An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(57)

“Of course.” Theodora sat, although she was not invited to do so. This home belonged to Quinn, and his investments and properties were her responsibility. She took in the pleasant room the woman was occupying freely. The room was charming, light and spacious. It would do very well for a small family in need of a home for the coming season.

Theodora was already drafting an advertisement offering it for lease in her head when Adele spoke. “How is he?”

“Extremely busy, which is why I am here to complete the arrangements.”

“What arrangements?”

Theodora smiled. “Are you really so foolish as to think you could continue living in his home after bedding his father?”

“I can explain.”

“I’m sure you can, and if I had time and interest, I could listen. Lord Templeton’s interest in you ended the night his father was found naked in your bed. A discovery, I’m sure you can understand now, that brought him great personal pain.”

The woman sobbed, but her eyes were suspiciously dry. “I never meant to hurt him.”

Theodora wasn’t moved at all by her false weeping. The little fool knew exactly what she was doing by sleeping with both the father and the son.

Theodora opened her satchel and drew out the deal she had written up last night, before she’d gone to bed alone. “Lord Templeton never had a written contract with you, but given your history offers one last generous payment to help you move on. Sign this.”

The woman scanned the sheet, her eyes wide by the end. “This is outrageous!”

Actually, Theodora believed it was more than the actress deserved, after what she’d done. Theodora had factored in the length of Adele Blakely’s association with Quinn, and his protective nature. The sum should ensure Adele Blakely was able to live and possibly thrive for years without a protector, so long as she kept her expenses on the conservative side. “The late Lord Templeton has a wife, two living daughters and three sons. His lordship is extraordinarily fond of his mother, as you should already know. Do you think he will make you a better offer after the humiliation you dealt them both?”

Mrs. Blakely gaped.

“I don’t think so either,” Theodora confided. “Sign.”

Mrs. Blakely wet her lips. “I want to speak with him. I deserve that.”

“You deserve nothing, in my honest opinion,” Theodora warned. “If Lord Templeton had wanted to speak with you, he would have already come.”

Adele licked her lips again, her eyes hardening. “He will come if you convince him I’ll hurt myself if he abandons me.”

Theodora was taken aback a moment. “Madam, such a blatantly false claim would never sway him.”

“You don’t know him like I do.” Adele snatched up a letter opener from her writing desk and held it over the inside of her wrist threateningly. “He’ll come. He won’t let me destroy myself as Mary did.”

Theodora smiled, pretending she knew nothing about the death of Quinn’s sister. “Mary?”

“Yes, his sister. She killed herself. I could too if he will not meet with me!”

Anger rose in Theodora, beyond anything she’d ever felt before for another living soul. Adele Blakely wasn’t done finding new ways to hurt Quinn apparently. “You conniving little slut. How dare you think to torture him with your lies?”

“He told me about her himself.” Adele’s eyes gleamed with triumph. “He told me everything about the day he lost his younger sister.”

And Theodora would bet a thousand elephant’s that Adele would use her knowledge to strike back at Quinn if she did not get what she wanted from him. Theodora couldn’t bear for him to be so poorly treated.

“I know nothing of that,” she lied. “And I’m sure no one will believe you no matter how theatrically you perform.” Theodora set her satchel aside and perched at the edge of her chair. The woman had to be stopped. Here and now. Although bile rose up in her throat, she knew blackmail could never be surrendered to. “But do go on. Do it now. Show me you’re serious in your threat. Prove that you cannot live without him if you believe that will gain you sympathy. Go on, hurt yourself.”

Adele moved her hand a bit but did not cut into her skin. She chewed her lip and hesitated.

Theodora smiled slowly. “You don’t care about him at all, do you? How could you? You care only for yourself and your selfish ambitions.”

She snatched back the agreement and shredded it into little tiny pieces as Adele gasped with the first real emotion she’d witnessed that day. “I rescind the offer. And make no mistake it was my offer and not his. You have until Thursday to leave this house, and don’t think I won’t have you tossed out in your unmentionables if you do not comply.”

“Wait!”

“Why should I give you another moment of my precious time?” Theodora raised a brow. “You threaten emotional torture of the worst sort for Templeton if you do not get your way. He doesn’t deserve a woman like you in his life. I’m glad you showed your true colors. You disgust me. You disgust him, too.”

She collected her satchel and walked out, certain that Adele’s threat to take her own life was an empty one. She might be there Thursday at nightfall, but Theodora did have connections that would help the woman move out to temporary lodgings, by force if necessary. Theodora might resume negotiations but she would never offer this woman as much as she just had.