Alicia made a little sound of distress and Jane turned to face her, finding her sister pale. “I-I don’t know how to tell you this…have you heard of theScandal Sheet?”
Jane nodded slowly. “I’ve had wind of it in letters from friends. It’s some little weekly gossip rag that only circulates in London, isn’t it?”
Alicia pursed her lips. “No one knows who publishes it. It just shows up on the doorstep every Tuesday morning. Well, today is Tuesday and…youare featured in it.”
“What?” Jane gasped.
Alicia nodded at the table by the window and Jane rushed over to grab at the paper that had been left there. She read through it, finding the item about herself splashed across the front page.
“The gossip issupposedto be blind,” Alicia said. “But it isn’t as if that’s a difficult code to decipher. You are obviously the Lady W. to whom it refers.”
“How would someone know I was coming to London, down to the date of my arrival?” Jane asked, blinking as she read the item over and over again, like she could somehow erase it by staring at it hard enough.
Alicia shrugged. “It wasn’t a secret. I told people about it. I’m sure you told friends, too, so that you may make calls upon your arrival. Someone might have mentioned it off hand or a servant could have told someone else’s servant. Who knows how the publisher of this rag gets his information?”
Jane set the paper down with a scowl. “I’m sure it’s not the first time I’ve been gossiped about since my exile. And I assumeColingets this paper, too?”
“Everyonein Society gets a copy,” Alicia said. “So I assume his lordship does, as well. We would be fools to think someone wouldn’t give him the news even if he didn’t bother to read it himself.”
“Bollocks,” Jane said under her breath, then turned with an apologetic blush for her sister. “I suppose I shouldn’t scold you for language when I come in here like a sailor.”
“Matthew is a baby—he has no idea what you’re saying,” Alicia said with a reassuring smile. “But what will you do?”
“I don’t know that there’s anythingtodo,” Jane said with a sigh. “About this unexpected and very public humiliation or about my circumstances in general.”
Alicia reached for her, and Jane allowed her sister to take her hand. She sat on the edge of the bed, feeling Alicia’s gaze search hers.
“You’ve not seemed entirely unhappy in Applegate,” Alicia said slowly, like she was being careful to feel out the situation. “But you don’t…talk about…him. Has he truly made no effort to contact you?”
Jane covered her face for a moment. It seemed it was easier to remain distant and strong when she didn’t have to look a most beloved sister in the face. Now she felt the truth bubbling up in her. Straining to be released.
“At first I was in such shock at what happened,” she began with a long sigh. “It was like a dream…a nightmare. And I kept waiting to wake up or have him come to his senses. And then I got into a proper rage at him.”
“He deserves no less,” Alicia said with a deep frown.
“And yet I cannot forget the good times we shared,” Jane whispered. “During our courtship he was…good. Oh, he was often formal, but I saw glimpses, here and there, of a man with deep principles. With kindness. I came to care for him, very deeply. I have no idea what happened to turn that man away, but I am married to him. I still want a future and he is my only path to one, isn’t he?”
“I wish it weren’t true, but yes.”
“So I gathered myself and began to write to him. I have written the man thirteen times in the past three months. A letter a week.”
Alicia’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “And what does he say?”
Jane bent her head and tried to ignore the pain that rushed through her. “Nothing. He has not responded even once. It seems he doesn’t care what I do. So why would he care about my being here…except that I went against his decree that I would go to the country and stay there?”
Alicia’s eyes narrowed. “Someone ought to have a word with the viscount! Hecannottreat you this way. I feel well enough to get up for a bit. I should march over there and—”
“Oh no, please don’t!” Jane cried. “You are hardly recovered enough for that, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Whatever affection Colin once showed for me was obviously false. He pretended to care for me before we wed and he certainly pretended it on that day. For some unknown reason, his heart is hardened toward me. There is no fighting that.”
She sighed as her mind traitorously took her to a sunny afternoon just after her wedding when Colin had been anything but cut off from her. He had made love to her and shattered her with pleasure unlike anything she’d ever imagined. She shivered at the memory.
“And what will you do while you’re here?” Alicia asked softly.
Jane shrugged. “I know where I stand, don’t I? He’s made it very clear. I plan to stay out of his way. And hope he stays out of mine.”
Colin tossed aside the little rag of a paper and clenched his hand on the table next to his plate. “She’s here,” he growled out loud.
His butler, Simmons, was standing by, checking on the food left on the sideboard, and he looked up at those words. “I beg your pardon, sir?”
