Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

S elina was sipping lemonade when her brother hurried over.

She'd watched the exchange from the shadows, her dismay growing as the shock on her brother's face had deepened while Chauncy spoke in an unusually serious fashion to him.

Nausea swept over her, and she closed her eyes.

The game was up. Not with Selina having been revealed as the artist.

But with her having been revealed as someone other than Edward's wife.

Oh dear Lord, had Chauncy called Selina out as Edward's mistress ?

Had he gone so far as to propose a financial transaction to secure Selina's ‘attentions'?

Whatever he'd said, Edward had reacted with silent but palpable horror.

Selina tried not to let her terror show. Edward would lock her up. No, he'd disown her. Banish her. Her good name would be dragged through the mud. She'd never?—

"Selina! Come with me! Quickly!" Selina opened her eyes to find Edward gripping her elbow as he hissed his demands; and Selina had no choice but to follow him out of the drawing room and along the corridor.

A servant thrust open the door to what she saw was a library with floor-to-ceiling bookcases and a large desk near the window.

"The duke has just asked me to draw the likeness of three gentlemen in the ballroom." He sounded panicked. "The drawings are to be executed without delay and we're to find materials here."

Selina nearly sagged against the wall with relief. "He…didn't say anything else?'

"What's more important than this?" Edward turned away to search for the necessary utensils before he thrust paper and pencil into her hands. "Discretion is everything. He cannot know the artist is not me. He named a figure that would astonish you. Selina! You cannot fail me this time."

Selina's hands closed over the artist's materials while her mind revolted. "Why can he not know that it is me ?"

Edward's mouth turned down. "Now is not the time for quibbling. I have an important job to do. On behalf of His Majesty's Government. This is a matter of grave importance. The safety of the Prince Regent is at stake and that the three men I'm to draw are all under suspicion. Obey me this instant, Selina!"

There was little else she could do for Selina was already compromised. She needed to mitigate her guilt.

But she was resentful as she tucked the drawing tools into her reticule and followed her brother back into the stone passage of the draughty house.

They made their way towards the ballroom, the distant muted chatter of the guests a welcoming sound, Selina thought, shivering. She wanted to return to the light and warmth of the festivities with chandeliers of beeswax candles, and hundreds of fabulously garbed bodies pressed together.

Behind them, the dark, unlit corridors led into oblivion.

Yet suddenly that's where Selina wanted to go. Not the ballroom. Not a public place where she was open to humiliation.

She didn't want to draw anyone—especially on Edward's behalf—ever again.

She'd taken a great risk, and she had miscalculated.

Just as she had miscalculated seven years ago when she'd let her heart rule her head and succumbed to Samuel's lures.

Ever since then she'd been used and abused by the men in her life. Now Edward wanted her to obediently do his bidding once again while he took all the credit, and continued to belittle her.

She hung back and Edward turned, his voice a snarl in the darkness as he took her wrist and pulled her after him to the ballroom.

The warmth, as she crossed the threshold, hit her forcibly.

"There are the men you are to draw." Her brother pointed. "Now do as I say. I will not tolerate your intransigence! Do you realize how important this is? And if you don't start to draw quickly, I will?—"

But Selina didn't hear the rest of his threat, for it was cut short by a loud crack.

A sound like a pistol.