“I hope that you do not have it mixed up,” he explained. “Miss Sophia and I were just talking to each other. In fact, I was quite enjoying my conversation with her. I do not know why you all had to come looking for me.”
The ladies exchanged glances and whispers amongst each other, and Duncan already knew that they were going to spin this into something that it was not.
“Of course, I had to come looking for you son,” his mother replied. “We only have limited time here at the ball, and it worries me when you are gone for long.”
“And you still have to dance with the ladies, Your Grace,” Barbara interjected. Her tone was full of jealousy. “Besides, what pleasure did you even derive from speaking to… her?”
“I do not feel the need to tell you why I do or don’t talk to anyone,” the Duke asserted. “I am not answerable to you.”
“But she is…” one of the ladies replied. “Oh, this is scandalous.”
The Duke was beginning to grow frustrated now. He knew that no matter what he said, it was going to be misconstrued in the wrong way.That is the problem with people in society,he thought.They always make something where there was nothing.
“I am sure that Lady Sophia needs to head back to the ball. I propose the rest of you do the same thing,” he suggested.
He resented the ladies showing up out of the blue. He had been having such an interesting conversation with Sophia.
As he walked, he could not escape the judgmental stares of the ladies. They were whispering amongst themselves, and Duncan already knew that he had just landed himself the spot for the most sizzling gossip of the night.
“It is best if we return home now, mother,” he told Anna in a firm tone. “I have no wish to engage with the ridiculous questions that will be hurled my way once we are back inside.”
Anna contemplated her son’s words for a moment but ultimately nodded her head.
“I see, then. You may have a point.”
The two departed in the carriage. Looking out of the window, Duncan saw the venue shrink away as they moved. Once again, his thoughts circled back to the woman he had met.
If the ladies had been so ruthless with her before, he could not even fathom how they would treat her now that she had been caught speaking to a man unchaperoned.
His heart softened for her. Across from him, the Dowager sat with her hands folded onto her lap. Duncan could tell that she was similarly rattled by what had just taken place, but the two did not exchange any conversation about it. Instead, the carriage ride was spent in silence.
When they finally arrived back at the Manor, Duncan decided to retire to his chambers. It had been a long night already, and he just wanted it to end.
“Duncan,” his mother’s voice called him as he walked down the hallway towards his room, “may I have a word with you?”
He turned to face her. She had the same serious and contemplative expression on her face as she did for most of the carriage ride.
“Yes, mother?”
She looked around to see if there was anyone lurking in the hallways, but it was a late hour, and most of the staff had gone asleep.
“We must discuss what happened tonight,” she said. “While I believe that your title shall protect you from too much of a negative impact of being seen with that lady, it is still not an ideal situation. Oh, what reason was there for you to speak to her in the first place?”
“You should have heard the way that some of the girls there were speaking to her. I merely stepped in. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, and you are aware of that.”
“I am not questioning your intent, son,” she replied. “I am merely telling you how it appears from the outside. It was Barbara’s idea to go out looking for you. I merely accompanied her with some of my friends. Had I known what you were doing… I would have never allowed it.”
Duncan was beginning to grow irked at how dramatic everyone around him was being. It was not as though he had been caught kissing Sophia. They were only talking.
“Of course, this is worse for her than it is for you,” his mother continued. “That poor woman already had little to prospects due to the stories about the curse, but now, even her reputation has been soiled.”
“Surely it is not going to be so bad?” His voice was laced with both curiosity and guilt.
His mother looked at him as though he had uttered something a four-year-old would say.
“You know as well as I do that everyone is going to be talking about this by tomorrow,” she sighed. “They will be embellishing it and making it much worse. I have no delusions regarding that. We must take steps to separate you from the scandal.”
“And what about Sophia?” Duncan asked, appalled “Does she not deserve the same grace?”
