Chapter Seven
Selina lay on her bed and screamed angry tears into her pillow. Pushing the feathery softness around her face to muffle it as much as possible.
‘But…if it was an accident, Miss,’ said her maid Louisa, who was perched on the side of the bed and rubbing her shoulders kindly, ‘you can’t be blamed…’
The screaming wouldn’t help matters, so Selina raised herself and wiped away her tears. ‘It didn’t look like an accident. We looked like we’d been caught in flagrante delicto.’ At Louisa’s confused frown, she added, ‘Caught in the act!’
Louisa winced. ‘But surely, the prince will explain things…’
At fifteen, Louisa was little more than a child herself, and she couldn’t seem to comprehend the scandal.
Selina sighed and patted Louisa’s hand, even though she really should be the one being comforted right now.
‘I am sure he will try to explain. But people will believe what they want to believe, and as they saw me in a compromising embrace with the prince…’ She couldn’t finish, she shrugged with defeat and swallowed down the threat of more hot tears.
There was nothing she could do to right this latest wrong. She was a fallen woman, considered ruined and hated by every aristocrat here. Which was particularly infuriating because she hadn’t even had the fun of a scandal to warrant such a degradation.
Even with Prince Magnus’s quick reassurances that nothing untoward had happened, she had known immediately her life in London was over. She had seen the disbelief and accusing judgement on each of their faces and, in Anne’s case, pure hatred.
In that moment she had understood how her mother had felt, a stranger in a foreign land, misunderstood and unwelcome.
She’d felt alone…until Prince Magnus had picked up her shawl and wrapped it around her.
Ignoring the state of his own torn clothes in an oddly sweet gesture of kindness and compassion.
It had been the only comfort in an otherwise terrible moment.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Codswallop! She had made everything a thousand times worse!
Her conversation with the prince had been bad enough. She’d only angered him further by apologising, and it was obvious her presence was abhorrent to him.
Damn and blast it! The fall had only happened because he’d been so desperate to leave, and she’d practically held him hostage. She’d realised too late how ridiculous she was being, but when she’d stepped back, she’d forgotten about the steps behind her.
What followed would be burned into her memory for all time.
Why did the moments after their accident echo over and over in her mind with far greater clarity than the humiliation in front of the ton? Each of her senses soaking up the seconds she had spent in his embrace until she was flushed and dizzy.
The silky muscle of his bare arm, flexing to hold her up, the softness of torn linen scrunched in her hand, the smell of powdery irises whispering in the breeze that fluttered over her exposed flesh…and, most of all, Prince Magnus staring down at her mouth with hungry eyes.
She hadn’t flown from his embrace immediately as she should have. A warm and earthy part of her nature had surrendered beneath his eyes. Had even hoped that he might kiss her.
So when they’d been interrupted by the great and the good, as well as the friend she was supposedly trying to help, she had been utterly ashamed of herself.
Because even though nothing had happened and it had only been an accident, the truth was she had wished for more.
More than she had ever wanted from Mr Chadwick or any other man, for that matter.
She had hopelessly abandoned all propriety, friendship and reason for the possibility of one forbidden kiss.
Is that how her mother had felt? When she had left her homeland and her family and even given up her language to follow Selina’s father to England?
And look how well that had turned out…
Selina had run from the scene as fast as her legs could carry her. Now she waited for the guillotine to fall. The brisk knock on her door came a short time later, signalling the time had arrived sooner than even she had expected.
Louisa returned from the door with the news. ‘Lord Kesgrave wishes to see you in the library, Miss.’
Selina nodded miserably. ‘Help me wash my face, and find something demure to put me in… My highest neckline.’
Louisa wrung her hands. ‘The footman said I should probably start packing your things.’
Selina grabbed the pillow from the bed, thrust her face into it and released another scream. But perhaps she could change their minds? She had to at least try!
But as she entered the library, Selina knew her grim fate was well and truly sealed.
Anne’s father, Lord Kesgrave, Earl of Eastbourne stood by the mantelpiece with his hands behind his back and his chin raised so high she could see the dark hair inside his nostrils.
