was the possibility she’d been dreading ever since she’d learned that Bradford was coming to Town. Perhaps, she’d told herself, he was traveling alone. Maybe Mr. Lambert wasn’t coming to Town for the Season this year.
Yet here he was. Smiling at her as though none of it had ever happened. Because, as far as her family knew, none of it ever had. Lambert knew that Penny would never tell.
When she’d gone away to finishing school, she thought she’d finally be free of him. And then she’d learned the news in a letter from her mother. Bradford was betrothed to Alice Lambert.
Once Bradford’s engagement was announced, she ought to have found the courage to speak. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth. She’d have been driving a wedge into Bradford’s happiness with Alice. Ruining one of her father’s oldest friendships. Perhaps her mother would gently accuse her of seeking attention again.
In short, telling the truth would be asking her family to choose between her and Mr. Lambert. They couldn’t be loyal to both. And Penny knew which of the two stories they would prefer to believe.
So she said nothing.
On the day of her brother’s wedding, Penny had vowed that if Bradford and Alice ever had a baby girl, she would break her silence. No matter how painful. But they’d had only sons, thank heavens, and by now speaking the truth seemed pointless.
What good could it do? Penny would be tied to him forever. Lambert would always be, much as it repulsed her to think it, family.
“Come, poppet. Is this any way to greet me?” Lambert kissed her on the cheek. She would be scrubbing it for days. “How lovely to see you dancing. I do hope you’ll favor me with the next set?”
No. Everything in her screamed the word. Yet for some reason she couldn’t speak.
“Actually,” Gabriel said smoothly, “I have a request of my own. I had planned to ask for a private conversation with His Lordship. However, now that you’re here, Mr. Lambert, perhaps you’d care to join us? Since you are family, this matter concerns you, as well.” He looked to Penny. “You will excuse us, I hope?”
She managed to nod.
“Excellent.” He turned to Bradford and Lambert, making a welcoming gesture in the direction of the corridor. “Shall we? I have brandy in my study.”
She watched the men as they left the ballroom, paralyzed with indecision. The little girl inside her still trembled with fear. But she wasn’t a little girl any longer. The woman she’d become refused to stand by, silent and ashamed.
She ran after them, pushing open the door of the study—
Just in time to see Gabriel’s fist connect with Lambert’s jaw.
Penny shrieked.
Bradford launched himself at Gabriel, dragging him backward before he could land another blow.
“You miserable blackguard.” Gabriel struggled against Bradford’s restraint. “I can’t believe you would show your face in this house.”
“What the devil is this about?” Bradford asked.
“Ask him,” Gabriel spat. “Your father-in-law.”
“I’ve not the slightest notion, Bradford,” Lambert said. “No idea what he’s on about.”
“You know precisely what I’m on about.” Gabriel pushed away from Bradford, grabbed Lambert by the lapels, and slammed him against the wall. “You’ve avoided the reckoning for years, but now it’s arrived. You’re going to pay for what you did to her.”
“Stop, please,” Penny cried. “Bradford, we need to talk.”
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk,” her brother said. “A whole week’s journey to Cumberland. You’re leaving with me.”
“Get away from her,” Gabriel threatened. “Or I swear I’ll take you down, too.”
“Gabriel, he doesn’t know.”
“Then he deserves to pay for that.” He let Lambert drop to the floor, then turned on Bradford. “How could you? How could you not know? Didn’t you see her changing before your eyes? A bright, lively little girl turning shy and withdrawn. Hiding from you, from everyone. Surely you knew something was wrong. You never bothered to ask.”
After a moment passed in silence, Bradford turned to her. His eyes were full of questions. “Penny?”
Lambert pressed a handkerchief to his lip. “She’s confused, Bradford. Not difficult to see why, if she’s fallen under the influence of this brigand.” He glared at Gabriel. “See here, Duke. I demand an apology.”
“Go to Hell,” Gabriel snarled.
“Then I demand satisfaction.”
“I’d be glad to give it.”
Penny’s lungs seized. A duel? She couldn’t let this happen.
“Name your second, then. Bradford will serve as mine. They can set the time and place.”
Gabriel shook his head. “I do my own negotiations, and I’m not giving you any time to escape. Tomorrow. Pistols at dawn in St. James Park.”
Lambert tugged on the lapels of his coat. “I look forward to it. I’m an excellent sportsman and a keen shot.” He glanced at Penny. “Isn’t that right, poppet?”
Gabriel cocked a fist. “Get out of my house before I grind you into pulp beneath my boots.”
Before they could go, Penny ran to plead with her brother. “Bradford, you can’t allow this to happen.”
He regarded her with disappointment in his eyes. “It seems as though you’ve allowed this to happen. What were you thinking, associating with such a man?”
“He’s a good person. You don’t know him.” You don’t truly know Lambert, either.
“I know enough,” he said. “I know he’s gone unchecked for too long, destroying our peers and neighbors. For God’s sake, we are standing in a house he shamelessly stole from the Wendlebys.”
“He didn’t steal it.”
“I’ll brook no more argument. I’m only too happy to help bring him to account.”
Penny knew her brother well enough to recognize the expression on his face. His mind was made up. No amount of dissent would sway him now.
She stepped back and gave him the space to leave.
Once Bradford and Lambert had departed the room, Penny rushed to Gabriel. Perhaps he could be made to see sense. “A duel? Surely you don’t mean to do this.”
“I do mean to do this. I wish I could find a way to go back in time and hunt him down there, but I can’t. This is the next best alternative.”
“If going
