“Wh… what are you…”
“Helping you,” he said. “I am nothing if not a gentleman.”
“You…” She swallowed. “Unhand me.”
“You are free to go,” he purred, his grip tightening. “Best not be found alone with a rake such as me.”
“You are a rake…” She could not move. She could not breathe. And she could not pull her eyes away from the duke’s; they trapped her, pulled her in, made her want to stare at them as if the world was ending, and they might save her. “A… a scoundrel.”
“And what does that make you?” his voice was a whisper, the curve on his lips suggestive.
Margot never got the chance to answer.
“Margot!” Arabella’s voice cut through the moment. “What are you doing!”
It all happened so fast. The duke was quick to release her and step away. Margot, taking her first breath in what felt like hours, gasped and stumbled, nearly tripping over her dress again. Her skin was flushed. Her heart beat so that it hurt her. And the room seemed to turn as not just Arabella, but two other women rushed them.
“What is the meaning of this!” Lady Weatherstone was the mother to a friend of Arabella’s and Margot’s, a most stern woman, a respected lady, and a renowned gossip, as there ever was. “Your Grace! Margot! What is going on!”
“Margot!” Lady Weatherstone’s daughter, Violet, was there too, her expression aghast as she looked between Margot and the duke. “What… what happened?”
“Your dress!” Arabella cried. “It’s torn.”
“Your Grace!” Lady Weatherstone rounded on the duke, who looked more amused than upset. “Was this you? You… what have you done!”
“I suppose you won’t be willing to believe that this isn’t what it looks like?” the duke said with a shamed grimace, even if his eyes continued to smile. “Because it is not that.”
As for Margot? She stayed glued to the spot, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open, the slow weight of realization dawning on her like the rising sun so that it was blinding. She had come to this ball tonight to be seen again, her one goal being to get in, get out, and not do anything that might incite gossip.To avoid another scandal.
She saw now that she had failed in this singular task. And just like that, her name was sure to be on the lips of every man and woman in the ton. Such was the luck she had… or didn’t have.
Three
“Ido not believe this is happening,” Margot said bitterly, more to herself than anything. She was playing the moment over in her mind, again and again, and each time that she did it, it only got worse.There will be no escaping this. For the second time in just three years, my life has been ruined.
“It is rather unfortunate, isn’t it?” the duke said simply.
She glared at him. “How can you be so calm!”
He shrugged. “I find that in times of turmoil, calm is often best. Saves a bad situation from getting worse.”
“Worse!” she cried out, only to catch her tongue because the last thing she wanted was to draw more attention to herself. “How can it possibly get worse?” she hissed at the duke.
He considered the question, looking beyond where they were sitting at the small group of lords and ladies gathered across the library. “My feeling is that we are about to find out.”
Pandemonium had followed Margot and the duke’s discovery. Lady Weatherstone had been beside herself with fury, pointing a finger in the duke’s face while bemoaning the incident as the height of scandal. The duke had tried to calmly explain what had happened, but it made no difference, and everything he said sounded like the excuse of a man caught in the act.
Arabella had been quick to leave the library and fetch Elizabeth, bringing with her Lord Weatherstone and a few of his close friends. Upon hearing what had happened, they had ordered the duke to remain where he was, Margot too, as they shuffled further into the library to discuss what was to be done.
Likely, they are simply deciding on what rumor to spread. None would believe the truth of the matter, and now the question simply becomes how much they desire to ruin the lives of myself and the duke.
Margot watched them chatter with a growing sense of despair. She had been through this before and thus knew where it would end. They would promise to keep this to themselves for the sake of propriety, while admonishing the duke and her for their wanton behavior. For a day, possibly two, it would be as if nothing had happened, and Margot would begin to wonder if everything would be fine… and then news of it would break, and the world would fall around her ears.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Margot had returned for two reasons, one of which was to re-enter society and prove that her past did not define her. And where she did not expect it to be easy, where she assumed that the best she could hope for was apathy, this would dash those hopes to dust so that all that was left to her was ruin.
“There will be no coming back from this,” she sighed to herself, feeling sick at the thought. “I will have to leave London… possibly England. And my father…” She felt bile rise in her throat.
“You are truly that worried?” the duke asked her, for the first time sounding as if he cared.
