Nathaniel stepped back from Evelyn quickly, but the damage was done. They were both flushed, both breathing hard. To anyone looking, they’d been caught in a compromising position.
Which, he supposed, they had been.
“Lady Charmaine,” he said, forcing his voice to remain level.
Not her of all people.
Her gaze darted between them, taking in every detail.
A slow, predatory smile spread across Charmaine’s face.
“How… interesting,” she said. “Here, I thought this ball was to find dear Evelyn a husband. But it seems she may have already found one.”
“Lady Charmaine,” Evelyn began, but the other woman held up a hand.
“Oh, don’t mind me. I was simply looking for the ladies’ retiring room. Though I do hope you’ll both rejoin the festivities soon. I’m sure everyone will be terribly curious about where you have disappeared to.”
With that, she swept from the room, leaving the door wide open behind her.
“What was that about?” Evelyn demanded, turning to face him.
Nathaniel felt something cold settle in his stomach. “I’ve ruined everything,” he said quietly. “I ruin everything.”
“Nathaniel—”
“I’ll fix this,” he said, already moving toward the door. “I’ll speak to her. I will?—”
But even as he said it, he knew it was too late.
By the time Nathaniel reached the ballroom, the whispers had already begun.
Lady Charmaine stood near the refreshment table, surrounded by a group of matrons whose faces bore identical expressions of scandalous delight. She was speaking in low, urgent tones, her hands gesturing dramatically.
Several gentlemen had already made their excuses and were calling for their carriages. Lord Ashworth looked particularly irritated as he collected his hat from a footman.
“False pretenses,” Nathaniel heard him mutter to his companion. “Lured here under false pretenses.”
Julian appeared at his elbow. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. Everything.” Nathaniel watched helplessly as more guests began to drift toward the exits. “Charmaine found us in the library.”
“Found you doing what?”
“Nothing. But it looked like… more than it was. We quarreled and I…”
Julian swore under his breath. “How much more?”
“Enough. Why did your cousin have to find us?”
“I dare say, if it were Charmaine, you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of this.”
The whispers were growing louder now. Nathaniel caught fragments of conversation as he passed through the room.
“…alone in his library…”
“…quite compromised…”
“…no choice but to marry now…”
