35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

L ord Caraway led Melior to the floor, while hot and sticky jealousy filled Nathaniel's gut. He'd have preferred any other man in the room to dance with her, but not this one. It was easier when he'd ascribed guilt to the handsome, well-connected man. Only now he was innocent.

Melior smiled and skipped in all the right places, and he could not help but admire her beauty. Something was different, though. He knew how brightly her eyes sparkled, the look of her natural smile, and the way her features softened when she was in love.

He stilled his tapping foot.

Was it true? He searched the pictures in his mind for the one from that morning. Melior glanced his way, her face soft and her smile bright and the two pictures matched. She loved him. She wanted him and there was no use comparing. Though she danced with Lord Caraway, her gaze strayed to him.

The fire of jealousy turned to a flame of joy. She was his, not Lord Caraway's, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.

The last strains of the violin ended and Nathaniel jumped into action. He gestured to the door when he reached Lord Caraway; the man nodded and led Melior from the room. In the hall they all stopped.

"Mel, give us a few minutes to get in place in the study before you enter the billiard room. Also, the louder you can get Lady Edith to speak, the better."

She nodded, her gaze flicking to Javenia who had exited the crowded ballroom, Algenon close behind. In the dim light of the hall, Melior appeared pale. She swallowed so hard her throat vibrated with the effort.

Nathaniel wished she did not have to go through with this. Lady Edith would not hold back her venomous words when she realized how Melior had double crossed her.

"What if I entered the billiard room instead, Mel? Perhaps I could get her to confess."

Melior shook her head. "It has to be me. I am the only one who will anger her enough to loosen her tongue."

"She's right, Nate," Al said.

Nathaniel knew he was right, but wished to God he was not. "All right. Let us be off then." He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder at Melior as two images warred for precedence in his mind. One of Melior's eyes filled with love, and the other of her face turned down in regret.

Something suddenly tugged at his mind and he could not push the thought away. What sort of power would Lady Edith possess to force Melior into cooperating with her scheme?

Eddie and the duke stepped out of the shadows near the study, their appearance like ghosts in the night. The same dark feeling from the ballroom licked at his soul and he had a feeling Lord Caraway would not be the only one who did not like what he heard tonight.

Melior took a deep breath as Javenia rubbed her arms.

"You can do this," her friend whispered.

Conjuring a smile solid enough to be believable exhausted Melior. But she did it, if only to get Javenia to leave her to the horrid task she had before her.

Reassured, Javenia tiptoed across the hall to a darkened sitting room where she would wait until needed.

Lifting her shoulders and tilting her chin, Melior prepared to do battle. Slowly she turned the knob in her hand. The door swung open easily and quietly. A small candle burned on the edge of the billiard table in front of her. Melior frowned. Did Edith not know that wax could ruin the carefully crafted surface of the table?

"What are you doing here?" Edith hissed from one of the dark corners.

"He is not coming." Melior was proud of the way her voice held steady even though imposing doom enveloped her heart.

"What?" Edith stepped out; her beak-like nose more pronounced in the dim light. "Why not?"

"Because you need to stop reaching above your level, Edith. There are any number of men who would be happy to have you without having to be trapped into a marriage."

"That is rich coming from you, Mellie. You always did think yourself so much better than the rest of us. Melior means superior," she said in a mocking tone. "Now look at you. The wife of a lowly baronet. I would have rather you'd been completely ruined with no prospects, but I suppose marrying a poor man who despises you was nearly as satisfying."

"He is not poor, nor does he despise me, Edith. You have failed on both points."

"Then perhaps I should tell him how you planned to trap Lord Caraway. Who was the failure there, Mellie dear?"

The words rang in Melior's ears, the ones she'd dreaded and yet knew had to be admitted for her guilt to be absolved. But they could not stop here. She needed Edith to say more, to admit her own guilt.

"Me." Melior's knees began to shake. Her admission had been quiet, but she had no doubt the men beyond the door had heard it. What was Nathaniel thinking?

Edith's smirk propelled the rest of the confession out of her. "I admit, I followed my mother's directives and tried to facilitate a private meeting with him. And while I told myself I was only giving him the opportunity to declare himself, I can see how wrong my motives were. But Edith, I am grateful for my failure. I have learned much, and by some miracle it has brought me the greatest happiness I have ever experienced."

The triumph on Edith's face melted away and she growled. "You are lying."

"I am not. I am happy in my marriage, but what I do not understand is why you employed Mr. Fairchild to ruin me in the first place. Can you deny it?"

