Chapter Nineteen
“What. Did. You. Do?” Gabriel demanded, his gaze pinning Lady Paula where she stood, holding what appeared to be a diary with the initials AM embossed in gold lettering. “What did you do?”
“You should be thanking me,” she said, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
Gabriel glared at her. Thanking her? I’d rather throttle her.
“What’s all this commotion about?” Lady Ashbourne said, hurrying into the great hall at the foot of the winding staircase, where the entire party had gathered. She turned to her daughter. “Darling, please explain. Why is Lord Ravensthorpe giving you such an angry look? What has happened here?”
“Oh, please allow me to explain,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said in a calm, deliberate voice as she carefully made her way down the stairs toward them.
“What has transpired here was a complete, sordid, and malicious attempt for Lady Paula to malign the young woman we know as Miss Elizabeth Vickers. And to ruin her reputation in the eyes of everyone here, Lord Ravensthorpe, especially.”
“Just wait a moment here. What do you mean, sordid event? This is my house—” Lady Ashbourne started.
“Precisely so, as you have tactlessly reminded me on at least one other occasion. That has been the crux of this farce. Now, you would be wise to be quiet, my lady,” the Lyon’s Den proprietress said, looking at both Lady Ashbourne and her daughter, along with that bastard Lord Pervis, who was now standing next to his sister looking even more sullen than usual.
Gabriel had wanted to punch him in the face again during their ride, but Pervis had stayed at the back of the group.
Now he understood why. Gabriel’s friend, Viscount Benton Smythe, had told him it was Pervis who suggested the morning ride.
Plus, he knew there was a promising piece of land next to the estate that his man of business had suggested he investigate acquiring, so Gabriel agreed to the ride.
In hindsight, he should have realized it had been yet another ruse to give Pervis’s sister time to do her dirty deed.
Mrs. Dove-Lyon continued, “I should have known that your children would have been up to something disreputable. It was too much to think that, as your friend of many years, I could trust your offer of holding a matchmaking house party at your home in place of the usual payment to match your daughter with a member of the peerage. I should have realized there were underhanded schemes afoot.” She paused to look directly at Lord Pervis.
“And do not think that I don’t know about what your intentions were in lacing Miss Ashlyn March’s wine with laudanum.
You are a disgrace to the memory of your late father, who was a good and decent man.
I know very well that your debts at the Lyon’s Den and other gambling establishments made you desperate to land an heiress. ”
Gasps went around the room as this new revelation sank in.
Gabriel’s own assumptions had been proven right. The bastard had attempted to compromise Elizabeth—or rather, Ashlyn. Beating the man to a pulp would give him a temporary, albeit satisfying, moment of vengeance.
And Gabriel would exact his revenge. It might not be tomorrow, or the next day, but he would have retribution on behalf of Ashlyn.
“You have proven yourself to be a false friend,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon continued, glaring at Lady Ashbourne. “Most people know not to make an enemy of me, and yet you have done just that.”
She turned to Gabriel. “Lady Ashbourne’s daughter broke into Miss March’s room and stole her diary. Then she ripped out pages and passed them to all the guests—an act meant to disgrace Miss March and ruin any future she might have with you.”
“She paraded about as Miss Vickers. But she’s her poor relation, Miss Ashlyn March,” Lady Paula declared, smugly.
“Wh-what are you talking about? What is going on here?” Lady Ashbourne sputtered, looking dumbfounded; her face had turned ashen since Mrs. Dove-Lyon had confronted her.
“Yes. I would like to know as well,” a new voice said from behind them.
Gabriel spun around to behold the woman who had been haunting his days and nights since the moment he’d met her.
Wait, this woman looked like Ashlyn, but wasn’t…
“Are you Miss Vickers?” he asked.
“Yes, I am Miss Elizabeth Vickers, and I would like to know what has happened to my beloved cousin Ashlyn,” Elizabeth Vickers said, stepping forward, her eyes shooting sparks of anger.
“Yes. I’m really Miss Elizabeth Vickers.
You must be Lord Ravensthorpe. Ashlyn wrote me about you, and you look as handsome as she described you. ”
A man and a woman edged their way in and stood next to her.
“Beatrice, you’re here!” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said, turning to the elegantly dressed older couple. Gabriel assumed they were the parents of the American heiress. The gambling doyenne gracefully stepped forward to embrace the woman she’d called Beatrice.
“None the worse for wear, of course,” Mrs. Vickers said. “Although, admittedly, the journey took much longer than William and I had anticipated.” She turned to her daughter. “I thought you said Ashlyn was here, darling.”
“She was, and she’s a lovely young woman,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon interjected. “But you just missed her. She left minutes ago. My lord, you would be wise to follow that beautiful lady,” she added to Gabriel.
He was shocked to hear that Ashlyn had left. He’d assumed she was in her room, resting. He had intended to speak his mind with Lady Paula and then go up to see her. But now it made perfect sense. She’d been humiliated. Of course she would leave.
But he was now wasting time. He needed to go after her.
All eyes turned to Lady Paula, who stood in front of them wearing a self-satisfied expression.
“Lady Paula broke into her room and stole her diary and spread the pages amongst the guests. Apparently, it was full of personal feelings, as well as her deception,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said.
Furious, Gabriel snatched the pages from all the guests and jerked the leather book from Paula’s hands, still trying to digest everything that had occurred.
“I see,” Elizabeth said. She took a deep breath and then continued in a voice that was as imperious as a queen’s.
“I can assure you that my cousin’s deception was neither her fault nor of her making.
It was my fault, and I am the one who asked her to pretend to be me.
It’s a long story. But the short version is, I convinced her to take my place here.
Ashlyn hated the idea and tried to convince me otherwise.
My cousin doesn’t have a deceitful bone in her body.
She is the most honorable person I know.
So…” She walked over to the woman whom Gabriel had just pulled the book from. “You are Lady Paula Ashbourne?”
“I am,” Lady Paula said, giving Elizabeth her haughtiest look.
“Good. I just wanted to make sure,” Elizabeth said with a small smile on her lips. Then she stepped forward and slapped Lady Paula, sending her reeling backward with a shriek. “That’s how we settle scores in America. Not behind your back. But to your face, you horrible she-devil.”
“Now see here! You can’t strike my daughter,” puffed Lady Ashbourne, bustling to her daughter’s side.
Elizabeth turned and faced the mother, who said nothing else. Instead, she tried to hug her daughter, but Lady Paula pushed her away.
“Well done!” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said, her lips twitching in humor.
Gabriel noted that Miss Vickers’s parents had the same expression of satisfaction on their faces as their daughter did. Bravo. The members of the ton could learn a thing or two from how Americans dealt with problems head-on.
“My God! I must find her,” he said, gripping the damaged diary in his hand.
“She took my carriage and is headed back to Ravenswood,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said. “You need to go after her.”
Gabriel glanced down at the book in his hands before nodding his thanks.
“I think it’d be better if you let her explain everything to you, rather than read it,” Elizabeth said.
“Give her the book and let her decide. Those are her private thoughts, and what these people did to her was awful. Please tell her we love her,” she added, touching his arm.
“And tell her I’m so sorry for everything. ”
“I will.”
Ashlyn had had a considerable head start, but he’d make up the time on horseback. Thank God she was going to Ravenswood first. He’d wasted enough time dealing with the likes of Lady Paula and Lord Pervis. It was time to find the woman he loved.