The Countess of Eastbourne sat on a sofa with the Duchess of Beckton, and she reached out to grab the duchess’s hand at the sight of Selina, as if she were a rat that had somehow squirrelled its way in.
The Duke of Beckton sat in an armchair looking bored by the fire. The duchess had Charlotte’s temperament and gave her a sympathetic look as she entered. Although, Selina doubted one compassionate woman would overturn the verdict.
No, this would be a quick and merciless execution.
She went through the usual polite greetings and curtsies, before pleading her case.
‘I beg your forgiveness and understanding. The incident with the prince was an unfortunate accident. I happened to meet His Serene Highness while going for a morning walk. But as I left the temple, I tripped and fell, and he managed to catch me…but our clothes were torn in the uh…fumble.’ Gracious!
Explaining it out loud made it seem ten times worse!
‘Please, I beg you, if you send me away now it will only give credit to the gossip that is sure to follow. Surely, the prince has said the same and declared me innocent of all wrongdoing?’
‘He did, didn’t he? We can hardly blame Miss Mortimer for a fall,’ said the duchess with a bright and hopeful look, but the severe expressions that answered her were enough to silence her for good.
‘It is not Miss Mortimer’s fault,’ said the earl with a sigh, but Selina knew that he was only saying so to appease the duchess. ‘She has not been brought up in the proper way. If she had, she would never have gone on a walk unchaperoned.’
Selina stiffened. Considering she’d been brought in as Anne’s unofficial chaperone, hearing that she was suddenly a naive and irresponsible ill-bred woman was rich indeed!
The countess added her own sigh of resigned judgement.
‘This is what comes with young ladies entering Society with so little preparation.’ Selina flinched at the implication, her lack of proper education a sore point that Lady Kesgrave had unknowingly struck.
‘We tried to take you under our wing as a kindness, but we can see now the error of our compassion.’
‘Indeed!’ agreed the earl. ‘This is what comes from making a common sailor a baronet!’ He snorted as if he’d made a fine joke. The duke and countess laughed, while the duchess simply stared at her tightly clasped hands.
Until that moment, Selina would have begged on her hands and knees for forgiveness.
After all, being ostracised and forgotten was her greatest fear.
But the sneering condemnation of her father’s rank had given her iron-clad knees.
She would never beg the earl and the countess for anything ever again.
If her punishment was to spend eternity in Great Yarmouth and never marry or live in London ever again… then, so be it.
Straightening her spine, she practically shouted her parting retort, drawing all eyes towards her. ‘My Lord, if not for men like my father fighting Napoleon, you would be a head shorter!’
Their matching purple outraged faces only gave her a moment of satisfaction before she turned on her heel and stormed from the room.
Within the hour she was taken down the servants’ stairs to a waiting carriage at the delivery entrance. It was to drive her to the nearest inn, where she and Louisa would wait for the stagecoach back to London, where they would then change for another stagecoach to Great Yarmouth.
After her little outburst, the earl had been quite firm about the arrangements.
She would not be welcome at his townhouse for the night in London or, in fact, ever again: she was never to seek out Lady Anne either.
So she would have to make her own plans for accommodation and transport after the generous carriage ride to the nearest inn.
The duchess had sent a note with five guineas that wished her well, and Selina had been forced to take it. Cursing herself for spending her allowance so frivolously on her crimson gown, she wrote a hasty thank-you note, promising to reimburse the duchess as soon as she was able.
Nobody came to say goodbye, or wish her well. So much for friendship!
Perhaps they did not know she was leaving? Or, more likely, they were unwilling to tarnish their own reputation by associating with her. Either way, she didn’t dare look back at Elms Park as the carriage rolled away.
‘I’m sure this little embarrassment won’t even reach Great Yarmouth, Miss,’ reassured Louisa quietly.
‘I doubt that. I am sure I will be the talk of London and beyond by the end of the week.’
* * *
‘What do you mean, she’s been sent away?’ snapped Magnus incredulously. The earl had ushered him into the library as soon as he’d seen him return from his ride. Now he wished he hadn’t tried to ease his pent-up frustrations by taking yet another ride.