The Gilded Web by Mary Balogh Page B

God-fearing men and women who were ready to do their Christian duty at honest employment. Except for the rich, presumably. Lord Eden had felt taut with anger. Lord Beckworth, he had suspected, perhaps quite unfairly, was just the type who would relish watching corporal punishments, especially the stripping of the prostitutes.
    And this was the man he must face after having had his daughter abducted the night before and tied to a bedpost in the bedchamber of a bachelor establishment for the remainder of the night!
    Lord Eden was thankful to arrive at his mother’s house and have his thoughts distracted.
    â€œDom!” Madeline jumped to her feet when her brother was announced. “I was quite determined not to speak to you at all today and perhaps even for the rest of my life. But, you poor dear. We have just heard! I could have devised quite devilish punishment for you last night, but I would not have wished this particular one on you.” She had crossed the room and taken his arm.
    â€œGood afternoon, Mama,” Lord Eden said, crossing the room to Lady Amberley’s chair and bending to kiss her cheek. He patted his sister’s hand amiably as he did so. “Edmund has been here before me, has he? Yes, it is something of an embarrassment, is it not? But it is the poor girl we must feel most sorry for. Do you know her, Mad?”
    â€œI don’t believe so,” she said, “though I have been searching my mind. She is tall and dark, Hatty Temple said. But that description fits any number of girls, does it not? You have not been challenged to a duel, have you, Dom? Mama and I have been living in mortal fear that you might. Miss Purnell’s brother was looking like thunder when he came for her, we heard.”
    Lord Eden disengaged his sister’s hand from his arm. He had turned rather pale. “Edmund
has
been here, Mama, has he not?” he said. “It
is
from him you have heard all this?”
    â€œNo,” she said. “Madeline went walking in the park with Miss Wickhill and her maid before luncheon. They met Miss Temple and she told them. It is a shocking thing, Dominic. I had hoped that there was no truth in it, but I see that there is after all. How can you possibly have done such a thing? The poor girl. I feel for her from the bottom of my heart.”
    Lord Eden sat down. He swallowed convulsively. “How did Miss Temple know?” he asked.
    â€œShe had heard it from her mother’s dresser, who had heard it from the cook, who had heard it from the milkman, who had heard it…Do I need to say more, Dom?” Madeline asked. “Poor dear. Did you imagine that you could hush it all up? I suppose you have been busy silencing everyone abovestairs that could possibly have known, forgetting that scandal spreads faster than fire belowstairs. I am afraid the whole affair is probably the talk of the town by now.”
    Lord Eden rested his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands. “Oh, God,” he said. “It couldn’t possibly be worse, could it? Poor Miss Purnell. The innocent Christian in the lion’s den. I shall have to get over to Curzon Street even faster than I had planned.”
    â€œYou are going to offer for her, Dominic?” his mother asked. “I knew my son would do the right thing. I do feel for you, dear, though I must confess one is inclined to think you have brought it all on yourself. I suppose Miss Purnell was the innocent victim of what you had planned for Madeline? She told me about that. I really cannot approve of such high-handed treatment of your sister, even if your motive was a noble one. Sometimes, Dominic, I wonder if you will ever grow up.”
    â€œHe is grown up,” Madeline said, rushing to the defense of her twin as soon as someone else became critical of him. She came and sat on the arm of the chair beside him and took one of his hands in hers.
    â€œHe is willing to marry Miss