CHAPTER19
The look on Valaria’s face as she stared at the intruder who would destroy her world was unlike anything Callum had ever seen before.It would haunt him until the day he died, he knew that.All the color left her cheeks and she looked…defeated.Utterly broken, as if she could see the path to the worst future laid out before her and there was nothing she could do to turn away from what would happen now.
“Lady Pittsgreen,” Callum said.“We did not see you there.”
She arched a brow toward him.“I assume you did not.You were her husband’s best friend, were you not?What a scandal this will be, on every level.”
Valaria sucked in a breath.“And that is what you were looking for, isn’t it, my lady?What you arealwayslooking for.”
There was that defeat in her voice, too, even as she raised her chin and put an expression of cool detachment on her face.He could see what a mask it was, feel how deeply this humiliation cut her.
And hated himself for being part of it.
“How dare you, you little—”
“That is enough, Evelyn.”
They all looked toward the door as the Duchess of Amberleigh entered the room.She glanced toward Callum and Valaria with an arched brow and then turned her full attention toward the countess, who was smoothing her hands along the front of her gown with a scowl.
“Don’t tell me what is enough, Your Grace.You have no idea what I walked in here to find.These two using your parlor for an assignation.”
Valaria made a soft sound and stepped away from him, hot redness entering her cheeks as she darted her gaze from the duchess and the countess.
“If that is true, there is certainly no harm in it,” the duchess said mildly.“Plenty of widows have had affairs.”
“With their husband’s supposed best friend?Not three months into her mourning for a husband who died under, shall we say, mysterious circumstances?”
“What do you mean by that?”Valaria burst out, lunging forward.Callum stared at her wild eyes, the way her hands shook at her sides.
“A strong man like that falling off a horse in his own stable?”The countess snorted.
“You might want to have a care, Evelyn,” the Duchess of Amberleigh said softly.“Everyone has their secrets, don’t they?And you would not want yours to come out any more than I think the Duchess of Gooding would want hers.Now I suggest you go.I will call on you tomorrow to discuss this further, and if I hear you have spread any scurrilous rumors in the meantime, I will beveryput out.”
Lady Pittsgreen glanced at Callum and Valaria again, then back at the Duchess of Amberleigh.Her expression fell.“Fine.”
She turned on her heel and marched from the room, leaving Callum and Valaria alone with the duchess.She turned toward them, spearing them in turn with an even stare.“Was what she said true?Were you two engaged in an assignation in my parlor?”
Valaria swallowed hard.“Y-yes.Or nearly so.”She immediately moved toward the door.“I am certain you wish to remove me from your home, as well.I apologize for the humiliation that I have brought to your doorstep.”
Callum stared as the duchess dipped her head back with a laugh.“I am eighty-two years old, Valaria.It takes a great deal more than this to humiliate me, I assure you.”The duchess looked between them again.“When you two were meeting privately in your own homes, you could have subverted a scandal.But I won’t be able to keep that wretched woman from spreading some version of this tale, and likely with worse details than were true.”
Callum shook his head.“It is my fault.I should have had more control over myself.”
“We were both at fault,” Valaria whispered.“And now we will both pay.There will be some who do not accept me back into good Society after this.I suppose I deserve that.”
Callum arched a brow.She was pretending disappointment, but he knew her well enough to see what she withheld.She was relieved at the idea that she would not have to go out into the world again.It was all very confusing.
“Unless you make this into a great love story,” the duchess said softly.“After all, the handsome friend of your late husband offering comfort and having it turn into love and marriage would be something whispered about for the ages.”
Callum darted a look toward Valaria and found her staring, mouth agape.She did not look pleased with the option, even though he realized it was likely the only one.He would have to marry her.Well, not have to—he would never be forced into such a thing.He loved her.
Butshewould have to marry him.
And he could see that the very idea terrified her.But now he wondered why.They were compatible sexually, they had a great deal in common as far as their likes and views of the world.And he was trying to prove, and would continue to prove, that she could trust him.And yet she looked like the very idea was akin to being marched off a cliff to rocks below.
Whatwasshe so afraid of?
“Valaria, she is correct,” he managed to choke out.
