Chapter Eighteen
“What happened to you?” Ethan asked Piers as Ethan was pouring brandy into his glass.
Christopher and Sebastian looked up from where they were playing cards at the nearby table and stared at Piers.
“Yes, what happened?” Christopher asked, eyes wide.
Piers adjusted his new spectacles. “My father-in-law wasn’t too happy with me.”
“The Duke of Cathorn punched you in the nose?” Christopher asked, his tone indicating he couldn’t believe it.
Piers gave the three gentlemen a good look. “Are you telling me you didn’t hear what happened?”
Ethan finished pouring brandy in his glass then got a new glass to pour more brandy into. “All we heard was that Lady Stacey was caught in public with you in a carriage and that there was no chaperone. I believe Miss Wilmington was telling everyone about it.”
“Oh yes,” Christopher added as he gestured for Piers to sit in an empty chair at the table. “And we heard Stacey has been banned from Ladies of Grace. That was before you two headed off to Gretna Green to get married.”
Piers sat down and accepted the glass of brandy Ethan handed him. “Have there been any other rumors?”
“No,” Sebastian said as he dealt Piers some cards. “That’s it. My wife has invited your wife to join Enduring Friendships if she’s interested.”
Ethan took a sip from his brandy and got comfortable in his chair. “Stacey ought to consider it. Catherine and Agatha are members, and they like her. I’m sure they would be excited to have her become a member.”
“In my wife’s case,” Sebastian began as he set the deck down, “she loves the fact that Miss Wilmington doesn’t approve of your wife.” He shrugged. “Don’t ask me why. Every time someone mentions Miss Wilmington, my wife looks as if she’s ready to declare a war.”
“I noticed that,” Christopher told Sebastian. “Your wife hates Miss Wilmington more than anyone else I know.” He set down a couple of cards from his hand. “Why hasn’t she told you the reason?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Any time I ask, she just says Miss Wilmington is a snob. Maybe Stacey knows. She and Celia were both in Ladies of Grace.”
Since the three gentlemen looked at Piers, Piers answered, “I don’t know anything about that. All I know is that Stacey wanted to help Miss Wilmington avoid marriage to the Duke of Ravenshire, and it didn’t turn out well because Miss Wilmington didn’t seem to care.”
Christopher’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “The Duke of Ravenshire is going to marry Miss Wilmington?”
“It looks like it,” Piers said.
“Then it’ll be Miss Wilmington’s fault for not listening to Stacey,” Ethan replied. “Stacey can’t be held accountable for the scandal at this point. She’s done her part and told Miss Wilmington the truth.”
Piers shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He hadn’t come here with the plan to tell them everything. He had wanted to know if Stacey’s father had managed to spread any rumors about him, but Ethan made a good point. The truth was important. Especially in light of the fact that Stacey’s father was trying to destroy his reputation. The sooner he came clean with his friends, the better off he’d be…even if they didn’t want to speak to him anymore.
“I made up the whole thing about being betrothed,” Piers blurted out.
The three gentlemen stared at him for a long moment. Then Christopher said, “But you’re married to Stacey.”
“Yes, I am,” Piers said. “But I met her at the ball you and Ethan took me to.” He took a deep breath, and before he could talk himself out of it, he continued, “The truth is, I didn’t know her before that evening. She bumped into me by accident, and since she was upset, I followed her to make sure she was going to be all right. We started talking, and during the course of our conversation, I realized she wasn’t married. So I offered to pay for a passage for her and her mother to America if she would pretend to be my betrothed.”
“Why would do you do such a thing?” Ethan asked.
Now came the hard part. He cleared his throat. “I did it because I’m boring, and I was tired of not having any friends. I thought if I had a lady in my life that I’d be interesting because then I would have something to talk about other than the books I read.”
“Are you telling us that you faked a betrothal just so we would be your friends?” Ethan clarified.
Noting the pleased tone in Ethan’s voice, Piers ventured a look at him. Then he looked at Christopher. Neither of them seemed the least bit upset. Instead, they seemed flattered.
“We had no idea you wanted to be friends with us,” Christopher said. “Every time we’ve seen you here, you’ve been reading a book. We assumed you wanted to be left alone.”
“No,” Piers replied. “I didn’t want that. I just didn’t know how to come up to either one of you and start a conversation. I’m no good at that kind of thing.”
“You’ve been managing fairly well since you made up the betrothal,” Ethan pointed out.
“Only because I thought I had something of interest to talk about,” Piers replied.
“Well, I can’t speak for Ethan,” Christopher began, “but I find it a high compliment that you’d go through the trouble of getting a young lady to play along with your scheme just to have me as a friend.”
“I agree,” Ethan added. “It is a compliment. I notice you didn’t do this with someone like Lord Steinbeck or Mr. Jasper.”
“Or Lord Roderick,” Christopher interjected.
Relaxing, Piers smiled. “I’ve been watching everyone here for quite some time, and it seemed like you had more fun than the others.” His gaze went to Sebastian. “You do, too. It’s just that you spend half of the year at sea with your family, so I didn’t know as much about you.”
