He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye, studying her carefully. “Are you well?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said.
“You’re sure? I heard what she was saying to you.”
Madeleine closed her eyes. “I wish you hadn’t heard that.
“No one speaks to my wife that way.” He put an arm around her shoulders and led her back into the sitting room, and oh, it was so nice to be held like this by him again. She had forgotten how wonderful this feeling could be. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it.
Lady Deborah’s eyes went wide when she saw him. “Thomas!”
“Lady Deborah, what are you doing here?”
“I came…” She stammered. “I wanted to protect you, Thomas. I heard what had happened, and of course I knew at once who must be responsible for it—”
“I’ll ask you to choose your next words carefully.” Thomas pulled Madeleine more tightly against him. “You’re addressing the Duke and Duchess of Westcourt, don’t forget.”
“Thomas, you must step away from her at once,” Lady Deborah said urgently.
He raised his eyebrows. “Must I?”
“Thecurse,” she breathed. “Thomas, everyone knows you’ve been ill. Everyone knows it’s because of her.”
“You think Madeleine has the power to make me ill? I knew you were foolish and believed in superstitions, Lady Deborah, but I never thought I would see you fall victim to such a silly idea.”
“You knew she believed in the curse, though,” Madeleine pointed out.
“I didn’t, actually,” Thomas said. “I knew she professed to believe, but I confess a part of me hoped she was wiser than she was letting me know. I hoped she was simply using the tale of the curse as an excuse to spread gossip.” He looked at Lady Deborah. “You’re right to say that we were friends once upon a time,” he said. “I remember those days. I liked you. I respected you. And I don’t like seeing that the lady I once considered a friend could be so easily taken in by something like this. I thought you were smarter than that.”
“I thoughtyouwere smarter than this,” Lady Deborah countered. “You stand there with your arm around the cursed lady as if it’s nothing when we both know you’re recovering from life-threatening illness! Doesn’t it even occur to you to question whether she might be to blame?”
“No, of course it doesn’t,” Thomas said. "I know what’s to blame, and my wife had nothing to do with it. Not only are you a fool, but I see that you also thinkmea fool. I can’t tolerate that.”
He started toward the door, thinking he would find someone to come and remove her from the premises. There was no need for anyone to go on speaking to him and Madeleine this way, and he had heard enough.
But apparently, Lady Deborah wasn’t finished just yet.
“It should have been me,” she said.
He turned back to face her. “What do you mean?”
There was something in her face he didn’t like. An unpleasant look in her eyes. “It shouldn’t have been her,” she said, pointing to Madeleine. “It should have been me. I’m the one who was meant to be your wife.”
Beside him, he felt Madeleine stiffen.
He had warned her of the jealousy of the other ladies of theton, but seeing it expressed so openly was something else. “I would appreciate it if you would refrain from making such comments,” he said. “Especially in front of my duchess. You are out of line.”
“But it was supposed to be me,” she said. “Your father never told you, but we were meant to be married.”
“What do you mean? That isn’t true.”
But an unpleasant sensation was running down his spine. He had the sudden uncomfortable feeling that there was more truth to what she was saying than he would have liked there to be.
She was smiling now. She knew she had hit upon something that would bother him, and she was enjoying that fact. The idea of her taking pleasure from the way he was feeling right now made him sick to his stomach. He had thought she was a gossip and a nag, but he had never thought her wicked. Looking at her now, he wondered if he had ever known her at all.
“Your father’s debt to my father was insurmountable,” she said. “Your father never thought he would be able to pay it off in his lifetime. So he proposed a plan. Marriage to his son. My father accepted on my behalf—he knew it was what I wanted anyway, to be your wife, to be the Duchess of Westcourt. That’s what was supposed to happen. That’s what should have happened. I was supposed to be your wife. Nother.”
“But…” Thomas found he needed a moment to process everything she was saying. “I never heard about any such arrangement.”
