Redemption
impression about what had happened, especially with her
step-brother scorning her, but there was little he could do right
now. Not unless he went so far as to throw Lizzie over his shoulder
and carry her all the way back to McArthur House so he could talk
to her in private and ruin her completely. He knew that even if he
asked Angus if they could use his study Julian would insist on
being involved in any conversation that took place, and any
conversation with Lizzie would be anything but private.
    Although
it annoyed the hell out of him, he had no choice but to allow
Lizzie to go home and calm down a little. He would call by
Pendlebury House in the morning, and wild horses wouldn’t drag him
out again until he and Lizzie had the conversation they should be
having now.
    “You,
sir, have besmirched the family name. I demand restitution,” Julian
declared with all the pomposity he could muster.
    “Restitution?” Lizzie cried. “For what?”
    She
couldn’t believe her ears. Had Julian really asked for money?
Surely he couldn’t be that desperate, could he? She stared at her
step-brother and felt a wave of horror sweep through her as she
realised that was indeed what Julian was after. He hadn’t just
asked for money, but was determined to destroy her reputation to
get it apparently. Given how her step-brother had started to sell
various heirlooms from around Pendlebury House to fund his
profligate lifestyle of late, she had no doubt he would sink that
low.
    She
realised then that his financial crisis that everyone was currently
whispering about really was as desperate as people
claimed.
    Before
Julian could list his demands, Melissa stepped away from the crowd
and crossed toward them. The contemptuous glare she swept over
Lizzie made her once beautiful face change into something malicious
and cruel. The accusatory glare she turned on Ben would have made
even the hardest warrior cower, but he merely stared
disinterestedly back, completely unaffected by her
scorn.
    Desperate to leave, Lizzie glared at Julian. “You haven’t
once thought of the family name when you have frequented Madame
Hubert’s brothel, Julian Pendlebury. You don’t think about the
family’s reputation when you hock the family heirlooms to pay for
your sordid gambling. You ruin the family name whenever you step
out of the front door at Pendlebury House because your behaviour is
so questionable.” She tipped her chin up defiantly when Julian
stepped forward threateningly. Her eyes defied him to lie and deny
it in front of so many people but he didn’t. “If any of the hosts
feel sorry for me, it is purely because they know I am, well, sort
of related to you. It isn’t my behaviour that causes them to pity
me; it is my association to you. ”
    To her
surprise, Ben gave her a smile that was warm and gentle. Her shock
increased when, in a silent show of support, Angus Potterton came
to stand on the other side of her. The silent show of support from
both gentleman of good standing against Julian silenced the murmurs
of the crowd of onlookers, and seemed to flummox Julian himself for
a moment.
    “How dare you cast aspersions on the family name to try to
cover your own behaviour?” Julian snarled. “You are the one who has
just been in a compromising situation with him.”
    “You are
angry because you know I am right,” Lizzie challenged. It took
every ounce of fortitude she possessed to tip her chin up and glare
back at him, in spite of the tell-tale blush on her
cheeks.
    “I ask
you to behave with more discretion,” Angus demanded of
Julian.
    “Me behave with discretion?” Julian
blundered on self-righteously. “I am not the one taking advantage
of harlots in your garden. Why, if my good friends hadn’t noticed
them out of the window Heaven only knows how far this would have
gone. Can I take it you consider their behaviour
acceptable?”
    “No,
sir,” Angus replied. “But your actions are not acceptable in any
way either. I shall not have
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