How to Handle a Scandal (12 page)

But he didn’t seem to be listening to her explanation. “I should have known you would lie to me. Did you make up all that business about being infertile too?” he demanded.

She shook her head. “I was simply wrong about being barren. Gerard and I tried for years to no avail. I dearly wanted a baby—”

“So the truth comes out!” he broke in. “You used me as some sort of stud!”

“What? No! It was an accident.”

But his jaw had only grown harder. “Why would I be foolish enough to believe that when you’ve already lied to me?”

“Because it’s the truth! I wanted to spare you.”

“No, you wanted this all to work out neatly for yourself.”

“I thought,” she nearly snarled, “that since you were going back to India before long, you need never have known.”

“Good God,” he growled.

She tamped down her emotions, trying to find a way to keep this conversation from veering out of control. “Look, this situation isn’t your fault—we both know nothing would have happened that night if you’d known Victoria was me. But I have resources and plenty of money of my own—I shall simply go away for a few months, somewhere I’m not known, and then, after a while, I can come back to London and say I adopted the baby from an orphanage.”

Tommy stared at her, his jaw so hard it might have been made of stone. Though he’d seemed to soften toward her over lunch, whatever tiny bit of goodwill he might have developed had clearly disappeared.

“Leaving aside the
ridiculous
notion that this baby is yours to do with as you wish and not mine as well, your plans are absurd and irresponsible. You can’t simply disappear somewhere, have a baby, and return to your old life as if nothing had happened.”

“Of course I can. Women have done things like this countless times before. What choice have they had? I at least, as an educated, well-off woman, can do for myself. And if I have to share some of the troubles that other women have endured, so be it.”

“Save the philosophizing, Elizabeth. You’re carrying my child, so you’re going to be my wife.”

Outrage and fear burned through her in equal measure. “No, I’m not,” she said through her teeth.

“Yes, you are. I’ll drag you to the church if I have to.”

“But you can’t make me say the words.”

She turned away quickly and escaped back into the drawing room, where Anna and Will were chatting about some crumbling old estate in Kent that Tommy had apparently just bought, though Eliza couldn’t manage to pay attention because she was worried that Tommy was going to follow her and try to browbeat her.

She kept her eyes surreptitiously on the door, but long minutes passed and he didn’t reappear. She could only be grateful.

Anna pressed her to come back to Halifax House for tea, but Eliza really needed to go home and figure out a plan. She might have won the battle she’d just had with Tommy, but he was clearly furious, and she needed to find a way to keep this from turning into a war.

* * *

Eliza was thoroughly shaken by the time she arrived at Truehart Manor, and she went right to her bedchamber and ordered a bath. The day was chilly and she sank into the steamy heat gratefully, wishing it could wash away all her mistakes. How had things come to this? She was pregnant and unmarried, with the furious father demanding she marry him so he could be angry at her for eternity.

And the place she’d worked so hard to establish as a refuge for disadvantaged girls—the undertaking around which she’d been building her life—was being rejected not only by the girls she wanted to help, but by the community in which she lived.

Her life was a mess. But she was going to have a baby, and nothing could diminish the joy that knowledge brought.

She reached for the towel the maid had left. She needed to talk to Meg.

Once dinner was over and Susie and Thomasina had gone to their rooms, Eliza pulled Meg into the breakfast room and closed the door.

“This is intriguing,” Meg said, taking the maroon-striped chair by the fire. “Is something going on?”

“Er,” Eliza said, coming to sit in the opposite chair, “yes.”

Meg waited with a pleasant look on her face. Eliza bit her lip, hesitating. Meg laughed. “Heavens, but I’m growing interested. Do you want me to guess?”

“I don’t think you’ll manage,” Eliza said. “I’m expecting.”

“Expecting what?”

“The usual.”

Meg just looked at her for several seconds. “Are you expecting a
baby
?” she said in a hushed voice.

“Yes.”

“But how? Why?”

“I suppose the answer to both questions is also ‘the usual.’”

Meg reached for Eliza’s arm, a stricken look coming over her face. “Oh, Eliza, has someone harmed you? Were you molested?”

