Prologue
Adelaide Fernside stepped down from the hired coach and hesitated. The hack had delivered her to the Mayfair address her sister reluctantly divulged. Addy was on a mission to save her sister, confront the gray-eyed seducer of innocents, and demand he support Lily and their unborn child!
Righteous anger guiding her, she lifted her head and walked toward the imposing town house. She drew in a calming breath and exhaled. Time to beard the dragon in his lair!
The older servant who answered the door was solicitous until a deep voice boomed from behind him, “Who are you and what do you want?”
The fierce looking, gray-haired, impeccably dressed older gentleman had to be Adam Broadbank’s father…the earl. His anger was a living, breathing thing.
She was about to speak when he bellowed, “You’re that actress!”
“You don’t understand. I’m not—”
Impossibly, his voice increased in volume. “How dare you claim to carry my son’s child!”
The echo of horses’ hooves on the cobblestones had her stomach tying into knots. Anyone on the entire block could hear what the man shouted at her. She needed to correct this misunderstanding immediately. “It’s my—”
Passersby discreetly decreased their pace. Were they listening? Had they heard the earl slandering her sister? It was unconscionable that he would degrade Lily’s gift for enchanting audiences from the stage as if it were a sin, all the while insinuating she had loose morals!
How dare he make such assumptions? This was outside of enough! She had to make him listen!
“I must speak to Adam Broadbank on a matter of urgency.”
The man’s face paled and lost all expression. “My son is dead.” He spun on his bootheel and strode back into the house. The closing of the door punctuated his proclamation.
The shock of the earl’s words sliced her to the bone. Dead?
Unsure where to go, or what to do, she stumbled along the sidewalk. What would she tell Lily?
She had failed. Dear Lord, how could she possibly help her sister now?
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