The Legend of the Earl (Heirs of High Society) (A Regency Romance Book)(8)

“I will seek to do better.” Justin bowed again. “I ask for my leave, Your Grace.” Before he saw to it that Avon met an early grave himself.

Avon nodded and waved a hand. “Go. Don’t return until you’re worth looking in the eye.”

Justin all but fled the room, not even stopping to close the door behind him.

Gerard met him in the foyer. “What did he—”

“Not now.” Justin was holding himself on a tight leash. One word and he’d drive a hole through the wall.

Avon always drove him mad.

Justin said nothing as he took his hat from the butler.

Dark thoughts clouded his mind to match the sky outside. Sometimes Justin’s thoughts startled him, though never after a meeting with Avon. It was always after those meetings that the monster that lived in Justin would rise.

Avon thought his father shouldn’t have risked his life to save his mother, and in the hidden spaces of Justin’s heart, he agreed more than anyone could realize.

He hated to think that way, but the truth seemed to wake whenever Avon was around.

The butler opened the door and Justin started out, ignoring the carriage, willing to walk the miles home.

Gerard moved on quick feet to catch up with him.

The two said nothing.

That was Gerard, though. He was once again at Justin’s side, no matter what.

And Justin had to agree that Avon was right once again. Justin had nothing to offer Gerard for their friendship but was selfish enough never to push him away.

The silence and the growing winds did little to cool Justin’s rage, but when the rain came he finally found some relief. Eventually, the two slowed their pace as they reached Oxford Street. Justin stopped when Gerard did and watched his friend move toward an umbrella shop, then followed him inside.

They were drenched and startled a few of the patrons inside. Being gracious, the oldest in the crowd turned away. Only the children looked on as though Justin and Gerard were oddities. A few people in line were chatting and gasping as they read the paper. He recalled that many of the men in the club that morning had been holding a paper as well.

Gerard moved toward the larger umbrellas in the back, and Justin turned to the newspaper that sat on the counter.

There was only one left.

Justin shifted it to face him and the words on the cover made his mind go blank. The anger vanished, and in its place came an unsettling jolt.

He picked it up and made his way to Gerard, who was standing in line. What the point of an umbrella was when they were already drenched, Justin didn’t know, but neither did he care. “Did you read this?”

Gerard frowned. “Everyone has read it, Justin.” Then he shook his head. “I can’t believe it myself. The woman was just commemorated last week and now this. It’s a good thing Lord Wint is dead. Since he had no children, his house will not feel any shame from the news.”

Justin began reading the article in full and had read most of it through by the time Gerard reached the front.

"From the Diary of Mary Elizabeth Best: An Illegitimate Daughter to a Viscount Revealed" was the title of the article. It went on to quote an entry the woman had made twenty-five years ago. Apparently, Wint had seduced a young lady’s maid at the time, and the woman had given birth to a girl. Ms. Best had named the girl Alexandra.

A source then stated that the Alexandra in question took on the surname Smith and worked at Christmas’ Toys and Gifts.

Justin recalled the shop, as many of the nobility often took their children there, though he’d never been inside himself. He had no children to buy such things for, yet an idea began to form swiftly in his mind as to a reason to go. “Gerard, we have to go to the toy shop.”

“There’s no point,” Gerard said. “This Alexandra woman is not there, and whoever is there will not say where she’s gone.”

“How do you know?” Justin asked.

They moved to a corner of the umbrella shop before Gerard spoke. “I went to the shop myself. I was unwilling to believe that Wint had a child.”

Justin was surprised by the accusation as well, but not surprised that Gerard had gone by the shop that morning.

Who wouldn’t? Justin was sure that the toy store was overrun with men and woman more interested in Wint’s illegitimate offspring than rocking horses and dolls.

He wondered what the girl must be thinking.

He knew what some of the ton would say and also what they’d privately think to themselves.

The church had all but made Ms. Best a saint. For her to have called out the Viscount of Wint was the equivalent to saying he'd had a one-way carriage ride to meet the devil himself.

Every man in the ton was probably counting himself lucky that it had not been his name called out. Had it been any other woman or had the article been published in a gossip rag, no one would care, but everyone had read the articles regarding how Society had wept at Ms. Best’s funeral. They thought her to be sitting at the Throne of God and hoped to one day meet her beyond the pearly gates.

Dukes and duchesses had spoken at her commemoration. In doing so, they'd all but given credence to her words.

Thus, whatever happened next with this, Alexandra had the power to shake the very foundation of the world.

Justin realized then that he needed to stop drinking. This scandal had been happening since before dawn, and he’d known nothing about it.