Lady Madeleine.
The name sparked something in his memory. He turned to look at her.
She wouldn’t meet his gaze. Her eyes were firmly on the ground in front of her.
“Lady Madeleine?” he asked, not caring who answered his question. “The niece of the Viscount of Keenward?”
Now she looked up at him, her eyes sharp, and Thomas thought—She knows who I am too. I’m not the only one who remembers that night.
“He didn’t even know who she was,” one of the ladies in the shadows behind his mother whispered. “He didn’t even bother to find out who she was before he—”
“That’s enough,” Thomas’s mother said. “Thomas—come with me at once. We’re leaving.”
Thomas had wanted to leave from the moment they’d arrived, so this was no particular hardship. But he found himself turning toward Lady Madeleine.
All these ladies clearly thought that something untoward had happened here, and Thomas knew that he was the only one who could set the record straight. He might be gossiped about—he was used to that—but she would be ruined. He couldn’t let that happen.
But before he could say a word, Lady Madeleine had rushed past him, pushing the ladies on the path out of the way and running toward the house.
CHAPTERTHREE
Madeleine Cooper had never felt more humiliated—or offended—in all her life.
If only that man had left her alone!
He had been trying to help. She knew that. He had heard Lady Cecily and the others being cruel and thought that if he intervened, they would stop. He had meant to save her.
Well, Madeleine didn’t need to be saved. She was used to the cruel taunts people threw her way. It was hardly the first time she had been calledcursed.
That was what happened, she supposed when you lived through a horrific event like the fire that had killed her family. People weren’t glad that Madeleine had survived that night. Instead, they wondered about the reason she hadn’t died. They wanted to know what she had done to live when everyone around her had been killed.
It was a horrible question. If she had had any sort of power to change the events happening around her, of course, she would have chosen to save her family. She would have given her life to save theirs. Her mother and father, her two younger sisters, and her elder brother were all gone in a single night, never to be by her side again.
After that, nothing anyone could say to her had really been able to hurt her. She could withstand the cruel words of ladies like Cecily because she knew they had no idea what actual pain really was. What was the worst that would ever happen to Lady Cecily? A gentleman she liked wouldn’t return her affections? That wastragic.
But now, the Duke of Westcourt had involved himself in her life, and he had made matters so much worse.
Madeleine knew exactly what all those ladies had assumed. They had thought she’d seduced the Duke—she had heard that comment someone had made about inflicting her curse on him, and it was the most ridiculous thing she could have imagined. That curse, if you wanted to believe in it, had caused the death of her family. It wasn’t also going to cause the disgrace of the Duke of Westcourt. That was a problem of an entirely different sort unless you just wanted to assume that anything that went wrong in the world could be laid at her feet because she was cursed.
Well, she wasn’t going to wait around here and see what the rest of thetonhad to say about what had just happened. No doubt, the gossip would already be starting to spread, and it wouldn’t be long before everyone knew that she had been caught out in the garden with the Duke of Westcourt. And there would be no mercy for thecursed lady; she knew that. Everyone would assume the worst—they would be pleased to assume it because everyone despised her already.
“Lady Madeleine, wait!”
She ignored the voice. It couldn’t mean anything good for her, and she didn’t want to wait. She needed to keep moving.
But someone stepped in front of her and blocked her path.
Madeleine hardly managed to suppress a groan. It was Lady Cecily, and she had a smirk on her face that made it clear she knew exactly what had just happened outside.
“Dear me,” she said. “The poor Duke should have thought before he ordered us away, shouldn’t he?”
She knows everything,Madeleine thought dismally.She knows that nothing at all happened between the Duke and me, and she’s just using this to make me look bad. All she’s ever wanted was to see me shamed.
She didn’t even know why Lady Cecily wanted that so badly. What could she possibly stand to gain? But it was clear to Madeleine that shedidwant it.
Lady Cecily leaned close. “Of course, I can’t help but blame myself a little bit,” she murmured. “I should have stayed with the poor gentleman for his own protection! I should have guessed that you would try to seduce him if you were left alone with him.”
“You know that isn’t what happened,” Madeleine said darkly. “You know how much time passed between the moment you left and the moment we were discovered. You know, becauseyouwere the one who sent the other ladies out to the garden, weren’t you? You were the one telling everyone we were there.”
