A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting(26)

‘I see. And may I ask, my lord, if the only reason you protest to such a marriage is that you think me a fortune-hunter?’

He made an eloquent gesture with his hands. ‘Forgive me, do I need more of a reason than that?’

‘Yes, I rather think you might – I am not sure why my practicality is so abhorrent to you.’

‘Practicality?’ he repeated. ‘You would call it that, rather than calculation – greed – manipulation? I’m afraid it is these far less honourable words that I would use to describe you, Miss Talbot.’

‘Only the rich have the luxury of honour,’ she said coldly. ‘And only men have the privilege of seeking their fortune on their own. I have four sisters who depend on me, and the professions open to women such as I – governess, seamstress perhaps – will not keep even half of them fed and clothed. What else am I to do but seek a rich husband?’

‘You are heartless,’ he accused.

‘And you are na?ve,’ she returned, her colour high. ‘If Archie is not to marry me, he will marry whichever well-connected young woman who is thrown in his way – all of them caring as much for his purse as his heart. Can you deny that?’

‘But at least that would be his choice,’ he snapped back. ‘Rather than marrying a lie.’

‘What lie? I have not pretended to be anyone I am not. He knows I am not wealthy; he knows my family situation. I have been honest.’

‘Honest?’ he drawled, contempt in his voice.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘So then, am I to believe he knows the whole truth about your family?’ he asked pointedly.

‘I am not sure what you mean, my lord,’ she said slowly, though she was quite frozen in her seat.

‘I think you do,’ he said. ‘You see, I know the reason your parents left London for Dorsetshire so very suddenly.’

Kitty clamped her jaw shut, lest she give anything away. He could be bluffing – he must be bluffing.

‘If you are to blackmail me, my lord, then I must ask you to actually say the words,’ she bit out.

‘Very well then.’ He inclined his head in mock courtesy. ‘Your parents were … acquainted before their marriage, were they not? In fact, your mother made quite a lucrative career out of being … acquainted with several gentlemen, I am told. As did your “Mrs Kendall”.’

Kitty did not speak. She was not even sure she was breathing, though her heart was beating loudly in her ears.

‘And when your father decided to marry his mistress,’ Radcliffe went on, in that same soft voice, ‘his family would not approve of the match – understandable, I suppose – and banished him from London to avoid the scandal. Quite the fall from grace for him, I should imagine.’

A silence fell in the aftermath of these words.

‘May I ask, my lord,’ Kitty refused to allow her voice to tremble, ‘how you came to develop this delightful little theory?’

His eyes were bright with triumph. ‘My tiger, Lawrence – useful chap, does far more for me than just holding the horses – heard the whole from your Mr Linfield’s manservant a few days ago. Did you know that was why Mr Linfield broke off your engagement so suddenly? I’m afraid your father confessed the whole to the Squire while deep in his cups one night shortly before his death. After such a revelation, the Linfields could not countenance the marriage.’

Kitty jerked her head in a forceful shake, even as the words rang horribly true. So that was why she had lost Mr Linfield, why his parents had thrown Miss Spencer in his path so hastily – because Papa had revealed the family secret, after all their years of keeping it safely hidden. She felt a hot rush of despairing rage – at her father, at Radcliffe, at the whole world for landing her in this mess.

Radcliffe took a pinch of snuff with a graceful twist of his wrist, and the casualness of this action – when she was suffering from such a shock – so infuriated Kitty that it quite crystallised her thoughts.

‘And what exactly,’ she asked coolly, marshalling herself once more, ‘is the relevance of my mother’s background to this discussion?’

Radcliffe raised a single brow. ‘I find it hugely relevant,’ he said calmly. ‘I do not imagine – honest though you may have been about your family’s financial destitution – that you have divulged the scandalous details of your parentage to Archie. And Archie, kind-hearted though he is, would not take such a revelation warmly. A love affair is exciting, to be sure, but Archie has been raised with an admirable dislike of scandal. And should the news spread, you will not find this city a welcoming place.’

Kitty clenched trembling fingers into a fist. ‘And I suppose in order for the news not to spread, you would have me leave London?’ she asked bluntly.

‘Oh, I am not so heartless as that.’ He shut his snuffbox with a decisive snap, as if readying himself to leave, the deal done. ‘You may decide for yourself where you go, and when. You may even attempt to seduce another member of the ton – it matters not to me,’ he said carelessly. ‘But I would ask that you leave Archie, and my family, alone.’

Silence again. Kitty supposed he could have been more ruthless in his victory, more vindictive. Were she in his shoes, she would have seen him off on the morning post personally.