Ladies of Deception 02 - Misleading Lord Martineau by Ginny Hartman

watched her own carriage pull slowly out of the drive. He would see that she got home safely before he returned to the Spotted Pig, the inn where he had been staying since his foray into London. He locked his fingers together before placing them under his chin, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts, not all positive.
    His reflections of late had often taken him back to a time he’d rather not dwell on, a time that he’d just as soon forget if it wasn’t the root of what drove him to such extreme measures of revenge. He remembered all too clearly the night Lord Pemberton showed up at his house in the middle of the night, hysterical with the news that his only daughter had been compromised.
    At first Clinton failed to see the problem—as long as she wed a titled gentleman with wealth, he couldn’t care less what her fate was to be. That’s when Lord Pemberton informed him that he had agreed to trade Felicity’s hand in marriage as a payment towards the enormous debt he owed Lord Kilpatrick.
    Clinton had been livid. “What do you mean you owe an enormous debt to Lord Kilpatrick? Surely you have enough blunt in holdings to cover the debt.”
    Lord Pemberton shook his head frantically, “That’s the problem, I haven’t a shilling to my name and if I don’t settle some of these debts I’ve been accruing soon, it’s only a matter of time before I’m sent to debtor’s prison.”
    It was the first that Clinton had ever heard about the precarious state of the estate he had been anxiously awaiting to inherit and to say it upset him was a vast understatement.
    While his mind was churning with anger, Lord Pemberton continued rattling on obliviously. “I’ve tried to do everything I could to keep my creditors at bay but I was running out of options. Lord Kilpatrick is an impatient man so when he finally agreed to wed Felicity in exchange for a payment towards what I owe him I knew I had to make the deal, there was no other way. But tonight I found out that she’s ruined—I’m ruined!” he wailed, clutching his heart in agony.
    The blood in Clinton’s veins turned to ice. He stalked towards Lord Pemberton at a leisurely pace, but his slow casual manner betrayed the rage he felt brewing inside. Stopping mere inches from Lord Pemberton, he bent to look him squarely in the eye and seethed, “I’m the one who is ruined by this revelation, not you. You have had your whole life to frolic in wealth and luxury while I’ve sat idly by, patiently waiting for you to croak so I could finally have a taste of the life you have always flaunted before me, the life I deserve to live. Surely there is some other way for you to put your estates to right.”
    “I can’t go back on my word to Lord Kilpatrick, my honor is at stake.”
    Clinton grasped Lord Pemberton’s broad shoulders and gave him a hearty shake, “My whole future is at stake!” he yelled, livid that he couldn’t see how selfish he was being.
    Lord Pemberton jerked free from Clinton’s grasp and caustically spat out, “I’m glad to see that you’re so concerned for me.”
    “The devil with you, what about me? I bloody well won’t tolerate inheriting a worthless estate bogged down with debt. I suggest you wait and see if Felicity is with child, if not I wouldn’t breathe a word of her ruination to Lord Kilpatrick, or anyone else for that matter, and still attempt to pawn the chit off on the unsuspecting fool.”
    “And heaven forbid she is with child, then what? There’s not a man in London who would take her then.”
    “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, irritated by the whole conversation in general, not just Lord Pemberton’s failure to see the apparent. “Go to the man who is responsible for her condition and force him to wed her. Pray tell that he at least has some sort of wealth.”
    Lord Pemberton sagged against the wall for support, feeling entirely defeated by the mess his irresponsible daughter had created for him. “I’m sure Lord Martineau would do