The Duke's Affair

VII

Lauren trembled as she tried to hold Aurelia upright. The drunk woman's limbs were sprawling like creatures with their own independent wills. Why was she wearing the Victoria Secret underwear? What had possessed her? Lauren felt the lace against her skin as she tried to hold the woman still, but failed. Exasperated, she groaned and slammed her fists into her thighs. How could this have happened? She had only left left her for half an hour...forty-five minutes at most.

Henry's face, the way his eyes had blazed with anger, had shocked her. He had never looked at her that way before. A sense of foreboding swam through Lauren's consciousness and she realised she was truly afraid of what Henry would say. She reached out again for Aurelia, who was swaying against the wall, knocking gilt-framed portraits sideways along the paintwork.

"Get off me," said Aurelia, squirming out of reach.

"Please -" The sound of the door opening made Lauren shudder, and she bit down on the rest of her unspoken sentence.

"What the hell was that?" Henry strode towards his sister, fire in his eyes, pulling himself up short with barely an inch between them.

Aurelia dipped her head and laughed, letting her dark hair fall over her eyes. Green eyes, just as vibrant and beautiful as Henry's.

"Answer me," he said, lifting his hands as if he meant to take her shoulders and shake her.

"She's drunk, she doesn't know what she's doing," said Lauren, creeping round into Henry's peripheral vision. He glared in her direction, his words slow.

"Oh, don't be fooled." He raised a fist, the knuckles white as he crammed his fingers into his palm. "She knows exactly what she's doing. She a cold, manipulative -"

"Henry!" said Lauren, taking a step forward, reaching out, afraid he might strike his own sister.

He dropped his hands to his sides and slid away from Aurelia, who shrivelled against the wall, a disjointed smirk on her face. With thin hands she tried to cover herself as she stood in nothing but the underwear.

"And you," he said, turning to face Lauren, "where were you? I told you to watch her. Christ!" He stretched his hands out towards her, the fingers splayed, rigid, as though he wanted to grab her skull between them and crush it.

"This is not my fault -"

"You saw what she's like. You knew. I asked you to watch her -"

Lauren felt his anger as though he were striking her physically with every word. A lump rose in her throat and she fought it back down. She wouldn't cry in front of him. "She's a grown woman. She should be able to take care of herself. I'm your PA. This," - Lauren pointed a shaking finger at Aurelia - "she, is beyond the call of duty. You can't expect me to do my job and run about after your crazy family." She heard a crack in her voice as she spoke the last words, and hoped Henry had missed it.

He ran a hand through his hair and blinked, for a second too long. Then, his green eyes flashing at Lauren, he thrust an upturned palm in Aurelia's direction. "But look at her! All you had to do was keep an eye on her. Make sure she didn't have too much to drink. She has made me ridiculous" - he swung back to face Aurelia - "and what the hell are you wearing? You look like a second rate prostitute."

Aurelia raised her sullen face to her brother. "You would know."

He froze. "What?"

"I said, you would know." Between each word she jutted her chin into the air. "Besides," - she slipped against the wall again, one finger flicking the elastic waistband of the thong - "they're not mine." Aurelia managed to look pointedly at Lauren, her lips curling into a cruel smile.