"I have no wish to. You deserved it. Without you in the way, Lord Caraway would be free to see all my many fine attributes."

"What about Agatha and Lady Jane?"

"Lady Jane is no lady. And if Aggie would have listened, she'd not have gotten hurt. But her silly little feelings got in the way. I did her a favor, you know. Poor weak woman would have gotten her heart trampled on by a man who could never love a mouse like her."

"Do not pretend to goodness. You ruined all her prospects, probably for life. How can you be so callous? She was your friend. I was your friend."

Edith sneered. "You were never my friend. One must harden their resolve and focus on their goals if they wish to rise to some level of importance in Society. No one can stand in the way. Not my scoundrel father who wasted our family's money, not a weak-willed friend, and most definitely not the woman who treated me more like her lady's maid than her equal. Mark my words. Lord Caraway will marry me and he will do so within the week, no matter who I have to ruin."

The wooden panel between the rooms slid open and Melior's stomach threatened to revolt. She did not want to see Nathaniel's disappointment, his disgust in her, but it was Lord Caraway who stepped through the opening.

Edith's eyes brightened at his appearance. With one hand she gestured for Melior to leave, as if she could spew a hoard of insults and still expect Melior to obey her.

"I do not take kindly to deceitful women." Lord Caraway braced his feet and crossed his arms. His gaze flicked to Melior.

She retreated a step. "Again, my apologies for everything."

His steely expression lit with understanding, and he turned his stare on Edith.

"Lord Caraway," she crooned, "do not be too harsh on Melior. She does not know any better than to follow what her horrible mother orders. Thankfully, I was there to make sure you came to no harm at the Durhams' ball."

"Yes." His eyes narrowed. "By making a bargain with a snake, just like Eve of old."

Edith's hands flew to her chest, her mouth dropping open. "No… no, not I."

"These walls are not as thick as you would assume, Lady Edith. One hears a lot through that partition. I heard it from your own lips. Will you still deny it?"

"You must have misheard. We were not speaking loudly."

Uncle Percy stepped through the door, followed by Eddie and Algenon. "Are you claiming we all misheard the words you very clearly uttered?"

"N-no… Y-Your… Grace." Edith's trembling hands lowered to her midsection before falling to her sides. Her gaze fell to the floor. "I was only trying to save Lord Caraway from a forced marriage."

"Ha!" Lord Caraway barked. "Do your lies never cease?"

Edith's features hardened. "What gentleman would dare call a lady a liar?"

"What lady would stoop to such degrading behavior?" he countered.

Red faced, Edith's eyes narrowed to slits and flicked to Melior.

Melior did not cower but lifted herself to her full stature. She had told the truth, all of it. Edith held no more secrets over her.

"This is your fault, you pompous she-devil." Edith stalked toward Melior, the billiard table between her and the men. "If you would have stayed in Kent where you belonged, this never would have happened." The pitch of Edith's voice grew shrill as she neared.

"Stop where you are," Eddie warned.

Edith paid him no mind, rushing Melior. Arms outstretched and eyes crazed, she grasped Melior around the throat. Melior tried to pull her hands away, but to no avail.

"Now what am I to do?" she screamed. "How am I to survive?"

Melior fought for breath. Edith had turned into a mad woman.

Algenon and Eddie grabbed Edith's arms, pulling them away from Melior's throat. She sucked in life-giving air.

"No! It is not fair. I compensated him. You should have been the one ruined. Not me. You should be the one carrying his child!" Edith's screams turned into sobs.

Edith's insistence on timing, her ruthlessness, her fluttering hands at her midsection—they all made sense. Melior's gaze dropped. That was why she'd stooped to trapping Lord Caraway. She had probably hoped he would be attracted to her on her own merits until she'd discovered she was increasing. Edith had become desperate… and reckless.

When Edith began to sway, Algenon wrapped his arms about her and Eddie helped guide her fainting form to the ground. Everything went quiet. All Melior could hear was her own labored breathing.

"What do we do now?" Lord Caraway finally asked. "I cannot in good conscience bring charges against a woman who is in the family way, nor is there really anything she might be accused of except what might be said of all the marriage-minded females in London."

"We need to get her to a more comfortable place and call her father in," Uncle Percy said.

A knife twisted in Melior's chest. She had been one of those females, but it was not only Lord Caraway's words that twisted the blade. She examined the dim space, hoping for a familiar figure to step out of the shadows, but none appeared.

Nathaniel was gone.