“Lady Adelaide,” the duchess said, reaching out a hand to greet her. “I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance. Emma speaks so highly of you, I feel as though I already know you.”
Adelaide took the duchess’s hand with reluctance and shook it briefly. “Your Grace,” she said, her tone cool.
If the duchess sensed her withdrawal, she made no indication. Adelaide was next greeted by the duke, who was as friendly as his wife. She knew under normal circumstances she would have liked them both.
But in that moment, she felt…hesitant. No, nothesitant. That wasn’t the right word at all. What she felt was protective. Of Northfield. A man she hardly knew and one who didn’t give a whit about her.
It was ludicrous.
The group chatted for a moment, about meaningless things. But Adelaide couldn’t help her stare slipping back to Margaret again and again. And she noticed the duchess looked at her, too, more than anyone else. Perhaps because she was the newest addition to their circle. Perhaps because she’d noticed Adelaide dancing earlier with her former fiancé.
Not that the woman had any right to feelings on the subject.
With a frown, Adelaide turned her attention back to Emma and was about to ask her about her beautiful gown when there was the sound of a throat clearing behind her. “Adelaide.”
Adelaide stiffened at her aunt’s voice, saying her name in the same icy tone she’d been saying it for a decade and a half, since her parents died and Aunt Opal had been forced to take her in.
She glanced at Emma, finding her friend smiling with encouragement at her, and slowly turned. “Aunt Opal,” she said with false lightness. “There you are. May I introduce you to the Duke of Abernathe, Emma’s new husband, and his brother-in-law and sister, the Duke and Duchess of Crestwood.”
Her aunt nodded vaguely at the group. “Good evening. And good night, for I’m afraid it is time for Adelaide and me to go.”
Adelaide’s lips parted. It was not even ten yet, the party would go on for at least a few hours more. Of course, her aunt didn’t care. Opal often got it into her head that the night was over and there was no arguing.
Emma stepped forward before Adelaide could respond. “Oh, Lady Opal, could we not persuade you to allow Adelaide to stay? This is the first time I’ve seen her in an age and I so want to catch up. My husband and I would happily stand in your stead as chaperones and take her home once the night was over.”
Opal looked Emma up and down slowly, and Adelaide tensed. Her aunt was capable of behaving very strangely, which Emma knew, but which could also damage Adelaide’s position in Abernathe’s eyes, or the eyes of the Crestwoods.
“I’m not certain I would trustyouas chaperone, Emma,” Opal said softly, and let her gaze slip first to Abernathe, then to Margaret and her husband.
Adelaide gasped. “Aunt Opal!” she burst out, sending Emma an apologetic look. She could hardly stand to look at James or his family, for she could already see his outraged expression and the shock on the faces of the Duke and Duchess of Crestwood.
“I beg your pardon, madam?” James said, just as softly as Aunt Opal had, but with a dangerous undercurrent that spoke of all the power this man had to wield if he chose to.
Emma reached back and gently touched his arm before she said, “I would never let Adelaide come to any grief. I believe you know that, my lady.”
“Perhaps you wouldn’t at that,” Opal said with a shrug, the cruelty gone from her voice. Whether that was because she feared the subtle strength of Abernathe or because she had simply vented all of it already, Adelaide couldn’t say. “Still, our night is over. You will have plenty of time to catch up with Adelaide in the coming weeks, as I hear you will spend your confinement in the city. Good evening.”
Opal caught Adelaide’s arm and guided her none too gently away from her friends. Adelaide gave Emma an apologetic look as she called out, “Good night!”
She shrugged out of her aunt’s grasp as they made their way across the room together and glared at her. “Why in the world did you make a scene with my friends?”
Opal said nothing as she exited into the foyer and signaled to a footman. She was just as silent as they awaited the carriage and were eventually helped into the vehicle that would take them home. Only when they were alone together did her aunt fold her arms and glare at Adelaide.
“You speak ofmemaking scenes? I turn my back on you for ten minutes and you create one of your own.”
Adelaide pressed her lips together. “Are you talking about me dancing with the Duke of Northfield?”
“Dancing would have been bad enough,” Opal said with a snort of disgust. “That man is dragging scandal behind him like it’s chained to his legs. But what I was referring to was your going out onto a terrace alone with him.”
Adelaide’s lips parted. “Aunt Opal, I merely took a breath of air with him. It is not uncommon for a pair to take a turn on the terrace together.”
She did not, of course, add that she had been attracted to Northfield. Nor that she had lost herself to wild abandon with him in a dressing room. Her aunt would likely do more than strike her if she knew those bitter truths.
“Butyouare not a common woman,” Opal hissed. “We already know you have no ability to control your wanton ways. It’s in your very blood. A man like Northfield must be able to sniff that out on you.”
Adelaide’s chest tightened. “That was a long time ago, Aunt Opal.”
Opal turned her face away and looked out the carriage window into the darkness of the street. “Once a wanton, always a wanton,” she hissed.
