The coach had drawn to a halt in front of Priscilla’s house. There were lights shining from several of the first-floor windows, but none in the upper floors, suggesting that her stepsisters were asleep, but that her stepmother was still up.
With Ash’s assistance, Maura alighted from the coach. As he escorted her up the steps to the front door, she took a deep breath, bracing for a confrontation, and no sooner had she let herself into the house than Priscilla came charging into the entry hall.
Maura knew Ash had followed her inside, but Pris must not have seen him, for she immediately launched into an impassioned lecture.
“How could you, Maura? I implored you to think of your stepsisters, but you blatantly disregarded all my pleas!”
“What pleas are those, Priscilla?” Maura managed to ask calmly.
She heard Ash shut the front door behind him, but her stepmother was still too upset to notice that they had an audience.
“You know perfectly well what pleas! I begged you not to make an enemy of Lord Deering, but you went and stole his property from under his very nose!”
Striving for patience, Maura forced a grim smile. “And you know that Emperor is my property, not Deering’s.”
“Not since the sale over three weeks ago—and now you have not only gravely offended his lordship, you have aroused his wrath at me!”
The hypocrisy of her complaint incensed Maura, since Priscilla had escalated the conflict by selling Emperor in the first place. But
apparently she considered herself the victim, as evidenced by her next words:
“Deering blames me for failing to control you, you infuriating girl, as if I ever could! And now he intends to punish us all for your transgressions.”
Her anger and bitterness were genuine, but so was her distress. She was near tears, Maura realized. It took her aback to see Priscilla distraught enough to shed tears. To her knowledge, her stepmother rarely cried. The last time was when her husband—Maura’s father—had died.
“What do you mean, ‘punish us’?” Maura asked skeptically.
“He threatened Hannah and Lucy with complete ruination, and it is all your fault!” That last accusation was issued in a quavering voice that was almost a sob.
Dismay speared through Maura. At least now she understood the reason behind the tears, for Priscilla truly did love her daughters.
“What does Deering plan to do?” she breathed.
“What do you care? You are the most selfish creature alive.” Gulping in a steadying breath, Priscilla raised herself up to her full height. “I’ll thank you to leave my house at once, Maura. I cannot afford to have Lord Deering for an enemy.”
Maura stiffened instinctively. “May I remind you that this has been my home far longer than it has been yours?”
“That cannot matter to me. I have to protect my daughters.”
Maura opened her mouth to argue but shut it again, since she deeply sympathized with Priscilla’s desire to shield Hannah and Lucy from the viscount’s intrigues.
Before she could decide how to respond, Ash stepped forward and spoke for the first time. “You should also give a thought, madam, to protecting your stepdaughter.”
Priscilla gave a start upon noticing the tall nobleman. “Lord B-Beaufort …” she stammered. “I … forgive me, I did not see you there.”
“Obviously.” He returned a chill smile as he moved to stand beside Maura. “And clearly you are not aware that you are addressing my future wife.”
“Your wife!”
“Yes indeed. Miss Collyer has made me the happiest of men by consenting to give me her hand in marriage. We came to tell you the glad tidings ourselves, but I can see you have no interest in wishing us well.”
As Priscilla stared, her mouth gaped open for a dozen seconds, and eventually Ash broke the silence. “If you wish to speak to her once you are in a more remorseful frame of mind, Miss Collyer will be staying at my home in Grosvenor Square with my sister and uncle.”
Her shock was evident in the way her previous fury dissolved into sputtering confusion. “My lord … You cannot mean that you intend to marry her? When she has behaved like a common thief?”
Ash’s expression became amused. “You are sadly mistaken on both counts, Mrs. Collyer. In the first place, Maura is extremely uncommon.…” He sent Maura a loving look. “And in the second, I took the horse myself. Emperor is now my property, in my possession.”
Leaving his declaration at that, he took Maura’s elbow. “Come, my sweet. Your stepmother knows where to find you once she is prepared to offer you an apology.”