Sebastian grinned. “Ethan and Christopher are the only reasons I’m in White’s. Everyone else here takes themselves much too seriously.”
Christopher gestured to Ethan. “I told you we’re the only ones who make this place worth coming to.” He glanced at Piers. “You’re not boring. Boring is listening to people like Lord Roderick and Lord Steinbeck talk about chess or how much money they make.” He rolled his eyes. “All they do is brag about how great they are. I, for one, am not interested. I would much rather listen to you talk about old civilizations.”
“While that’s nice of you to say,” Piers began, “I don’t feel so compelled to discuss the books I read anymore.” Living life was much more fun than reading about it. But he had to get back to the matter at hand. “So anyway, once Stacey agreed to play along with the ruse, I went to her father and got his permission to marry her. The plan was for her and her mother to leave for America. Then I would say the betrothal came to an abrupt end. It’s just that Stacey and I never got that far.”
“Because you two fell in love and decided to get married for real,” Ethan inserted for him.
“I knew I wanted to marry her after we attended the dinner party, but I didn’t know if she wanted to be with me,” Piers said. “Anyway, since her father didn’t want someone like me to marry her, we ran off to Gretna Green. I was afraid if we didn’t act quickly, I’d miss the opportunity to have her as my wife. I knew her father was going to be upset when we returned, but I didn’t think he’d come to my townhouse and threaten to ruin my reputation.”
“You mean he did more than strike you?” Ethan asked, gesturing to his nose.
Piers nodded. “He said he was going to tell everyone that I…” He glanced around then lowered his voice. “He wants everyone to think I raped Stacey, forced her to marry me in order to cover up my sin, and am currently entertaining both her and her mother in bed.” He winced. That sounded much worse today than it had yesterday when her father said it.
The three gentlemen’s jaws dropped, but it was Ethan who spoke. “Your father-in-law is trying to pin those actions on you?” He took another look at his nose. “After doing that to you?”
Piers nodded. “I was almost afraid to come here today. I wasn’t sure anyone would want to talk to me.” But, out of morbid curiosity, he had to find out. He couldn’t spend his entire life holed up in his townhouse. “I didn’t do any of those things. I would never do any of those things. I didn’t do anything of an intimate nature with Stacey until after we married. And she was willing to go with me to Gretna Green. As for her mother… Her mother is with us because Stacey wishes it, and I assure you, I am not doing anything inappropriate with her.”
“We believe you,” Christopher said. “I just don’t understand why your father-in-law would say those kinds of things about you.”
“His father-in-law is a manipulative and controlling person,” Ethan told Christopher. “That’s why he’s doing it.” He glanced back at Piers and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my father-in-law isn’t so bad after all. At least mine would never do what the Duke of Cathorn is.”
“Sometimes you don’t know a person’s character until they’re upset,” Sebastian said. “A man who can’t maintain himself with dignity at all times isn’t worth having on your crew.”
“Since Sebastian’s a captain,” Christopher told Piers, “he gives a lot of analogies that have to do with life at sea.”
“Well, the principles are sound,” Sebastian said. “If you have someone aboard who can’t keep a calm head, they’re no good. He’ll be ineffective when it comes to catching a whale. It’s dangerous business, and only those who can remain calm in trying times will act for the good of those around him.”
“While that’s true,” Ethan began, “it doesn’t do Piers any good to know this. If his father-in-law gets his way, most of London will believe him based off the fact that he has a good standing in the Ton.” He glanced at Piers. “I always thought it was ridiculous how much weight the Ton’s opinion carries. They don’t speak for all of us, and they have plenty of scandals going on, too. We just never hear about them because they cover them up. But you get someone like poor Piers who doesn’t have the same standing in the Ton that his father-in-law does, and he doesn’t stand a chance.”
“That’s only true if his father-in-law can get the right people to spread the lies,” Christopher replied, shooting Ethan a pointed look.
Ethan’s eyes lit up in understanding. “You’re right. No one of prominence in the Ton would dare start the rumors. They need the help of the scandal sheets. Otherwise, people would wonder how they can verify it.”
Piers had no idea what the two were talking about, but it was obvious they knew something he didn’t.
Christopher stood up and put the rest of his cards down. “I need to go.” He gave Piers’ shoulder a pat. “Don’t worry. Your father-in-law won’t get those rumors out. We know you’re innocent, and I’ll make sure people don’t think otherwise.”
As Christopher left, Ethan leaned toward Piers. “He can do it. He doesn’t work at the Tittletattle, but he knows someone who does.”
“He does?” Piers asked in surprise.
“Well, we both know this person, but he can more easily talk to this person than I can,” Ethan said. “The next edition of the Tittletattle won’t come out for another two days. That gives this person plenty of time to make sure your father-in-law doesn’t get away with this.”
Could it really be that easy? Piers glanced over at Sebastian.
“I have no idea who Ethan is talking about,” Sebastian said. “I don’t know anyone who works at the Tittletattle.”
“Sure you do,” Ethan replied. “You just don’t know it. The contributors at the Tittletattle keep their true identities a secret.”
