Page 41 of Victorian Bride

“How dare she speak that way to Mya.” The anger that Mya had seen in Eleanora only once before was making its return. “If it would not be more trouble than it was worth, I would trip her into the loch and hope the monster eats her.”

There was a moment of silence, and Mya looked up to find Lottie with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“You would have to drive her to the loch,” she said after a moment. “And as I doubt Miss Auteberry would ever willingly step into a coach with either of us, I think that is rather unlikely. Not to mention the issue of an investigation.” A smile slipped into the words. “If you are going to trip her, I suggest you do it somewhere you can deny having done it purposefully. Perhaps after a heavy rain.”

“I did sincerely consider throwing the chocolate tart at her,” Mya said. “But I had dropped it earlier and then stepped in it. I wish I had kept it.”

Lottie’s hand went back to stroking through Mya’s hair, dislodging the pins she had so carefully put in it. “We will find a means of handling her,” she said.

“I don’t see how Kayden could have an explanation,” Mya said then. “I saw them there. I saw them kiss. There’s nothing he can say to me that is going to make me believe that he didn’t do it.”

“Believe me, Mya, we are not advising you to allow him back into your life,” Eleanora said. “We would not do that to you.”

“All the same, I would like to speak with him myself.” Lottie sighed. “I just cannot imagine why he would do such a thing to Mya.”

“If you want to talk to him,” Mya said, “that’s your choice. I won’t stop you. But don’t bring him here. I don’t want to see his face.”

“And if he does have an explanation?”

“If he does have an explanation,” Mya laughed, “I will be utterly shocked. And unless an angel comes to tell me that Kayden was unfairly framed for the actions I saw unfolding directly in front of me, I am not taking him back.”

After what he had done, she didn’t want anything to do with Kayden McGregor ever again.

Chapter 18

“It would seem the Auteberrys are throwing another party,” Lottie said one morning over breakfast, looking down at a piece of paper she was holding in her hand.

“I will not be attending,” Mya said. It had been a week since the incident and the pain was still ripe like a fresh wound.

“Nor, I think, will I.” Eleanora set an egg into the egg cup beside her plate and cracked the shell with a flick of her spoon. “Tell them that we have a previous engagement. Surely they cannot imagine that we would actually wish to be there, after what was done to Mya?”

“I am sure that Blanche has some sort of hand in this.” Lottie’s lips pressed flat together, her expression a study in disapproval. “It is likely she has orchestrated the whole thing in an attempt to upset Mya.”

“I don’t know why she’d need to,” Mya said, picking at her toast without actually eating any of it. “She already has Kayden.”

“I am not so certain about that,” Lottie said.

Mya turned to look at her, not sure what the comment was supposed to mean. Lottie lifted her gaze from the bowl of yogurt in front of her to meet Mya's.

“I have not heard anything of them being seen together. In fact, Kayden has hardly been seen at all since the day you saw them together.”

He had tried to come by the house, but this time there had been no letting him in, and if there were flowers Mya hadn't been told. She didn't care if he brought an entire greenhouse worth; she wasn't going to forgive him. He didn't deserve it.

“So Kayden is moping,” Mya said, stabbing a sausage with her fork. “I don't see what that changes.”

“There is no word that Kayden and Miss Auteberry are any sort of item,” Lottie said. “I find that rather interesting, considering that she was supposed to be the more socially acceptable choice. Why would he not flaunt her? It is not as though he took you out. He would not have to explain why he had one girl on his arm one day and the next appeared with another.”

That was true. The only time she had gone anywhere with Kayden that was not one of the back fields was when they had gone to the theater, and that hadn't been a social outing of the sort that he would take a woman he actually wished to be seen with. It had been one of the smaller playhouses, dark, and not the sort of place that attracted those accustomed to the social circles Mya had been traveling in since she came to live with Lottie and Ella.

“So he didn't take me out, and he doesn't take her out. Maybe he's just a terrible suitor,” Mya suggested. “Although if that’s the case, I don’t know what he sees in Blanche. She will not be providing anything that he was getting from me, I'm quite sure.”

Eleanora laughed.

“So if that is the case,” Lottie said, “why has he not made his move with her? Because the only advantage he receives from a marriage with Miss Auteberry is her family's social clout to improve his own standing. Even that is somewhat dubious. He has a title of his own, and enough land and wealth that he will never need to worry about money. So what is the allure?”

“Maybe he just likes her,” Mya said glumly. “That is something that happens sometimes between people, I've been told.”

“If he was with her just because he chose to be, would he not be taking her out in public to show her off?” Eleanora asked. “That is what I would expect, unless there was some secret they were keeping.”