If she noticed that, she ignored it. “I’m so pleased to see you,” she said. “You know, some of us were talking, and we thought you might not be here tonight.”
“Did you?” Thomas’s voice tightened, and suddenly Madeleine realized she was worried for him. “I would have thought you would have something more interesting to discuss, Lady Deborah. Something besides whether or not to expect my attendance at a ball.”
“But, you know, everyone was most eager to see you,” Lady Deborah said. “And to see you, of course, Lady Madeleine.”
“Thank you,” Madeleine said, surprised to find that the only thing she felt was quiet amusement.
“The correct form of address for my wife isYour Grace,” Thomas said firmly. “Remember, Lady Deborah, she is a duchess now, and you must pay her the respect she deserves. I insist upon it.”
“Yes, of course,” Lady Deborah said. “You must forgive me. It’s just that this has all happened so fast. One tends to forget.”
“You didn’t forget,” Thomas said. “You just said you’d been talking about us. I know you didn’t forget.”
“Well, I meant to say I’d been talking aboutyou, Thomas.”
“You’ll address me asYour Graceas well, please,” Thomas said. “This degree of informality is completely inappropriate.”
Lady Deborah had the grace to blush. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that…well, you and I have always been such good friends. Our families have been such good friends. I rather thought we always would be. But…perhaps you’re right. Perhaps things have changed to the point that we can no longer speak openly to one another. Is that the way of it?”
“We’ve never had a friendship like the one you describe,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what you mean by speaking openly to one another. It’s true that our fathers worked together, but that’s all. If you have something you wish to say to me, I invite you to do so.”
“Oh, no, nothing in particular,” Lady Deborah said quickly. “I only wanted to tell you how pleased I am to see that you’re doing well and that you are out and about tonight.”
“And why did you think I wouldn’t be, may I ask?”
“Well…” Lady Deborah bit her lip as if she was ashamed. But Madeleine didn’t think she looked ashamed at all. In fact, a wicked light in her eyes suggested she knew exactly what she was doing and that she was pleased with herself for it. “It’s just that…your wedding ball didn’t go very well, did it?”
“I thought it went perfectly,” Thomas said. “It was everything I could have hoped for.”
“Well, yes, I imagine it was,” Lady Deborah said. “I mean…under the circumstances.” And here, she glanced meaningfully at Madeleine, leaving no one in any doubt as to what she meant bythe circumstances.
“I have no complaints about my wedding ball,” Thomas said. “Or about anything that followed after, for that matter.”
“You’re unfailingly kind, as always,” Lady Deborah said. “But I suppose it’s no more than you expected, marrying someone who…”
“Someone who what?” Madeleine spoke up. It was obvious that Lady Deborah was hinting at something, and Thomas was clearly too concerned about Madeleine’s state of mind to try to persuade her to say it out loud. But Madeleine harbored no such hesitations. Though she wouldn’t have expected it of herself, she found she wanted to hear the answer to her question.
“Well—someone who is cursed,” Lady Deborah said.
This was what she had really come over to say. Madeleine knew it. She saw how Lady Deborah’s chin lifted a little bit when she said the word as if she was pleased with herself for having said it. Madeleine would wager she had even come over here on a dare from Lady Cecily or one of the others. They might all be waiting to see how the Duke and the new Duchess responded to a mention of the curse.
Madeleine was determined not to respond to it at all. Nothing Lady Deborah had said was new to anybody present. They had all heard this dozens of times before. And she recalled what Thomas had said to her as they had prepared for tonight’s ball.
Never had his words felt truer.It doesn’t matter.
Thomas was the one who reacted. But much to Madeleine’s pleased surprise, he didn’t react with anger. Instead, he merely laughed.
“Curses,” he said. “Silly superstitions. Only children and the very foolish believe in such things, Lady Deborah. I must say, we don’t know one another that well, but I did think you were smarter thanthat. I suppose I was wrong about you.”
Lady Deborah’s jaw dropped. She seemed not to know how to respond.
Thomas turned to Madeleine. “I’m not sure this conversation is leading us anywhere profitable,” he said. “Would you like to come and dance?”
“Very much,” Madeleine said. She set her drink down on a nearby table. “It was so lovely seeing you again, Lady Deborah.”
Lady Deborah was speechless.
Madeleine turned her back on her and allowed Thomas to lead her onto the dance floor. People parted around them, allowing them room, for which Madeleine was grateful. It made the moment feel a little more private, even though there could be nothing private about a dance on a crowded ballroom floor.
