“Hush now, Alicia.”
Alicia looked back at Sibyl helplessly before she was pulled into the crowd by their mother, unwillingly. Even from where Sibyl stood, she could see how Alicia tried to keep tugging away, but Sibyl knew well enough how steel-like their mother’s grip was.
Sibyl was left alone, unable to find Gabriel in the crowd, unable to find one familiar, friendly face. Suddenly, her whole body prickled with heat.
The ladies who had accosted her were whispering to others, and those people began whispering to others, and soon Sibyl felt as though the entire ballroom was staring at her.
The walls closed in on her, and the floor seemed to rise. Her neck flushed, and she ducked her head, backing up until she was at the short staircase.
Whirling around, she rushed out of the ballroom and fled down the hallway. She pushed her way into the farthest room, far away enough that she could not even hear the music.
Pressing her forehead against the door, she breathed heavily, trying to force the tension out of her body. There were no eyes in here, nobody to watch her or scold her or tell her that she was not enough.
Slowly, she lifted her head and scanned the room. It looked like a classroom, with a blackboard on the wall and a globe mounted on a side table. A desk stood off to one side, and a leather armchair sat beneath a window tall enough that if Sibyl sat down, she would still see the night sky.
Alicia was right; she had once followed her heart, until her heart had met dead end after dead end, both because of her mother and Edmund, and now…
And now Gabriel.
Everything was just so confusing.
She buried her face in her hands as she collapsed into the chair.
Chapter Fourteen
Gabriel stood in the corner, enduring the boasting of his cousin, who would not leave him alone even after Sibyl had been pulled away by her sister.
“Cousin, will you actually let me find my wife, or will you insist on jabbering my ear off?” he grunted.
Preston scowled at him. “You have always been a rude bastard, Gabriel.”
“I am attending this ball with my wife, and you have stolen my attention.”
“Her sister stole her away first. I am merely keeping you company until she returns. Speaking of, she may be returning to her old ways.”
At that, Gabriel looked at his cousin sharply. “Old ways?”
“Oh, come on, Cousin. Surely you did not marry the lady without looking into her past.”
“I did some investigating, yes, but what are you referring to?”
“Well, if I must be the one to tell you, then so be it,” Preston sighed, as though he was pained to do so. “A couple of years ago, a certain Viscount Grenford showed a great deal of interest in your Duchess when she debuted. Even her mother approved of the potential match.
“At first, Her Grace was opposed to it. Yet, at a garden party, the two of them disappeared at the same time, most mysteriously, and into a hedge maze of all places. Optimal place for privacy, no?”
“Preston,” Gabriel said, his voice low and dangerous. “What are you implying?”
“Nothing.” Preston held up his hands. “Only that, not long after, Grenford disappeared from England altogether, never to be seen again, and the Duke of Branmere became incredibly protective of his young sister-in-law.
“Perhaps Grenford made an advance on her. Perhaps she invited it and then turned tail on him. Perhaps they were caught, and she got scared of being ruined, so?—”
“Preston,” Gabriel growled, his anger flaring.
He might not know Sibyl as well as he would have liked, but he had seen her tense whenever men drew too near. He had seen the fear in her eyes in Kerrington House when she had been grabbed, and he wondered…
Had the Viscount made unwanted advances, and how far had it gone?
“Gabriel, I’m only warning you, for I do not want you to settle for damaged goods.”
