Whoever was whispering in the shadows was right. And Thomas could say whatever he liked about that gossip only happening because people were jealous—maybe it was the truth—but that didn’t mean the gossipers were wrong about the facts.
Madeleine could be brave and confident, but there was no excuse for ignoring the curse. She had almost allowed herself to forget.
“Will you excuse me?” She pulled away from Thomas.
He looked confused. “It’s the middle of the dance, Madeleine. Are you all right?”
“I just—I need some air,” she said.
And before he could argue or question her further, she turned and hurried out the door and into the garden.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Thomas stared after Madeleine, shocked and unsure of what to do. Should he chase after her? Was that the right thing to do here?
She ran away from me. She doesn’t want to be chased. If she wanted to talk to me, she would have stayed.
But he couldn’t help it. He felt a need to go after her, to make sure she was all right. He was afraid she might be angry with him for following her, but he followed her anyway.
She was out of sight by the time he reached the garden path, but he could hear her footsteps ahead of him. He ran after her, closing the distance, until at last, he rounded a corner and saw her. “Madeleine! Wait!”
She stopped running at once. She must have realized she had no hope of outpacing him. She turned to face him, her expression desolate. “I’ve embarrassed you.”
“What?”
“I ran away from you in front of everyone. You must be so ashamed of me.”
“No, I…” He hadn’t even been thinking about that. “I just came to see if you were all right?”
She covered her face with her hands.
“Madeleine.” He walked over, took her wrists gently, and pulled her hands away. “Don’t do that. Let me see your face.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
“All the training I did with your mother to make sure I’d be ready for the role of duchess…she’s going to be so angry with me.”
“We don’t care about that, remember?”
“It was different when it was just the gown. I know you feel I should wear whatever makes me happy. Maybe that’s true. But there’s no excuse for running off the dance floor like I just did.”
“You don’t need to make excuses. It doesn’t matter. Just tell me what you’re thinking. Did I say something to upset you?”
“You didn’t upset me at all.”
“You look upset.”
“I’m not sure we should be talking about this here.”
“Come on, then.” He put an arm around her shoulders, wondering if she would pull away from him.
She didn’t. She stiffened a little, but she allowed him to lead her away to one of the fountains deep within the garden. It was small and out of order, and Thomas knew wedding guests were unlikely to come this far in.
“No one will find us here,” he said, helping her sit on the fountain’s edge. “We can talk and not have to worry about anything.”
“Don’t you think they’ll be looking for us?”
