84 Chapter 84

His throat dried as if someone had cut the air supply to his windpipe. Babs gathered her skirts and walked away? Followed by Violetta? Babs? How convenient if Babs married Baxby, saving him from ever worrying about that tiresome institution again. Why the blazes hadn't he thought of that before tonight? Marriage was what Babs wanted. Now he saw her, it was what he wanted too. It didn't have to be to him.

And if her cart-horseship bolted down the stairs, bawling her eyes out, because he danced with Babs, his reputation would be thoroughly enhanced.

Bleeding, bloody hell though, there didn't seem to be any danger of that given the way she stood there smiling. How could he have been so foolish as to blackmail this woman? The evening couldn't be more ruined than if it were some ancient castle set on shifting sands and besieged by Viking raiders. He tried swallowing the bile in the back of his throat, but it stuck.