Chapter 17 #3
Jack accepted it, though his expression suggested he would have preferred a weapon and a battle plan. He swallowed the first mouthful like a man fueling fire rather than quenching it.
Never had Lyness felt as helpless as he did while everyone stood in the room listening to the doctor. Everything in him had wanted to go to Emily, to sit beside her, to take her hand while the room held its breath and the doctor asked his questions.
Every second standing there, he forced himself to practice restraint. He had not even been able to look at her, to offer that much comfort, for fear she would read the pain in his eyes. Pain because he lacked the right to sit by her side.
When handed his own glass, Lyness held it in both hands. Not drinking. Turning it around and around as Roman walked to his desk with the final glass. Lyness would much rather keep his mind sharp. He settled the glass on the mantel instead.
Roman exhaled slowly. “She is out of danger. The doctor said as much.”
Jack’s answering laugh was low and humorless. “You think her physical danger is what concerns me most at this moment?”
The words landed like blows on Lyness’s heart, and he winced beneath them.
Roman’s jaw flexed. Athena’s great head turned from studying Roman to looking up at Lyness, while Apollo whined softly and lowered his own to his paws.
The dogs wanted to be of use, of course.
But they were as helpless as Lyness in that moment.
Jack stepped farther into the room, his tread heavy on the carpet.
“My sister was practically carried from a public ballroom. In your arms.” His voice remained low, but the strain beneath his words was unmistakable.
“And she did not return. Neither did you. And neither did my wife nor myself once we were summoned away.”
Setting his glass down with a soft clink, Roman turned to fully face the distraught gentleman. “What choice did I have? I could not leave her senseless on a bench for all the world to gawk at.”
“I am not criticizing that,” Jack snapped.
“I am criticizing what comes after. What the world will say.” He looked between the two brothers, eyes sharp and pained.
“My sister has been the subject of gossip before. You do not know what that cost her or how it shook my family. Her position in Society is already delicate.”
Roman’s shoulders stiffened as though absorbing a blow. Lyness had to curl his own hand into a fist to keep from speaking too quickly, too defensively.
Jack drew a breath that sounded torn from him.
“We all know it will not have gone unnoticed, the way in which you left. How could it? A baron leaving with an earl’s daughter—unattended—will not be excused.
Men will whisper. Women will murmur behind fans.
And the story repeated tomorrow morning will not resemble truth. ”
For a long moment, Roman stared at the floor before lifting his head. “I take responsibility.”
“Responsibility will not silence the whispers,” Jack said bitterly. “The reputation of an unmarried woman is more fragile than any of us care to admit.”
A silence fell. Lyness felt it tighten around his throat. His pulse pounded in his ears. He knew what was coming. He had heard of such things, and they were the fodder for many a novel, but here it was. Happening before his eyes.
At last, Roman said, quieter, “If you are implying what I think—”
“I am not implying,” Jack said, voice edged with anger. “I am telling you plainly: if this is spoken of unfavorably, the only way she will recover is if you offer for her.”
Lyness’s breath caught painfully. He kept his face still. Neither of the other men looked at him. As far as they were concerned, this moment was theirs alone. Athena kept low to the ground and moved closer to him, dropping her chin onto his foot when she laid down again. Sweet soul.
“I will do so if required.” Of course he would. Roman never hesitated to act with honor.
The former soldier’s eyes darkened and his frown was something to behold. “Required,” he repeated. “Not the most charming beginning to a marriage.”
“Forced by circumstance,” Roman agreed, voice strained. “Circumstance I regret more deeply than you can imagine. Your sister deserves better, Sterling. Lady Emily is a wonderful woman.”
Pacing to the sideboard, Jack put his glass down. He did not face them as he bent his head, his posture stiff with defeat. “I cannot bear the thought of her name dragged through ugliness again.”
At that, Roman moved to him, lowering his voice. “Jack. I admire your sister. I do. She deserves someone honorable. And if the burden falls to me, I will carry it with the upmost respect for her.”
A burden? Lyness winced at the idea of anyone thinking marrying Emily, no matter the situation, a burden.
Marrying her due to honor? Respect? Both virtues, but Emily deserved more.
