Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(4)
“No,” Pru refused. “I cannot go, Mother,” she added pleadingly. “I cannot leave Cilla—”
“Darling, Cilla is no longer here,” her mother chided in a gentle tone as she reached out her hand to squeeze Pru’s clenched one.
“She died here, and so her spirit is still here,” she insisted. “No.” She gave a firm shake of her head. “I cannot and will not leave London now.”
“Darling, we are not out of sympathy with your emotions. Cilla was our beloved daughter, after all. It is only that the change might be good for you. Your father also has business matters he needs to attend to in the country next week, and we have several days’ travel first—”
“Then the two of you must go as soon as you are ready.” Pru stood abruptly. “Mary will continue to act as chaperone to me here, as she did yesterday.”
Her mother sighed. “Which I allowed only because you insisted on it. But you and I know Mary is even more emotionally distraught than you are.”
As the maid had been in the carriage with them the night of the accident and had also witnessed Cilla’s death, Pru knew this to be the case. If anything, it was as her mother said: the maid remained deeply shaken by those events. Mary was also the only one whom Pru felt could truly relate to and understand the shock of the night Cilla had been taken from her. And perhaps Romney, but as she’d informed him yesterday, she had no intentions of renewing that acquaintance.
Pru’s chin rose. “I will not leave London.”
“Darling—” Her mother broke off as there came a knock on the door before it was opened their butler, Parker.
“Viscount Romney is downstairs asking to see Miss Prudence,” he informed them. “I gave him the usual reply, that you are not receiving visitors,” he defended when Pru gave him a sharp glance. “But he insists the two of you spoke yesterday and that instruction no longer applies to him.”
Did he indeed? Then Titus Covington had the nerve of the devil himself!
Well, Pru’s current mood was more than a match for his arrogance. “Show him in, Parker. But do not serve any refreshment,” she added decisively. “The viscount will not be staying long enough for that.”
Her mother waited until the butler had departed before speaking again. “Darling—”
“Please go and do your packing, Mama, and leave me to deal with Viscount Romney as I see fit,” Pru stated firmly.
The countess frowned. “It will cause a scandal for you to meet with him alone.”
“Who is going to tell?” she challenged. “You or I? Father? The servants? I do not think so.” She gave a dismissive snort. “Besides, what I have to say to the viscount would be better said without witnesses.”
“Prudence—”
“Do not use that authoritative tone with me, Mama, because you and I both know it does not work,” she chided with weary affection. “I will deal with the viscount once and for all,” she added determinedly. “After which, I hope never to see or speak to that hateful gentleman ever again.”
“Viscount Romney,” Parker announced from the open doorway.
The mocking expression on the viscount’s face as he entered the parlor told Pru that he had overheard her last comment.
All well and good. It would save her the bother of having to repeat those words to his face.
“Countess.” Romney bowed formally over the hand Pru’s mother held out to him. “Might I offer my condolences on your loss?”
“Thank you, and I you on yours.” The countess curtseyed. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have some household matters to attend to. Parker,” she prompted briskly.
Titus frowned as he watched as Lady Cynthia and her butler left the room, closing the door behind them. He turned back to Prudence. “Your mother did not wish to remain as chaperone?”
She shrugged. “As she said, she is very busy. She and my father intend traveling to our home in Bedfordshire in the next few days. I assured her you will not be staying long, so there is absolutely no need for her to delay her own plans for the afternoon.”
It was easy for Titus to gauge that the anger Prudence had shown toward him yesterday had not abated in the slightest. Indeed, the comment he had overheard her make before he entered the parlor had confirmed that to be the case.
She was once again dressed in black, a color that should have been far too harsh for her very fair coloring, but nevertheless, she managed to carry it with an air of haughty maturity. Her hair was less severely styled today, with several loose curls at her temples, but there were none of the previous diamond or pearl pins securing the rest of those blonde curls at her crown. Indeed, she wore no jewelry at all to alleviate the severity of her appearance.
His eyes narrowed at her last comment. “You are not traveling into Bedfordshire with your parents?”
She moved to sit on a red chaise, her back very straight, her expression one of cool disdain. “I prefer to remain in London for the moment.”
“Why?” Titus hated that he was immediately beset with suspicion regarding the reason for Prudence choosing to remain in the capital. Most of Society had already, or as in the case of her parents, who were about to do so, retired to the peace and quiet of their country estates for the winter months before returning to London in January or February in time for next year’s Season.