A Scandalous Entanglement

XXXVI

"Lady Ives Dinsmore!" He stepped back creating space between the two of them.

"I do vividly recall you kissing the skin of my hands and whispering my name along my neck. Not wanting to leave the confines of the small room for the reality that you were to face. Has your wife been keeping you busy Devyn? Did she make you feel the way I did even if you were in my bed for those days?" She took a slightest step close to him then stepped back. "I do still remember tale of you wanting an annulment from her, in your own words, she was a mistake."

Yes, she had been a mistake, a mistake that he was becoming affectionate to but the woman before him was an even bigger mistake.

"I do not want you anywhere near my wife. You and your cousin are banned from ever stepping foot here. You nor he are supposed to be here."

"Why?" She crossed her arms about her chest. "Because you think-"

"Because damned it I say so." He could tell his voice had come out meaner than he had expected because she had flinched even though it was the slightest bit of movement.

"Oh, Devyn you poor dear. We all know you don't have such authority here and besides, with the current load your mother is facing with the ball and her guests and the rough mud your wife has been through. We wouldn't want a little bird telling the ton of the little secrets we shared in one of the town houses in London." She dared a small step towards him.

"Oh, what scandalous entanglement it shall make," a mischievous glint shined in her eyes matching the sparkle of the necklace she wore. "the headlines, oh they will rebuke all your wroth and paint your image bad and your wife. If you didn't know it, she would be tarnished for good especially when they find out that I am with your child Lord Seymour." She allowed the pin to drop before curtsying.

It was a mock to him, to his name and most especially to his wife.

Devyn's mouth hit the floor and he was left paralysed on the spot. "Though, I wouldn't mind some sort of nightly visits to keep my mouth shut and your wife wouldn't need to know of anything especially not of this baby that is growing in my stomach." She run her hands along her stomach and there was a small bump only visible when she allowed for it to be so.

"Those letters?" He asked unable to find his voice.

"Yes?" She turned to look at him, "You mean the ones that you didnt respond to. Had you replied to them sooner, we would have found a solution but," She left the sentence hanging.

She was with child. His child.

Hell damned him.

"Well lord Seymour, I look forward to having your child." She closed the door behind her, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He had to speak to Emilia, confess to his nights in London with lady Ives Dinsmore, apologise for the evening at lady Clara Leavening's ball and basically for him being the type of person he was towards her, but he was damned.

He stumbled over to the nearest chair. Stunned.

He had been careful, had he not? Careful to not ever get any of his mistresses with child and yet here was Elisabeth claiming to be with his child. And she wasn't just any woman, she was a woman of noble birth and he would have to take responsibility, he would have to father a child, her child, their child.

His head ached more than he could control.

No one heard their conversation, right?

And most importantly Emilia wasn't aware of his foolish actions. He had to get to her before anyone could.

He had to explain himself.

But pride got hold of him and he knew he couldn't bring himself before her, to confess and ask for her forgiveness. He had used her irrespective of her feelings, gone outside and got himself a mistress to satisfy himself instead of his wife, had barely acknowledged he during the five years of his marriage. Clearly, he wasn't any better than his father or Lord Berrycloth and now he had a babe, a child with a woman he had had an affair with, a child that would be born of her soon depending on how far she was into the pregnancy.