Lord Lightning by Jenny Brown

meet my mother.”
    He opened the box and lifted from it a heavy golden necklace studded with blue stones, each one the size of a robin’s egg. Because of the size of the jewels, Eliza at first assumed they were paste, but after inspecting them briefly she had to conclude that if they were paste, they were paste of a very high quality indeed. They looked quite real.
    “They are sapphires,” he said tersely. “They were once the property of a rajah.”
    “They are very beautiful!”
    “Perhaps. But so much misfortune has resulted from their purchase that I have often suspected they bear an ancient curse.”
    That surprised her. “I should not have believed you to be so superstitious.”
    “It isn’t superstition that makes me say that, but scientific fact. Fifteen years ago, my father gave in to the demands of his mistress, Mrs. Atwater, and purchased this necklace for her. His extravagance brought the family close to ruin. To save the family, my brother was forced to wed a wealthy bride. But before he could do that he was obliged to abandon a young girl of gentle birth whom he had seduced with a promise of marriage and got with child. My mother insisted that I take credit for the girl’s ruin so my brother’s wedding could proceed without hindrance. That is what led to our rupture.”
    “Do you mean to tell me she forced you to take on the reputation of a cowardly seducer when it was your brother who should have borne the blame?”
    “Exactly. The heiress’s father would have called off the match in a moment had he learned the truth. But the girl died trying to give birth to my brother’s dead babe, and since, with her dying breath, she only named a Mr. Neville as the author of her ruin, my mother insisted one Mr. Neville would do as well as another and that I owed it to the family to take the blame, no matter what the cost to myself.”
    “But that is monstrous! Had she no feeling for what was right? Why couldn’t the match with the heiress have been made with you instead of your brother?”
    “He was my older brother, my father’s heir. No heiress would have wished to wed a younger son like me. But even if she had, my mother would not have tolerated it. James was her favorite. He always had been.”
    “But wasn’t your mother grateful for your sacrifice?”
    “Women aren’t capable of gratitude,” he said coldly. “James was my mother’s darling, and she soon convinced herself that the girl’s ruin truly was my fault, rather than accept that her favorite child could have behaved so dishonorably. She had always prided herself on the strength of her morals and flattered herself that her favorite son had taken after herself—instead of after ourfather.”
    “But if it was James who was guilty of causing the poor girl’s death, not you, my reading of your character was correct—you are not guilty of the crimes that darken your reputation!”
    Lord Lightning drew back, his face hardening. “I am guilty of far worse. Do not delude yourself. I was innocent of that young girl’s ruin, but I was Black Neville’s son and shared my brother’s tainted blood. Once I had taken on the blame for my brother’s crime, no decent woman was willing to be seen with me. It was only a matter of time until I had exceeded both James and my father in vice.”
    He fixed her with an angry look. “I’ve already warned you. If you indulge in sentimental fancies and persist in imagining that I’m something I am not, I will bring our connection to a speedy end. I am not a good man and you must never again forget it.”
    “I shall not, Your Lordship. You have my word on it.”
    He held up the necklace to catch the little bit of light that shone in through the carriage’s window and smoldered deeply within the heavy azure stones. “Mrs. Atwater was extravagant, as women of her sort usually are, and fell upon hard times once my father was gone. Besides the necklace he’d left her nothing to support herself or the