“Do it, if it means you’ll keep this from Hannah.”
“From Hannah?” God’s teeth, Devlin’s hands throbbed with the need to punish this man. He took one look at Juliet’s face, noted there wasn’t a glimmer of pain in her eyes and it brought him back to his senses. “Do you see the lady before you?”
The baron turned to look at Miss Bromfield.
“I speak of Juliet, you fool. I speak of the only person in this room who possesses an ounce of integrity. I speak of a woman who puts every highborn lady to shame.” Devlin forced the baron to look at Juliet. “She is the only decent member of this family. And still, your thoughts are with the daughter whose vile tongue has cost you everything.”
Devlin threw the baron down into the chair and returned to the sofa.
“Do you feel better now?” Juliet whispered as Devlin settled beside her.
“Considerably so.” He tugged at the ends of his coat sleeves.
“Then I’m pleased.” Juliet gave him a beaming smile and then she straightened. “What my husband is trying to say, dear Miss Bromfield, is that we have evidence to prove that our father is illegitimate, too. Indeed, it means you are the granddaughter of a maid.”
A deathly silence ensued.
Miss Bromfield snorted. “I have never heard anything so preposterous.”
“Oh, it’s true,” Devlin replied. “Your father is the son of a maid. It is the reason he was rummaging in my desk at three in the morning. The reason you were torn from your bed in your nightrail and forced to make a hasty retreat.”
Miss Bromfield turned to the baron who sat with his head hung low and did not meet her gaze. “Papa? Tell them. Tell them to stop spouting nonsense.” Deep furrows lined her brow. “Papa?” After a long, drawn-out silence, she said. “Is it true? Was your mother a m-maid?”
“I believe so,” came the baron’s hushed reply.
“Brace yourself,” Juliet warned.
“Why?” Devlin glanced at Miss Bromfield’s stone-like expression. “What will she do?”
“You’ll see.”
It started as a squeak in the back of Miss Bromfield’s throat. Like a bubbling pot, the sound grew progressively louder as the chit started shaking. The high-pitched wail reverberated off the walls. And then she tore around the room in a frenzy, knocking over the table, smashing the vase. With gritted teeth she clawed at the cushion, sending feathers flying into the air.
“Do something,” Devlin shouted to the baron, who sat dumbfounded. “The girl will do herself an injury.”
Juliet stood calmly. She strode over to Miss Bromfield, who had taken to ripping apart another cushion, and slapped her hard across the face. “Stop it, Hannah. Stop it now.”
Miss Bromfield blinked. She put her hand to her flaming cheek and then crumpled into floods of tears.
Juliet caught her sister and held her in an embrace. “It is better you know the truth.”
“I’m the granddaughter of a maid,” she sobbed, her shoulders shaking with the force. “I’m ruined. Ruined. Ruined. Ruined.”
“Pull yourself together,” Juliet snapped. “I am the daughter of an actress though am more ashamed to say I’m the daughter of Baron Bromfield.”
“Now listen here,” the baron began. “Just because—”
“Be quiet,” Juliet interjected. “After the way you have behaved do not dare chastise me now.” She gripped Miss Bromfield by the upper arms and guided her into the chair. “Now, dry your eyes and listen to what my husband has to say.”
Devlin’s gaze never left Juliet, even when she returned to her seat. Pride swelled in his chest, along with respect and love and a host of other emotions he could not even begin to explain.
“Well?” Miss Bromfield sniffed. “Will you make court jesters out of us, Mr Drake? Are we to be paraded around like the fools of the fair?”
Devlin suppressed a smirk. The thought was tempting. “Rest assured. The letters will remain hidden on the proviso you both do exactly as I say.”
The baron snorted. “You want money. Is that it?”
“I would not take your money if I was begging in the gutter. But you will both work to ensure you clear my brother’s name. You will do everything in your power to restore his reputation. By whatever means necessary. Do this, and we shall not reveal the contents of the letters written to Charlotte Drake.”