An Invitation to Scandal Read Online Free Page B

shrewish wife. Could she really blame him for seeking affection elsewhere? She did not condone his behavior, but a part of her understood it.
    But why was the key here, now? She turned the tag over. Her heart lurched in her chest. The delivery address had the correct street name, but the wrong number. It read eighty-seven. Their house number was seventy-eight. Number Eighty-Seven sat across the street and two houses down.
    And belonged to Lord Roxton.
    Footsteps echoed down the marble hallway. Abigail hurriedly pocketed the key, then took a deep breath to quell the pounding of her heart.
    “Good morning, sister.” Benedict strode into the room and stopped at her shoulder, reaching around her for the remaining letters.
    “Good morning, Ben.” She offered him a warm smile, which he half-heartedly returned.
    Once, he had been so quick to smile, now it appeared he had forgotten how. Since inheriting the title of Earl of Glenmor upon her uncle’s death, only tension pulled at the corners of his mouth. Between Ben and Caelie, she would be hard pressed to say who had changed more. A depressing pall had claimed them both. Ben due to the responsibility of taking on an earldom on the brink of ruin, and Caelie due to heartbreak. Abigail tried to cheer them up, but to no avail.
    Her heart twisted. They had all had such bright futures before Lord Roxton and Opal St. Augustine crossed their paths. One could not expect more from the Queen of the Demimonde, but from a gentleman? As a gentleman, Lord Roxton, future Earl of Blackbourne, should have shown more compassion for her uncle’s plight. Even if his interest in her had waned, she would have thought some small bit of goodwill remained.
    It hadn’t. Had it, Lord Roxton would surely have accepted responsibility for his actions and deflected the worst of the scandal away from her family and put it where it belonged—at his doorstep. Instead, he walked away from the scandal as quickly as he had walked away from her, and her family was left to wear the stain of his wrongdoings.
    Well she wouldn’t stand for it. She had failed to save her family once before, but she would not fail again. She would do whatever she must to ensure Lord Roxton accepted his role in her family’s downfall, and that he did so with the full ear of their peers. Only then would her family be able to regain their rightful place in society. Ben could stop worrying. Caelie could return to her once vivacious self and find happiness again.
    Benedict handed her the letter she’d ignored earlier. “Another letter from Lord Tarrington, I take it?”
    “Yes.” She took the vellum envelope and held it to her forehead like a mesmerist. “I sense it is filled in great detail about how his crocuses are very much in bloom and that he has high hopes for his rose bushes this summer.”
    Benedict sighed and the tightness around his mouth intensified. “You know if there was any other way—”
    She placed a hand upon his arm, stopping him. “I know. I do this of my own free will. You have never asked anything of me and you do not now. This is my choice.”
    “Abby—”
    She forced a bright smile, hoping the lie did not show in her eyes. She loved her family. She would not see them suffer when she possessed the ability to prevent it. Nodding at the letters in his hand, she asked, “Who do you hear from today? Anyone of interest?”
    He allowed her to redirect the conversation but guilt tainted his eyes. He glanced down at the letters in his hand and grimaced.
    “Creditors. The wolves are howling at the gates.”
    It was a familiar refrain. If they didn’t act fast, they would lose everything but the title, and a fat lot of good that would do them when they faced an empty table.
    But now…
    She squeezed the key inside her pocket. Cool metal indented her palm. Providence had given her the opportunity to confront Lord Roxton privately and convince him to publicly acknowledge what he did. She could regain her family’s