She turned quickly to Gregory. “Sorry. I didn’t mean— I just—”
Haselby gave her a wave. “Please, don’t trouble yourself. It was the best thing that could possibly have happened. Shootings, blackmail, treason . . . No one will ever look to me as the cause of the annulment now.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good,” Lucy said brightly. She rose to her feet because, well, it seemed only polite, given how generous he was being. “But do you still wish for a wife? Because I could help you find one, once I’m settled, that is.”
Gregory’s eyes practically rolled back in his head. “Good God, Lucy.”
She watched as he stood. “I feel I must make this right. He thought he was getting a wife. In a way, it’s not precisely fair.”
Gregory closed his eyes for a long moment. “It is a good thing I love you so well,” he said wearily, “because otherwise, I should have to fit you with a muzzle.”
Lucy’s mouth fell open. “Gregory!” And then, “Hermione!”
“Sorry!” Hermione said, one hand still clapped over her mouth to muffle her laughter. “But you are well-matched.”
Haselby strolled into the room and handed her uncle a handkerchief. “You’ll want to staunch that,” he murmured. He turned back to Lucy. “I don’t really want a wife, as I’m sure you’re aware, but I suppose I must find some way to procreate or the title’ll go to my odious cousin. Which would be a shame, really. The House of Lords would surely elect to disband if ever he decided to take up his seat.”
Lucy just looked at him and blinked.
Haselby smiled. “So, yes, I should be grateful if you found someone suitable.”
“Of course,” she murmured.
“You’ll need my approval, too,” Lord Davenport blustered, marching forward.
Gregory turned to him with unveiled disgust. “You,” he bit off, “may shut up. Immediately.”
Davenport drew back in a huff. “Do you have any idea to whom you are speaking, you little whelp?”
Gregory’s eyes narrowed and he rose to his feet. “To a man in a very precarious position.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“You will cease your blackmail immediately,” Gregory said sharply.
Lord Davenport jerked his head toward Lucy’s uncle. “He was a traitor!”
“And you chose not to turn him in,” Gregory snapped, “which I would imagine the king would find equally reprehensible.”
Lord Davenport staggered back as if struck.
Gregory rose to his feet, pulling Lucy up along with him. “You,” he said to Lucy’s uncle, “will leave the country. Tomorrow. Don’t return.”
“I shall pay his passage,” Richard bit off. “No more.”
“You are more generous than I would have been,” Gregory muttered.
“I want him gone,” Richard said in a tight voice. “If I can hasten his departure, I am happy to bear the expense.”
Gregory turned to Lord Davenport. “You will never breathe a word of this. Do you understand?”
“And you,” Gregory said, turning to Haselby. “Thank you.”
Haselby acknowledged him with a gracious nod. “I can’t help it. I’m a romantic.” He shrugged. “It does get one in trouble from time to time, but we can’t change our nature, can we?”
Gregory let his head shake slowly from side to side as a wide smile began to spread across his face.
“You have no idea,” he murmured, taking Lucy’s hand. He couldn’t quite bear to be separated from her just then, even by a few inches.