Before she knew what was happening, Rachael found herself on her feet, rounding on the two ladies who, their faces going white with shock, stared back at her.
“I amnotwith child!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands, her voice carrying more than she realized. “I am acquainted with Lord Blackmore, yes, but I have never once visited his townhouse,norhave I departed from it in the early hours of the morning! This is disgraceful! It is despicable to speak such lies about me! How dare you do such a thing?”
The first lady blinked rapidly, her mouth slack. The second, however, immediately began to stammer.
“We… we mean no harm, Miss… Miss Simmons. Really, we do not. Miss Featheringham is only repeating what she has heard from someone else.”
“And who might this someone else be?” Rachael demanded, turning now to face the first lady who was still terribly overcome with shock, though Rachael did not care in the least. “Who did you hear this from?”
“I – I do not recall.” The first lady, someone Rachael was not at all acquainted with, stepped back from her, her blue eyes wide and staring. “I did not mean to–”
“Well, once you recall who it is, you will go to them at once and state that you have heard directly from me that there isnochild present and that the rumors are entirely untrue. Do you understand what this will do to my reputation? What it will do to my chances of a successful match?” Fear clutched her heart and Rachael dropped her hands to her sides, squeezing her eyes closed as a sudden weakness rocked her frame. “I will be thrown from society! I will no longer have any standing! I will be disgraced and ignored and all because of some foolish rumor which has no truth in it whatsoever!” She shuddered, her voice dropping to a whisper. “What have you done?”
Silence came from the two ladies. They looked at each other and then back to Rachael as she opened her eyes, a great and terrible fear grasping her. Was this to be the end of her London Season? Was she to lose all hope of finding and securing a match? This rumor, wherever it had come from, would ruin her standing in society, and would tarnish her name and have her disgraced, even though no word of what was being said was true!
“We will tell everyone that it isnottrue,” the second lady said, grasping Rachael’s hand tightly. “We will inform them that there is no truth to this rumor, and that is all it is – a rumor.”
Rachael shook her head and swallowed hard.
“I appreciate your willingness to make amends, but I am certain that there will still be damage done.” Her voice was thick with grief, pain racing through her words. “You do not know where you heard such a rumor and thus, I must now believe that it will be spread about through London, and I will find myself never able to return.” She said this looking at the first lady again, but Miss Featheringham did not answer her with a response of anything more than a shrug. Either she was truly entirely unaware of who it was who had offered her this particular rumor,orshe was protecting them by refusing to say. Whatever the reason, Rachael felt as if she were being pulled into the depths of despair, into a low pit that would slowly pull away every single bit of light from her.
“We will do our best,” the second lady reassured her, as Rachael slumped back against the wall, her vision blurring, her heart beating painfully as her strength began to leave her. “Hopefully it will pass.”
“It will not,” Rachael whispered, her eyes closing as dampness clung to her lashes.
Something as severe as this, she knew, would not simply fade away like the shadows of the night into the morning. Instead, it would linger, leaving an indelible stain that would forever cling to her.
There would be nothing for her now.
Chapter One
One year later.
Hugh Hampden, Earl of Blackmore, sighed and leaned back in his chair. There was still quite a bit of business for him to deal with this morning, and he was already fatigued. It would be much easier if he went to London to deal with certain things in person but, at the moment, caution kept him at his estate. After the fiasco of last year’s Season, he did not want to return. He did not want to make his way back to where so many whispers and dark words circulated. His younger brother had thought to come to London this Season also, but Hugh did not think it would be wise for him to make an appearance - not when there were so many whispers still. For the moment, Hugh had advised that it would be better for him to remain in Bath.
There came a tap at the door.
“Yes?” When the butler walked in, Hugh lifted an eyebrow. “Well?”
Disliking being interrupted when he was hard at work, his mind filled with numbers and names, Hugh did his best to keep his irritation from his voice.
“My Lord, you have a visitor.”
Hugh blinked.
“A visitor?”
“Yes, my Lord. He states that he is aware that his arrival is unexpected, but he has come nonetheless.”
Still a little surprised that someone had come to his estate to call on him, Hugh nodded.
“Very well. Who is it who has come to call?”
“Lord Elmsford, my Lord.” The butler stepped forward to hand Hugh the gentleman’s card, but Hugh was already half out of his chair, surprise and delight racing through him.
“Lord Elmsford is here? Then show him in! Show him in at once!” The butler obliged and a broad smile transformed Hugh’s face as he greeted his friend. “Elmsford! Whatever are you doing here?” Shaking the gentleman’s hand firmly, he gestured for him to come a little further into the study. “Not that you are unwelcome, of course! I am very glad to see you.”
“I am relieved.” Lord Elmsford chuckled and slapped Hugh on the shoulder, a sign of the long friendship they had enjoyed ever since they had been young boys at Eton together. “It would have been a great trial to me to have traveled all of this way, only to find that my friend has no desire to see me!”