“They do?” Piers asked in further surprise.
“No one would tell them what’s happening in London if they knew they wrote for the Tittletattle,” Ethan said. “Keeping their identities a secret is necessary.”
So these writers were Trojan horses, of a sort. They could prevent or create a scandal at their discretion. By keeping secret about who they were, they could sneak into enemy territory and change the tide of the rumors.
Piers never would have suspected that Ethan and Christopher knew someone of such influence. He wondered who this person was.
Ethan would never tell him, of course. It would be harder for this gentleman to keep his identity a secret if more people found out. So it was in Piers’ interest not to ask about it. He would just have to wait and see if this person could pull off the miracle of saving his reputation.
And if this person could, he would be forever in this person’s debt. Maybe someday, without knowing it, he could do this person a favor. If this person knew Ethan and Christopher, it was likely he might run into him at some point in the future. So maybe he could do this person a kindness without knowing it.
“Anyway,” Ethan said as he gestured to the cards in Piers’ hand, “do you want to keep playing the game?”
With a nod, Piers sorted through his cards and set out the ones he wanted to play.
***
Agatha was writing her story when Christopher barged into the drawing room. He shut the doors and hurried over to her before she had a chance to say anything.
“Gerard Addison needs to make sure something about Piers doesn’t make its way into the Tittletattle,” Christopher told her.
Amused he should refer to her secret identity so directly, she offered him a suggestive smile. If he was going to seek out her help as Gerard Addison, she might as well make it worth her while.
“What are you willing to do in order to speak to Gerard?” she asked, leaning forward, knowing full well that doing so would offer him a generous view of her cleavage.
As she hoped, he glanced down at her breasts. “I’d be willing to do anything you want.” To her surprise, his gaze went right back to hers. “But I can’t do anything until you rush down to the Tittletattle as Gerard Addison. This is something that must be done right away.”
It wasn’t like him to put off lovemaking, so the matter had to be serious. She placed her quill in the inkwell and gathered her parchment. Once she had her story safely tucked away in the drawer, she rose to her feet and focused on what could be so important that, for once, he wasn’t even concerned with taking advantage of her.
“What is it?” she asked as she went around the side of her desk so she was closer to him.
“You remember Piers, right?”
She chuckled. “Of course, I do. We spent an entire evening with him and Stacey at Ethan’s dinner party.”
“Well, Piers and Stacey have returned from Gretna Green.”
“So they did run off to get married?”
“They did.”
She had suspected Piers would be forced to do that when Stacey’s father tried to convince Lord Reighton, one of the other contributors at the Tittletattle, to put that Piers had been caught with two ladies in bed. Since she had seniority at the paper, she was able to stop him from getting the story out.
She knew Piers wouldn’t take two ladies to bed. Up until running off to Gretna Green, she didn’t think he’d even been with one. He had the look of innocence about him she’d found endearing. Plus, the worst she’d ever heard of him prior to meeting him was that he was boring. She hadn’t found him to be boring at the dinner party, but he was quiet and shy, two things that often made others assume people were boring. Once Piers was comfortable, though, he had no trouble showing he was an interesting gentleman to talk to.
More than that, though, it had been obvious to her that Piers had been in love with Stacey, even if he hadn’t realized it at the time. And better yet, Stacey had felt the same way.
“So now Piers and Stacey are married, and her father doesn’t like it?” Agatha guessed.
“He’s livid. He broke Pier’s nose.”
She gasped. “He did?”
“And he threatened to have lies spread about Piers. He wants everyone to think that Piers forced himself upon Stacey, ran her off to Gretna Green to cover up his act, and upon returning to London, took Stacey and her mother to bed.”
Agatha put her hand to her heart. Poor Piers! He must be terrified such rumors would start circling through London as soon as the next edition of the Tittletattle came out. No wonder Christopher wasn’t interested in making love. This was an urgent matter to tend to.
“I’ll take care of this at once,” Agatha said. “I had promised Alexandria that I’d spend time with her when she gets up from her nap. Will you take my place?”
“Of course, I will. I enjoy spending time with our daughter.”
Giving him a smile, she kissed him. “I’ll change into my Gerard clothes and sneak on over to the Tittletattle. Don’t you worry. I’ll have this whole thing resolved before I return.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.”
As she headed for the doors, he called out, “Miss Wilmington might marry the Duke of Ravenshire.”
Surprised, she turned back to face him. “The Duke of Ravenshire found a lady to marry?”
“I thought I should mention it before you left.”
“And you’re sure this is Miss Wilmington that he’s hoping to marry?”
He nodded.
Agatha would have to confirm this. She already had something she knew about Stacey’s father that she could use to disqualify him from any rumors he would try to spread about Piers. That had been verified years ago. She just hadn’t done it for his family’s sake. But since he was willing to hurt Piers, Stacey, and his own wife, she had no choice but to make an offensive move that would stop him once and for all. And that required her to speak with the Duke of Silverton, which she would do on her way to the Tittletattle.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she told Christopher before she headed for her bedchamber.