“No,” Eliza said quickly. “It was nothing like that.” And then she began to explain, starting with how and why she’d gone to Madame Persaud’s.

“You went to a
brothe
l
? What on earth can you have been thinking? What an insane thing to do!”

Eliza’s lips twisted wryly. “I see that now, obviously.” She explained the rest of what had happened, leaving out the details but giving Meg the gist.

“My God,” Meg gasped. “Sir Tommy Halifax is the father of your unborn child? Does he know?”

“Yes. I wasn’t going to tell him, because I plan to take care of the baby on my own and he’s going back to India, so I thought he would be gone before it would be apparent that I was increasing. But he figured it out at the Bridewell luncheon today. He’s furious, and I can’t blame him. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him tell me what to do.”

“What did he say?”

“He demanded I marry him.”

“As well he ought!”

“I’m not going to marry him.”

Meg’s eyes widened. “
What?
Why not? You’re an unmarried woman who’s increasing—what else can you do but marry the father?”

“He doesn’t want this baby, and he as good as hates me. Marrying each other would be a recipe for disaster, for both us and the baby. I mean to go away and have the baby somewhere else, on my own.”

Meg’s eyebrows lowered. “This sounds like an even more insane undertaking than your trip to the brothel.”

Eliza smiled. “That’s why I need your help. When you take Thomasina and Susie to Francesca’s tomorrow, I want to go to Bath with you. Since we won’t have anymore girls in our care here”—she sighed a little over the failure of her hopes for Truehart Manor—“I thought I could stay with Francesca and help out at her school until Tommy goes back to India. And then I would go away, before I started to show.”

Meg crossed her arms. “What if he finds out you’re in Bath?”

“How would he, if you don’t tell him?”

“Anna and Will, for instance, will wonder what happened to you.”

“You can tell them I went to stay with a friend who needed help. I’ll send them a letter when I get there. Then once Tommy’s gone, I’ll come back to London and sort out my affairs. I could even join you in Italy,” she said, the idea just occurring to her, “and perhaps stay and have the baby there.”

Meg pressed her lips together. “This is an entirely mad scheme.”

“I know,” Eliza said quietly. “But I don’t know what else to do.”

Meg sighed. “You
know
I’ll help you, and I suppose it just might work. But…don’t you think you should sort things out with Tommy?”

“You didn’t see his face today—he looked ready to swashbuckle me. Trust me, this is for the best.”

* * *

Eliza and Meg were on the road very early the next morning, along with Thomasina and Susie, who were sleepy but also excited. The girls chattered giddily about what Bath and the school would be like, and Eliza could only hope that what she and Meg had tried to do for them at Truehart Manor wouldn’t ultimately turn out to be a waste.

Once their carriage cleared the outskirts of London and she could tell herself she’d managed to evade Tommy, Eliza began to relax, although it was difficult to feel entirely at ease since her stomach was queasy. But still, she’d taken the best possible step for the future of herself and her baby.

They’d just passed through a village when their coach slowed to a stop.

“What can it be?” Meg wondered aloud.

Eliza rapped on the roof of the coach and called out to the coachman. “Why are we stopping?”

But there wasn’t time for him to reply, because the door opened abruptly, and there was Tommy.

“Oh dear,” Meg murmured.

“Good morning, ladies,” Tommy said, sweeping them a gallant bow. “I apologize for interrupting your progress. I am Sir Tommy Halifax. Miss Cartwright, I presume?” he said to Meg.

“Yes,” she said, sounding a little breathless. His black hair shone in the midmorning light, and his face looked freshly shaved. He was wearing a brilliant saffron-colored coat he might have stolen from a rajah, along with a striped blue-and-white waistcoat that set off the slash of white at his forehead. Though his gracious manner was that of a gentleman, the tilt of his lips whispered “rogue.”

“Very pleased to meet you,” he said to Meg. “My sister-in-law, Lady Grandville, has sung your praises to me on many an occasion.”

Meg blushed, clearly charmed, and Eliza wanted to pinch her.

His gaze move on to Thomasina and Susie, who were both staring at him slack-jawed, as though they’d discovered themselves in the presence of a friendly pirate captain. “And you must be two of the accomplished young ladies from Truehart Manor, of whom I’ve also heard.”

