Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

“ O h, dear heavens!” Lady Costner said as she stopped short after seeing Grovemont standing inside the study so close to Gemma. Gemma swallowed and stepped back toward the desk.

“What is the meaning of this!” came Lady Costner’s shrill shriek. She promptly pulled a lacy handkerchief from her sleeve and waved it about in the air as if she was swatting at an invisible fly.

Mary’s eyes were panicked, and her voice was low when she spoke. “Calm down, Mama. It’s nothing. We were just?—”

“It’s not nothing!” Lady Costner continued in that same shrill voice. “ These two were already in the room together. Alone!” She gave Gemma and Grovemont a condemning glare.

Mary turned swiftly toward her mother, her eyes wide and pleading. “No, Mama. You mistake the case. I was alone in the room with His Grace .”

Gemma’s brows shot up. Well, how do you like that? Apparently, Mary wasn’t half the dullard she’d thought her to be. Mary had quickly read the situation and was trying to turn it in her favor.

A few long seconds ticked by before the same bright gleam slid into Lady Costner’s eyes. “Oh, yes. I do believe you are correct.”

“This is preposterous,” Grovemont said, his tone thunderous.

He was about to say more when Lady Costner opened her mouth and let out a grand shriek. It was somewhere between I’ve-seen-a-ghost and my-ladylike-sensibilities-have-been-irreparably-damaged. Impressive, actually.

“Southbury!” Lady Costner screamed at the top of her lungs. “Your Grace! Come quickly!”

Gemma gulped. Southbury? Why was Lady Costner calling for Griffin? Oh, no. This was not good. Not good at all. Gemma, who’d been rooted to the spot as Lady Costner’s dramatics unfolded, glanced at the duke. She bit her lip and gave him a look she hoped was filled with as much regret as she felt.

Grovemont’s face slowly turned to a mask of stone. A muscle ticked in his jaw. And the enormity of the situation landed like an elephant’s foot on Gemma’s stomach. Her neck began to sweat, and nausea pooled in her middle. Dear God. Please don’t let me cast up my accounts in Griffin’s study in front of these people . Because if Gemma didn’t mistake her guess, this hideous woman and her scheming daughter were about to cause quite a lot of unnecessary trouble for the poor, unwitting Duke of Grovemont. And it was all Gemma’s fault.

And that wasn’t the only awful thing about to happen. Griffin’s wedding celebration would be interrupted by this nonsense. Gemma closed her eyes and prayed.

Griffin was not the first person to heed Lady Costner’s shriek. Instead, Lady Steffland and Lady Cranberry, two of Mama’s friends, came hurrying to the study door.

“What’s the matter, Harriet?” Lady Cranberry asked Lady Costner. “We were on our way back from the lady’s retiring room and heard a commotion.”

Lady Costner, apparently satisfied with her audience, pushed her daughter into the study and followed her. Then she placed her curled knuckles on her forehead and declared in a still-shrill howl, “We must find Southbury immediately. His Grace was alone in this room with my dear Mary .”

Lady Cranberry, always a devotee of gossip and scandal, peered into the room and locked eyes with Gemma. Gemma kept her countenance blank. But there was no mistaking the judgement on the older woman’s face. Lady Cranberry swiveled on her heel and immediately rushed off down the corridor, no doubt in search of Griffin.

Gemma was left with Lady Steffland eyeing the four of them from the doorway with a mixture of obvious disapproval and delight. This would be the talk of the wedding ball in minutes.

Grovemont remained stoic, but anger was clearly etched in his features. His face had flushed dark, and his cobalt-blue eyes narrowed on Lady Costner, but he remained silent. No doubt the man was wise enough to wait until Griffin arrived before making his case. And Gemma had every intention of helping him by telling the truth.

“What is she doing here?” Lady Steffland asked, nodding toward Gemma when she spied her standing behind Grovemont.

“I was—” Gemma began.

“She happened along after I’d already found my dear Mary alone with the duke,” Lady Costner lied.

“You did no such thing, and you know it!” Gemma planted her fists on her hips and stared indignantly at Lady Costner.

When faced with a denial, Lady Costner chose that particular moment to crumple toward the floor in a convincing pretend faint.

Left with little choice, Grovemont sprang forward to catch her.

“Mama!” cried Mary, wringing her hands as she hovered over her mother’s prostrate body.

“Oh, dear,” Lady Steffland said, peering at Lady Costner. “Harriet, are you quite all right?” Lady Steffland fully entered the room and bobbed her head back and forth in an attempt to watch as Grovemont easily lifted the sizable Lady Costner in his arms. He took three long strides toward the leather sofa near the wall and laid her upon it before stepping back. The muscle in his jaw ticked faster.

