Excerpt of The Lady in Question by Victoria Alexander

Chapter One

June 1820

"Given the circumstances, that is, all things considered,
and the time that has passed ... " Lady Wilmont,
Philadelphia -- Delia to her dearest friends, and, up
until a scant six months ago, Miss Effington -- picked at
an odd thread on the arm of the far-too-masculine sofa in
the parlor of her late husband's town house and forced a
casual note to her voice. "Do you think Mother will ever
speak to me again?"

"I certainly wouldn't wager on it at the moment. She's
already gone on far longer than I would have expected."
Cassandra Effington, Delia's younger sister by no more
than two minutes, drew her brows together
thoughtfully. "You know how Mother is. She has taken all
of this as an affront to the stars, a defiance of destiny,
that sort of thing."

"Yes, she would, wouldn't she?" Delia heaved a resigned
sigh.

"Mother will come around eventually." Cassie leaned closer
and patted her twin's hand. "In truth, I think now that
you have returned from exile -- "

"It wasn't exile, Cassie, it was the Lake District."

Cassie scoffed. "The Lake District in winter sounds very
much like exile to me."

"Not at all. Besides, each of our brothers visited and
Father sent letters."

"Even so, for the most part you were ensconced with a
relative so distant we have scarcely heard of her."

"Great-Aunt Cecily. She was quite nice -- if rather
private -- which was well and good, because what I needed
was time and distance," Delia said firmly. "Away from
London and gossip and scandal."

"Perhaps we should send Mother to the Lake District. It's
taking her rather a long time to get over her -- "

"Anger? Outrage? Embarrassment?"

"Yes, of course, all of that." Cassie waved away her
sister's words as if they were of no importance. "I
believe Mother could manage anger, outrage, embarrassment,
humiliation, disgrace, dishonor -- "

"I don't think I actually used the words humiliation,
disgrace or dishonor," Delia murmured.

"Use them or not, they are present nonetheless," Cassie
said firmly. "However, my point is that Mother could cope
with all that and more. She is, even if merely by
marriage, an Effington. And Effingtons are well used to
dealing with the petty problems brought on by the
occasional minor scandal."

"You think this was minor, then?" Delia sat up a bit
straighter.

"Oh, dear Lord, no. Not at the time anyway." Cassie shook
her head with far more enthusiasm than was necessary. "No,
an Effington running off with a scoundrel of Lord
Wilmont's reputation was quite the biggest scandal of the
year."

"I suppose so." Delia sank back in her seat, an odd
rational portion of her mind chastising her for such
posture. Miss Philadelphia Effington never slouched.
Apparently, however, Lady Wilmont did.

"This may well be the biggest scandal of the last few
years," Cassie added. "In fact, I am hard-pressed to
recall a bigger scandal ever. Although I do suppose --
" "That's quite enough, thank you." Delia sighed again
and slumped deeper into the sofa. The perfect carriage
expected of a properly bred young woman of two-and-twenty
scarcely seemed of significance when one was the center of
the biggest scandal of the last few years. Or ever.

"Oh, dear, I haven't been any help at all, have I? Very
well. Perhaps I have exaggerated somewhat. It probably
only seemed so huge because it occurred in December and
there was little else for everyone to talk about." Cassie
cast her sister a sympathetic look. "I do apologize,
dearest, it's simply odd for me to be in this position.
And frankly, that's why I think Mother has had such a
difficult time with it all."

Delia raised a brow. "Because it isn't you?"

"Exactly." Cassie nodded firmly. "She and everyone else
have always thought if one of us were ever to be embroiled
in a scandal of this magnitude -- "

"It could have been far worse. I did marry him, after
all," Delia pointed out.

"In this particular case, I daresay that does make it
worse," Cassie said. "I still do not understand why you
did it."

"Nor do I," Delia said under her breath.

She had no idea how to explain what she could only call
the madness that had inflicted her in weeks surrounding
Christmas and ultimately led to scandal and her current
odd position of barely wed widow.

Six months. It scarcely seemed long enough for a life to
change so completely. Six months ago she hadn't a care in
the world save for the usual questions about whether or
not she or her sister would find a suitable match in the
coming year.

"Your letters were not at all informative, at least not
about anything of significance. We have had no chance to
talk since it all happened." Cassie shrugged
casually. "You fled so quickly -- "

"I didn't flee. I" -- Delia wrinkled her nose -- "escaped.
It was cowardly of me, I know, but I was hard-pressed at
the time to accept that I lost my mind, ran off and ruined
my life."

"It's not entirely ruined. You did marry him."

"You just said in this case that might well have made it
worse."