A Wicked Conceit by Anna Huber (best young adult book series txt) 📗

young lady asked you to release her,” a familiar deep male voice intoned behind me. His words sharpened as he crowded even closer to me. “I suggest you do it.”

I didn’t have to turn to see who it was. I had just been searching for him after all, and now here he had found me. Just in time.

Lord Kirkcowan glared at Lord Henry Kerr for the space of but two seconds before abruptly releasing me, nearly flinging me back against Lord Henry’s chest, whose hands lifted to the back of my shoulders to steady me. “Collecting quite the number of swains, aren’t we, Lady Darby,” he sneered before brushing past us.

I flushed at the implication but refused to be goaded into uttering any further protests. When I heard Lord Henry draw breath to do so in my defense, I turned to stay him. “He’s not worth your words. And neither is anyone who listens to him,” I added for the two debutantes slowly strolling past who were not even attempting to conceal the fact that they were eavesdropping. They blushed and moved on.

Lord Henry and I both fell silent, gazing at each other uncertainly. He looked much the same as he had in January—strong and handsome, but with the same air of sadness lingering in his silvery gray eyes. Before, he had still been grieving for Lady Drummond, but I now suspected he was also grieving for his brother John and the fractures John had caused in their family with his actions.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked, nodding toward my arm.

I lowered my hand from the spot I’d been rubbing where Lord Kirkcowan had grabbed me, grateful that the crowned sleeves hid any markings, though he had rather wrinkled the fabric. “It’s nothing.”

“Are you certain?” He turned to look over his shoulder. “Because I could fetch Mr. Gage . . .” His voice trailed away, as if just recalling the implication of that statement.

I arched a single eyebrow, inviting him to comment further, but he seemed at a loss for words again. However, I had found mine. “When did you arrive in Edinburgh?”

“Yesterday.”

“I see.”

He shifted his feet, having the grace to flush. “I set out for Edinburgh the moment I returned to Britain,” he hastened to assure me.

“You must have traveled some distance to settle your brother abroad,” I queried leadingly.

But whatever guilt and discomfort Henry was feeling did not goad him into hasty words, and he kept the location of his brother to himself. He took my arm, guiding me toward an alcove along the passage where we might talk with greater freedom without being overheard. “I suppose I should have called on you the moment I arrived . . .”

“As you promised,” I pointed out, my chest tightening with repressed anger.

He nodded. “I know. But there was a letter waiting for me at Bowmont House from Mother, informing me of Miss Drummond’s debut ball this evening. Knowing what you did for Clare, I wondered if you might be attending. And I thought . . . well, I thought that perhaps it would be better to know where things stood, so to speak, before I . . . before I called.”

I stared up at him, fighting the shame and frustration that had been festering inside me for weeks. “You mean, whether it would be better to know if I had honored the promise you extracted from me, never dreaming I would be forced to keep such a secret from the man I love for over eight weeks?” I bit out in a low voice.

Henry seemed to grasp how furious I was, for he edged back a step. “You haven’t told him yet, then?”

I was perilously close to swatting him like I might have done to my brother, Trevor. I supposed in that regard he was already acting like a proper brother-in-law. “No.”

“I know I put you in an untenable situation, and I’m sorry for that. Had I known I would be escorting my brother to . . .” He broke off, correcting himself before continuing. Though I didn’t know why he was so hesitant to share Lord John’s location. It wasn’t as if we were going to chase after him or that he’d be charged with anything if we were able to drag him back to Scotland. “Abroad, I never would have asked it of you.” The genuine contrition softening his features, and the marked similarities to my husband that I could now see because I was looking for them, were all that kept me from raking him over the coals.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You need to tell him. Tonight,” I insisted, though my stomach twisted in knots at the prospect. “Then we’ll simply have to face whatever the repercussions are.”

I was referring to Lord Gage’s subsequent reaction when he learned that Henry and his mother, the Duchess of Bowmont, had deliberately defied his wishes by telling his legitimate son, for Gage was certain to confront him about it. Lord Gage had threatened to reveal certain sensitive secrets he possessed about the duchess and her family if they ever told Gage, and I knew from experience how ruthless my father-in-law could be.

However, I was thinking about the repercussions to my own marriage. I turned my head to the side, staring unseeing at the flow of guests moving along the corridor between the ballroom and the dining room. Whether they glanced our way in interest I didn’t note, being too absorbed in my own concerns over what my husband’s response would be.

“He’s going to be angry, isn’t he?”

I nodded. “Lord Gage has not been the best of fathers. But Gage always believed that, at the very least, he was faithful to his mother. Whom Gage adored.”

But Henry seemed to realize that wasn’t the only thing making me so tense. “I’ll do what I can to shield you. He need never know you know.”

I smiled sadly at him. “I can’t lie to him. If even I could. One look at my face, and he will realize I already knew.”

“Then I’ll make sure he