“Thomasina, sir,” the girl said in an awed voice.

“And Susie,” the other girl whispered.

He swept them each a bow. “I’m honored to meet you both.”

He turned to Eliza, and a hard glitter came into those green eyes that had just charmed the rest of the carriage’s occupants into a stupor. “And of course I am already well acquainted with Lady Truehart. In fact,” he said, giving Eliza a smile that doubtless only she was able to see was evil, “I have pressing business with her.”

He held out a hand. “My coach is just behind, Lady Truehart. If you would come with me?”

She wanted to tell him to take himself off in the strongest terms imaginable, but Thomasina and Susie were there, and Eliza didn’t want to be a bad example to them or create a scene that would be interesting enough to become gossip. She forced a laugh.

“Goodness, Sir Tommy, the idea!” she said breezily. “I’m already on my way somewhere. Surely we could chat in London when next we meet.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, his eyes boring into hers.

Eliza’s eyes flicked to Meg, silently beseeching her for help.

Meg leaned close. “He has a stake in this,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, but I have to agree that you must talk to him.”

Eliza wanted to howl with frustration, but instead she allowed him to help her down. His coach stood behind hers, the horses waiting patiently.

Tommy leaned into Eliza’s coach and said, “No need to linger, Miss Cartwright. I’ll see that Lady Truehart gets where she needs to go.”

“What?” Eliza squawked, aware that Meg and the girls could see them out the window of her coach. “But my trunk,” she protested. She supposed he meant to return her to London, and what did it matter now if he did, since the point of her flight had been to avoid him? Still, it was going to be an awkward, unpleasant ride back, and she could only think he meant to renew his insistence that they marry. She would simply have to put him off until they got to London.

“No time to unload it,” Tommy said. “Besides, I have a valise for you.”

He did? “Why? How could you possibly?”

He ignored her and gave Meg a cheery wave. She waved back, and Eliza’s coach took off, leaving her standing with Tommy.

“After you,” he said, gesturing toward his coach.

“This is ridiculous,” she said through her teeth, aware that his driver could hear their conversation. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I suggest we discuss this where our conversation will be private.”

She wanted to offer him a few choice words, but she just clamped her lips together and got into the coach. She noticed, with a fleeting feeling of consolation, that Traveler was curled up on one seat, but before she could sit next to the dog, Tommy climbed in, closing the door behind him, and beat her to it. Traveler opened one eye and gave her what looked like a pitying glance before going back to sleep. She took the opposite seat, Tommy rapped on the roof, and they took off.

“Where do you think you’re taking me?” she demanded.

“To get married. I have a special license.”

“
What?
” she gasped, and then was simply speechless for several seconds. “Stop the coach this instant and let me down! You’re out of your mind.”

“No,
you’re
out of your mind if you think my child is going to be a bastard.” Though he’d been so charming to Meg and the girls, it was clear to Eliza that under that polite facade, he was seething.

“Don’t use that word.”

“Why not? Everyone else will, once they find out.”

She threw up her hands. “This is ridiculous! We can’t marry. Neither of us
wants
to marry.” When he didn’t reply, she said, “We just need to be reasonable about this.”

“I
am
being reasonable,” he said, though with his hard jaw and his bitter mouth, he looked anything but that. “There is no other choice. Besides,” his eyes settled on her, sharp green ice chips, “I already told Will that we were eloping. I told him we’d been secretly courting, and that we’d discussed marriage like the two rational adults we are. And I told him that you’d agreed—but that it’s your fondest wish to have a grand, romantic gesture, so I was going to sweep you off your feet.”

“This is so outrageous, I don’t even know what to say.”

He looked out the window. “Will was surprised at my news—though it’s probably more accurate to say he was suspicious. But he seemed to accept the idea. Anna was certainly thrilled—apparently she’s been entertaining some bizarre notion that we were always meant for each other. I wouldn’t have thought her prone to that kind of nonsense, but there you are.”

Eliza’s heart was racing. How could he have done this? “You told Will and Anna we were getting married? What on earth were you thinking?”