Love's Harbinger Read Free Page A

aunt. “He’ll print it in that scurrilous paper! I thought we came here to object to the story.” Looking at her aunt, she missed the sneer that alit on Delamar’s face.
    “Object?” Lady Lynne asked, astonished. “I came to find out if it was true. It obviously is, goose. We must break off the engagement at once.”
    “No!” Faith gasped. “No, it—it cannot be true. Mr. Delamar is mistaken. Mr. Delamar, I think you might, just this once, divulge your source. I am very closely involved in this affair.”
    “As I said, tit for tat. You give me an exclusive on Lord Thomas, the sort of intimate thing only a fiancé would know, and I’ll tell you what I’ve discovered to date.”
    She stared at him as though he were a snake. “You actually expect me to divulge intimate secrets about Lord Thomas? You must be mad!”
    “I’m not talking about how he makes love, though it would charm Mam’selle Ondit’s readers. I only want to know if you have anything concrete to offer in his defense—or to substantiate his guilt,” he added maliciously.
    “He is not guilty!”
    Delamar rose and began to pace the room. “Before you go naming a church after him, consider the evidence.” As he walked, he ticked off points on his long, tanned fingers. “He did not register the Anglo-Gold Company, he took in over two hundred thousand pounds, he’s tipped his investors the double, he’s failed to show up for appointments with his fiancée, he’s even gulled your aunt. If that does not at least raise a doubt, you are dangerously unsuspicious. I wonder if you will be as lenient when he doesn’t show up at St. George’s in Hanover Square for the wedding. ‘Lady Faith Jilted by Faithless Lover.’ That should make good reading.”
    “You wouldn’t dare!” She gasped.
    “I will! But only if it happens, of course. I print nothing but facts. And I’ve never printed a retraction in my life, so if that was your only business, ladies . . . I am rather busy.” He rose and looked impatiently at the door.
    Lady Faith glared harder than before, then turned to her aunt. “Come along, Auntie. We’re wasting our time. We will want to stop at our solicitor’s office before going home.”
    A slow smile crept across Mr. Delamar’s face, lifting his scar and crinkling the corners of his eyes. He came forward and offered Faith his hand to help her up from the sofa. She pointedly ignored it. “If that is meant to intimidate me, you’re wasting your time. Save your blunt. You have no case. I suggest you follow your aunt’s advice and write up a notice cancelling the engagement. Shall I do it for you?”
    Faith pulled away. “If you print that lie, then I will sue, I promise you. I shall marry Lord Thomas Vane, and he is not a thief.”
    “I didn’t say he was.”
    “You implied it! And you believe it.”
    “True, but then what do you care what I believe?”
    “I don’t! Come along, Auntie. We cannot expect Mr. Delamar to understand that a gentleman does not steal.” On this cutting phrase, she allowed her eyes to rove around his cramped and ugly saloon. They still wore an expression of deep disgust when she allowed them to flicker over Mr. Delamar. “Good day.” She carefully lifted her skirts and stalked out.
    It was extremely disobliging of her aunt not to follow her. She felt a perfect fool, waiting for her in the hall.
    Before leaving, Lady Lynne gave Delamar her hand. “Please keep in touch if you learn anything further about Lord Thomas. About that exchange of information . . . I am Lady Faith’s chaperone. I know as much as she does. What is it you want to know?”
    “Where he is.”
    “I can’t help you there. He wouldn’t dare to go home to his father and, of course, he was not feeling ill at all. Do you plan to go after him?”
    “Of course, and Mr. Elwood, too. This is the juiciest story I’ve come across in an age. And it happens I have other business at—in the same direction.”
    “When will you