“This is why I didn’t want this marriage,” Madeleine said, her voice tight.
“What do you mean?”
“You shouldn’t have to cope with this. There are plenty of ladies you could have chosen who wouldn’t have inspired such hateful talk.”
“It’s not your fault,” Thomas told her. “You can’t blame yourself for the way others choose to conduct themselves. They’ve always mistreated you, haven’t they?”
“Ever since the fire, there have been…comments, yes. People have had things to say. And it isn’t just concern for you, you know. I see that you’re trying to benobleby taking me on, but before I was engaged to the Duke, I had at least a hope of being left alone!”
He nodded. “I know what it’s like,” he said. “People have always had things to say about my family too.”
She looked at him, curiosity in her eyes, but he had no desire to go into detail about his father’s gambling right now. He just wanted to help her deal with all this.
“Remember who you are,” he said. “Remember that you are the Duchess of Westcourt, and they’re only jealous. You need to find the confidence to stand up to them yourself, so their words can’t hurt you anymore.”
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Madeleine felt full of questions.
The Duke spoke as if he truly understood her pain, and she believed he did. He made it seem as if he had genuinely suffered the torment of people’s gossip.
But who would gossip about a duke?
It made her wish she had more time between her coming out and her engagement. If she had, she would have known more about the gossip of theton. She would have been more aware of what he was talking about now. But she had a feeling he wouldn’t respond well to being asked directly.
“Your Grace,” she began.
He shook his head. “Thomas,” he said.
She glanced at her uncle, who stood across the road talking to Lord Cumberland. “Are you sure?”
“We’re going to be married,” he said. “You’re going to be my wife, and I your husband. Of course you ought to call me by my name.”
She nodded. It made sense, but at the same time, despite referring to his mother by her given name, it felt disrespectful to use his.
“Go on,” he urged, sensing her hesitation.
“Thomas,” she said, and then, to her own surprise, she giggled.
He smiled at her. “That wasn’t so bad, right?”
“No, it wasn’t.” But she frowned. “I thought you didn’t like me. Why are you being so kind to me all of a sudden?”
“What made you think I didn’t like you?”
“You made it very clear that the only reason you wanted to marry me was so that you wouldn’toweme anything.”
“You didn’t want to marry me either,” he reminded her. “That wasn’t just me.”
“No…I suppose it wasn’t.”
“And was that because you didn’t like me? Or some other reason?”
“It’s complicated.”
He nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “It’s very complicated. But there’s no reason for us to be unkind to one another now that the decision is made, right? We’re going to be married, so we might as well treat each other well.”
“I suppose you’re right about that…Thomas.”