Lyness’s heart twisted, a knot of emotion rising in his chest. He stared into the fire, trying to steady his breathing. His mind scrambled for a plan.
But he heard Jack, in a low voice, murmur, “Then we are in agreement.” Lyness’s gaze came up at that, watching the two of them intently.
Roman swallowed the last of his drink, then stared at his empty glass as though he held it in contempt. “Yes. We are.”
A long, weighted silence followed before Jack spoke. “For now, I will give the ladies a gentler story. And tomorrow, we will discover what the people of York noticed. After determining what is being said, we will know how to act.”
Lyness watched as Roman nodded, his brother’s confidence to set matters right on full display. “I will craft the explanation carefully, and I will repair as much as I am able.”
When he spoke, Jack’s voice was hoarse. “Thank you.” He looked at last at Lyness. “Both of you. For being there. For protecting her when I had not the slightest idea of my sister’s vulnerability.”
The guilt in the man’s eyes sank deep into Lyness’s heart. Both men in the room with him were being driven by different motivations. Guilt and honor. Protectiveness and righteousness. Neither of them were acting without reason, and saving Emily from censure was a strong motivation.
But their solution did not sit well with Lyness.
Jack straightened. “Now, we must ensure we choose a path that preserves her.” He turned toward the door.
Roman’s voice stopped him. “Sterling…”
The man paused.
Quietly, staring at the former soldier’s back, Roman said, “This is not how I would have preferred to announce an engagement.”
Jack’s eyes closed a moment. “Nor I.” Shaking his head as though to clear the misery from it, he said, “We will take our leave as soon as Emily can manage the walk to the carriage.”
He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Lyness stared at Roman’s slumped posture across the desk. Standing there, the shape of a decision formed in Lyness’s mind—sharp, daring, and terribly clear.
Roman lifted his head. “This is not at all what I wanted to happen. I had no even asked for a proper courtship yet. Lyness, she may not even like me. But there is a chance we were not noticed. Not by anyone who matters.” He finally said, “Apollo. Komm.” The male dog rose and hastily disappeared behind the desk to drop his head into Roman’s lap, his unseen tail thumping loud against the floor.
And Lyness realized he could no longer simply stand by.
The other two men had formed the loosest plan around what to do if the rumors proved unkind.
The hope that Roman and Emily had not been seen leaving the ball was a na?ve one.
If Lyness had spotted what was happening from several feet away, chances were very good that others had noticed a baron and an earl’s daughter leaving the ballroom and not returning.
It was as likely that someone had seen the way Lady Emily had leaned against Lord Hartwell.
At the time, Lyness had been so focused on Emily’s distress that he had not paused to consider how best to mitigate what others saw, or what gossip would follow.
If he had been thinking clearly, he might have insisted Roman return to the ballroom.
But now it was too late. They could not take back what happened.
Hearing Jack’s concerns—that the gossip from London would be renewed or remembered in light of this latest incident—compounded the seriousness of it.
Perhaps they could explain that Sterling and Lady Juniper had left because of Emily’s sudden disappearance, that they had been with her while she felt unwell.
But more often than not, it was the dramatic and scandalous version of events people chose to believe, rather than the mundane and plausible.
In truth, they had a limited amount of time to give Emily’s absence a harmless explanation. A pleasantly dramatic one, if necessary—anything preferable to scandal.
Marriage to save her reputation stood at the forefront of Lyness’s mind.
His chest tightened and his hands flexed at his side.
The situation distressed him. It would certainly upset her.
Perhaps that was why he came at the entire matter with a different sense of urgency.
Could he truly allow his brother to announce an engagement to Lady Emily and do nothing?
Athena rose and nudged his hand with her nose, and he gave in at last to scratch her head behind her ears. Thinking.
Roman would always choose the honorable path; it was who he was and had always been. Lyness admired him for that. Indeed, he would never think poorly of his brother’s honor. But that did not mean he had to bow before it, either.
Moments after Sterling left and Roman said, resignedly, “It is a very good thing that I admire Lady Emily, and that we are not strangers to one another.”
Lyness was silent, taking in his brother’s expression, the set of his shoulders, and the slump of his posture. “Do you believe admiration enough to offer for her hand?” he asked quietly.