Led Astray by a Rake (The Husband Hunters Club 1)

“He promised me that when he came home he’d explain why he rushed off like that.”

Estelle said nothing.

Olivia sat upon the stool at her dressing table and watched as her maid moved the warming pan on its long handle back and forth inside the bedding, taking the chill off the sheets. And all the while Estelle was carefully avoiding her eyes.

“Estelle?”

“My lady?”

Olivia decided that Estelle looked plumper than she used to, and there was a dark, unfaded strip of cloth on the side of her uniform, suggesting she’d recently taken the seam out to give herself more room. Both clues meant something, but just now Olivia was more interested in what she saw in Estelle’s face.

“You know something, don’t you?” Olivia folded her arms and fixed her bright eyes on her maid. “Estelle, I want to know.”

“I don’t know anything, miss…I mean, my lady.”

“Estelle.”

Estelle sighed and finally turned to face her mistress, her expression a mixture of doubt and concern, with a touch of excitement. “Abbot told me not to tell you, my lady,” she protested.

“But you will tell me, won’t you, Estelle?”

For a moment Olivia thought her maid was going to refuse her, as Abbot had, but then Estelle came and stood beside her at her dressing table, fiddling nervously with her frilly white apron. The swell of her stomach was quite prominent, even with the bulk of her skirt and petticoats, and Olivia knew then that Estelle was with child. There would be time later to discuss that, she told herself.

“Please, Estelle, I need to know. I thought you were my friend. You’ve helped me before. If it wasn’t for you I’d never have become Lady Lacey, and I wouldn’t be so happy…”

Estelle rushed into speech, almost as if she wanted Olivia to stop. “He’s gone to see her and the boy, Jonah.”

“What do you mean?” It made no sense, and yet in a terrible way—if she was to think the very worst—it did.

“My lady,” Estelle murmured, tears in her eyes, “I am so sorry. I didn’t know until the night you came home from the ball…from Castle Lacey, and then there was the scandal…I didn’t say anything because I hoped it wouldn’t matter. There’re many gentlemen with children born on the wrong side of the blanket.”

Olivia stood up, trembling as if she were cold. “You’re talking in riddles, Estelle. Explain to me what you mean or—or I think I will scream.”

“Lady Lacey, do y

ou really want to know?” Estelle said, and it sounded like a warning.

“Yes!” Olivia cried. “Of course I want to know. I need to know.” She took a breath, lowering her voice, calming herself. “Tell me, Estelle. You must tell me.”

Estelle chewed on her lip. “Abbot will be very cross with me. He swore me to secrecy.”

“It is not Abbot’s secret to keep,” Olivia replied coldly.

Estelle nodded her head. “Lord Lacey has a child, miss, a son. His name is Jonah Lacey.”

Nic was a father? Olivia opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn’t know what to say. The first tingling of shock was followed by a wave of confusion, and then a sense of betrayal. She felt as though he’d been unfaithful to her, which she knew was ridiculous in the circumstances. Whatever this woman had meant to Nic, it was in the past, and the child was simply the result of their liaison.

“I have never heard mention of a child at the castle,” she said, finding her voice at last.

“Jonah lives here in London, with his mother. Lord Lacey visits them whenever he’s here.”

“Visits them” had so many connotations. Did it mean Nic was somehow involved with the woman? Was she his mistress? An image of a cozy family entered her mind and refused to go away. She pictured them in a parlor with a crackling fire, laughing, happy. But even as the picture sharpened in detail, tormenting her, there was something unreal about it.

Nic was not that kind of man.

“This woman was a respectable lady,” Estelle went on, her voice dropping confidentially. “He ruined her. Then one morning she arrived at Castle Lacey with a babe in her arms, begging for his help. There was an awful to-do when Lord Lacey’s parents found out about her and what he’d done.”

“I imagine they would be disappointed.”