.
The butler had to announce the Earl of Wendington a few times before Victor looked up, scowling at the man.
“Send him on his way, I am not seeing anyone right now.”
“Well, of course, you’re not, not in this light anyway,” came the chipper tone. “It’s just fine, don’t worry, the duke and I are great good friends.”
Victor squinted at him.
“Did you just send my butler away?”
“It wasn’t hard. He looked heartily sick of you. It is rather dim in here though. Shall I fix that?”
Victor started to tell Charles to go to hell, but the earl was already striding over to the windows and throwing open the sashes. Victor had a brief moment to wonder what time it was when bold morning light came streaming in, making his eyes sting and his head ache. God, it was morning. He had been drinking for almost twenty-four hours straight. No wonder he felt terrible.
“Come on, my friend, up you get.”
Charles hauled him up to his chair behind the desk and rang the bell for the maid.
“Tea, strong as you can make it, and some pork fried in fat, please. And soon.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Wendington? I didn’t want to see you.”
“I didn’t want to see you either,” came the brisk response. “I’m meant to be heading out to the north country for some shooting soon, but Cherry wrote to me this morning, utterly frantic.”
“Who’s Cherry?”
“My sister, Wellford, whom, by the way, I’m beginning to be very glad I never tried to marry you to. She writes to me, and she tells me all broken-hearted that Lady Emily has left London, and all because you broke your engagement.”
“I don’t care—”
“Oh, but I do, because I think you did it all for the stupidest reason possible. And much as I’d rather be shooting grouse, I’m the only one with all the pieces, so I shall solve the puzzle for you.”
Victor wondered if he could get Charles to shut up by punching him, but the distance between the two of them looked too nauseatingly wide to try it. He glared instead, and Charles ignored him.
“See, you said that ridiculous thing about Emily having an illegitimate child and left me to babysit. You’re welcome, by the way. So, I stayed with the little girl Sophie, who is delightful, and then I spoke with Mr. Wick, the man in the carriage with her. It turns out, Wellford, that Sophie is actually Lady Emily’s niece.”
“She called Emily her mother...”
“And I am sure you were writing scholarly papers at four. Emily might as well be, and Sophie is illegitimate, unfortunately. Emily’s older sister Susannah ran off with a military man, quite the scandal in their hometown, but their hometown is tiny, so it never really got much farther. Susannah’s lover abandoned her, Susannah dies of a long illness and commits her beloved daughter’s care...”
“To Emily,” Victor realized, a slow understanding dawning over him along with a feeling of horror.
“Right, top of the class, Wellford. So, Emily has an illegitimate child, whose well-being relies on her. It makes sense she came to London to look for a husband, far away from everyone who knew her and the situation. Everly, Emily’s home, is entailed, and once she dies, it reverts to the Crown. So, nothing for poor Sophie... unless Emily has a husband with a bit of coin and a bit of power.”
“She never told me any of this.”
“Because you are obviously a paragon of good sense and sympathetic listening. I don’t blame her.”
Victor sagged in the chair, his mind whirling with the new understanding of the world. Emily had never had another man. She didn’t have a daughter. The depth of his misunderstanding made his head spin, and he was quite sure that it was not just the whiskey he’d been drinking like water.
“Dear God, I need to go to her, I need to explain...”
Charles caught him easily as he launched out of the chair.
“You need to apologize. And not to put too fine a point on it, you need to sober up. And bathe. And change clothes.”
Victor stood on his own two feet, aware that Charles was right. He couldn’t afford to bungle this up any longer than he already had, and at this point, he wouldn’t blame Emily for never forgiving him.
Still, he had to try, and as he made his preparations, he hung on to the one thing he knew was true.
She loves me. She told me so. She loves me. That’s all that matters.