Proof by Seduction (Carhart #1)(96)

“Well?”

Lady Lockhaven dropped her hand. “We were wondering if—well, if you could say something about…” In the hush that fell, everyone could hear her gulp. “About your lady’s birth? And her people?”

If Lord Blakely’s face had been cold before, it turned frigid now. He looked the countess disdainfully up and down. Everyone in the crowd suddenly remembered her mother had been a soap manufacturer’s daughter, married for her thousands of pounds. They remembered her husband’s first marriage had been to a country girl he eloped with, who’d had the good grace to die before she embarrassed the family by providing an heir.

“My wife’s birth?” He drawled the words insolently, and the crowd shivered as one. “A damned sight better than your own.”

That was the last time anyone asked the marquess about his wife’s origins.

Not solely because society feared his response. Rather, his conduct directly thereafter settled the debate for once and all.

After Blakely delivered that infamous and much-repeated set down, he transferred his gaze to the new Marchioness of Blakely.

She shook her head, once. Firmly. “Gareth,” she said dryly. “It is your sister’s wedding day. Behave.”

Silence. He’d lifted his chin, in typical Blakely arrogance. The crowd waited for the blast.

And then Lord Blakely shrugged and grinned helplessly.

Grinned. Helpless. A Blakely.

“Oh,” said his sister, from where she stood near him. “Is that how it’s done? I’ll have to practice that.”

Like that, everything society knew about nine generations of Blakelys went up in smoke.

Since that day, there had been no question. Lady Blakely had been granted otherworldly powers at birth. Every smile she coaxed from him, every laugh that she surprised from his lips, stood as testament to her arcane abilities.

And those that questioned her worth still had only to see the look in his eyes when he watched her to find all the proof they required.