One of Lady Costner’s pale-blue eyes peeked open to assess the situation before she let out a dramatic sigh. “I am a good Christian woman, and I will not stand for such sinfulness. My own, innocent daughter has been gravely compromised.” She turned her head toward Grovemont. “You do understand, Your Grace, that my Mary is the most innocent, unassuming, pure girl.”

“Your daughter wasn’t even—” Gemma’s words were cut off as Griffin, Meredith, and Mama came rushing into the room led by Lady Cranberry.

“What is happening here?” Griffin demanded, glancing about and clearly doing his best to combat the effects of the champagne he’d been drinking all night.

Gemma glanced out the crack in the door to see a veritable crowd standing in the corridor. She swallowed hard as anxiety rose like poison in her throat. Oh, this was even worse than she’d expected, and she’d expected it to be quite bad. Lady Cranberry had obviously wasted no time alerting the entirety of the ballroom’s occupants. Dear God. What had Gemma done?

She forced herself to take a deep breath and concentrate. This would all be cleared up in a matter of moments. She would help the duke explain the truth to everyone. It was that simple. She cleared her throat and shook out her shoulders, ready to do battle with Lady Costner if she must.

“What’s going on?” Griffin asked again, more loudly this time. “ Grovemont ?”

“Gemma?” Mama rushed over and gave Gemma a hug. Grovemont’s gaze swung to them as if he had just realized who she was. Gemma bit her lip. Ooh . She hadn’t told him. Had she? Poorly, done. That.

Grovemont stepped forward. His face remained stonelike. “Don’t worry, Southbury.” His voice was also completely devoid of any emotion. “While I assure you that nothing untoward happened. I take full responsibility for the appearance of impropriety. I was alone in this room with your sister when Lady Costner and her daughter happened along.”

“No! You were alone with my dear Mary!” Lady Costner insisted, ever shrill.

Griffin scrubbed a hand over his face. Gemma’s heart wrenched. She hated that she was the cause of ruining her brother’s wedding ball. Griffin turned his head toward her, his face gravely serious. “Gemma,” he said, “were you alone with Grovemont?”

Oh, thank heavens. Her eyes fluttered shut momentarily with her relief. She had the chance to tell the truth. And Griffin would believe her. He knew she wasn’t a liar. Impatient and impetuous, perhaps. Prone to sticking her nose where it did not belong, granted. But no liar. “Yes.” She nodded. “I was alone with Grovemont, but only for a few moments before?—”

“No! That’s not true!” Mary insisted, stamping her foot. “It was me !”

“Ladies.” Griffin rubbed his temple with a knuckle before he turned to Lady Cranberry and Lady Steffland. “Since there seems to be some discrepancy, what exactly did you see?”

Lady Steffland’s brow furrowed as she obviously attempted to recall what precisely she had witnessed. “When we came upon the scene, Lady Costner and Mary were in the corridor. And Grovemont and Gemma were in here together.”

“No, Bertha, you’re mistaken,” Lady Costner insisted. Her eyes were shooting angry blue fire at Lady Steffland.

“It’s what I saw too,” Lady Cranberry agreed, clearly relishing her role as witness, perhaps a bit too much. “Gemma was alone with the duke.”

Griffin’s narrowed gaze shot to Grovemont. “Seems we have the right of it then.”

Grovemont nodded. “I shall do right by your sister, of course, Southbury.”

Lady Costner’s face fell, and Mary’s turned bright red. She looked as if she might wail.

Meanwhile, Gemma glanced back and forth between her brother and Grovemont, waiting to hear what came next. The little drops of sweat that had begun earlier were now rolling down her back and running down her temple.

Do right by ?

Why, that sounded like…

That must mean…

No. No. No .

Her breathing became so labored that a wheezing sound issued from her dry throat. Meredith came to her and helped her into a chair.

Gemma looked up into Meredith’s pretty gray eyes and desperately whispered, “Please tell me this doesn’t mean…” But she couldn’t even finish the sentence. Pure undiluted regret gripped her chest and squeezed…hard. What had she done? What had she done ?

“Just breathe,” Meredith whispered. “Griffin and your mother shall handle this, Gemma. It will be all right.”

The serious edge to Meredith’s voice caused panic to claw even harder at Gemma’s insides.

“I should hope so,” Griffin was saying to Grovemont when Gemma focused again on their conversation.

Grovemont’s jaw remained tight. He glanced briefly around at the occupants of the study, his face still an unreadable mask. “I’ll call on you in the morning, Southbury, and we shall discuss the contract. I do not wish to further intrude upon or hinder your wedding celebration this evening. Good night.” He gave an efficient bow to the room in general. “Ladies,” he said and then stalked away.