He was tall, with broad shoulders and strikingly dark features. To her surprise, his dark brown eyes were fixed intently on her.
Adelaide had never felt such an urge to study a person, but she could not help herself. He had an imposing figure, one that commanded attention.
Moments later, he looked away from her and left.
For a fleeting second, Adelaide forgot why she had stepped outside. But then realization made her heart sink. Mr. Hargrave was still inside, and the others saw him as a hero, which meant that she was a villain, as far as they were concerned.
They did not have to say it for her to feel it.
Composing herself, she went back inside. The others were in the drawing room, and in the center of it all was the one man she was trying to avoid. He smiled at her the way he had when they had first met, and for the briefest moment, she began to think that he had been right all along.
What if he was right, and she had been the problem? What if she had misremembered everything, and she had been a vicious and violent monster to him?
Adelaide had never questioned her actions until that moment, and it unsettled her more than what she remembered of their encounter the year prior.
“You did well,” her mother praised on the ride home. “I do wish they had not been so demanding, though.”
“We knew that it would happen. I am simply pleased that my first outing is over, as it was always going to be the worst one.”
Her mother shifted in her seat, uncertain.
“That would be the second outing,” she sighed. “Now that you have returned, and you have seen people, word will spread quickly. I do not want to scare you, dearest, but your next outing will be worse.”
“As long as Mr. Hargrave is not there, it will be better. It was awful, Mama. He made me feel as though he was the wronged party and that I am all that he claimed I was.”
“Well, that is wrong. I remember how you looked the morning after, when the scandal sheet arrived. Your fear was genuine. I may not know much, but I do know my daughter. You would never treat a person that way.”
Her mother’s words soothed her somewhat, but they were not enough to comfort her entirely. All Adelaide could think of was the way everyone looked at her, as if she were unhinged, a madwoman.
She wondered if coming back to London was the wrong decision after all, but she knew she had to trust in herself. It had been a difficult encounter, but it would improve.
The social season would begin, and she would find a nice gentleman who would look past her reputation, and she would fall for him. They would have a long courtship, and once she was convinced they were in love, they would marry.
It was unlikely, but it was something for her to believe in. If she did not have that, then she would truly be lost.
And, she realized as they arrived home, if that gentleman happened to look like the one she had seen earlier out in the street, that would not be a bad thing at all.
CHAPTER 2
Adelaide had missed her home, and she had not realized that until she had returned to it.
The house in the north was colder and far older, but their London townhouse only needed a fire to be lit for an hour or so to grow warm.
Adelaide was sprawled across the settee in her drawing room the morning after, with a book in her hands, admiring the decor.
Her mother’s favorite color had always been yellow, so the walls had been painted pale yellow. But the furnishings were upholstered in pale blue, as that was Adelaide’s favorite color.
Their home reflected the two of them beautifully, and that was the main reason why she liked spending her time there so much.
“Good morning, dearest,” her mother said as she entered the room. “I missed you at breakfast.”
“I was not hungry,” Adelaide replied.
“You hardly ever are. Still, you must eat.”
Adelaide could not quite meet her mother’s eyes. She tended to lose her appetite when she was facing difficulty, and their return was taking a toll on her. She knew, however, that she could not appear to be struggling. It would only make her look worse.
“Do you have plans for today?” her mother asked.
