshakeable as his own. He couldn’t help admiring that.
‘I hardly expected her to tell you the truth … but I’m glad she did,’ he said at last.
‘Oh, Max, you would have said nothing and simply shouldered all the blame, would you not?’ she asked, seizing his hands.
He shrugged. ‘With Henshaw showing himself too dishonourable to admit to his actions, I don’t see how I could avoid it. There was no point making accusations we have no way of proving.’
‘Are you certain that’s the right course? It seems monstrous that you both must suffer, while the guilty party escapes all blame!’
‘We’ll have to endure it, at least for the present. I intend to quietly search for evidence that might incriminate Henshaw, but I’m not hopeful anything useful will turn up. In the interim, I’d rather Alastair not learn the truth. He’s already suspicious of Lady Melross’s story. If he were to find out what really happened, he might go after Henshaw and—’
‘—tear him limb from limb, or something equally rash,’ Mrs Ransleigh finished for him. ‘Although it will chafe him to be kept in the dark, I appreciate your doing it. Ever since … That Woman, he’s been so reckless and bitter. Even after all those years in the army, he’s still spoiling for a fight, still heedless of the consequences.’
‘It shall remain our secret, then.’
She sighed. ‘If there is any way I might be of assistance, let me know. I can think of little that would give me more pleasure than being able to show up Anita Melross for the idle, malicious gossip she is.’
‘If the opportunity arises, I will certainly call on your help. By the way … did Miss Denby also tell you I’d asked for her hand and she’d
