Page 56 of Unmasking the Earl

But he was already on his feet, striding toward the door.

“Ned! Wait,” she pleaded with him, rushing to place herself in the doorway of the little room. “Your sister is more important now! Georgiana needs you. I’ll fetch her some water. You support her head, make sure she can breathe easily.”

He hesitated, never before so torn.

“And when she is recovered, she’ll be able to tell us the whole truth.”

That did it!

“Truth? Truth? If she was so blinded by love as to hide her affair with Wycherley, how can I expect her ever to tell me the truth? No! Out of my way, Cassandra.”

She retreated before him through the kitchen, then pressed her back against the door, looking up at him beseechingly. “I can’t let you go when you are in such a towering rage,” she said. “You already know how easily your temper gets you into difficulties. Besides, you promised. Will you so quickly discard your promises to me, my lord?”

The double implication of her words brought Ned to a halt, and he stared down at her, jaw clenched. To have, such a short while before, experienced such ecstasy with her, only to be now thrown into abject despair, was enough to crush a man’s soul.

“You must do nothing about Wycherley until you’ve heard Georgiana’s side of the story,” she urged.

His sister was ruined, her beauty gone forever. He wanted to weep.

But at least she was alive.

And there was neither sight nor sound of an infant. Thank God for that.

He took in a shuddering breath and tried to concentrate on Cassie’s sympathetic face. “Very well,” he said. “We tend to my sister first.”

“And you won’t harm Wycherley?”

“I must confront him. But I’ll just talk with him.”

“It is your sister you need to talk to now, Ned. How will she feel if she comes round and discovers you have charged off in a fury in search of her lover? Hasn’t she suffered enough?”

His shoulders eased a little, and he took another deep breath. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Do you not think, perhaps, that is exactly why she has been in hiding? For fear of just such a reaction?”

“Cassie, I—”

Before he could frame the words he needed to say, a horrified scream rent the air. He rushed into the parlor, where Georgiana was now sitting up and staring wildly about her in obvious shock.

“Georgiana!” He was on his knees before her in an instant, taking her in his arms and cradling her against him.

“Ned? Is it truly you?”

Suddenly, the door flew open behind them, and Ned felt a strong hand on his collar, trying to pull him roughly away from his sister.

He shot up, grabbed his assailant about the neck, lifted him off his feet, and slammed him, none too gently, against the wall.

He recognized the man instantly.

“Matthews?”

Good God, what was Wycherley’s footman doing here?

As Matthews started to go red in the face and splutter, Georgiana rose and tugged earnestly at Ned’s coat.

“Let him go, Ned. He’s done nothing wrong!”

Of all people, Matthews had known of Georgiana’s whereabouts all along?