Bastian Hanrahan's revelation that his father had hidden away a trio of illegitimate daughters spread through the crowd like wildfire. Hugo's appearance years ago had been shocking enough. If Hugo had been older than Bastian, if he'd been born before Ian Hanrahan's marriage, then there would have been more understanding about the 'youthful indiscretions' of a young lord.
But Hugo was younger than Bastian by more than four years, which transformed a simple 'indiscretion' into a matter of infidelity. Once was scandalous, but the way Bastian spoke of it, his father had been bedding countless women over the years, paying them to keep quiet, and rushing them away whenever he accidentally sired another illegitimate child.
"What about Maude, the lacemaker?" a voice in the crowd cried. "Did Baron Hanrahan really give her coin to flee a man who was rough with her, or was she one of his women?"
