“Rule number eleven.” he groaned. “Never go anywhere with a miss or single lady without a chaperone and that includes a stroll through the gardens at night.”
“And when I glanced at you during a ball, or any entertainment, you always looked away.”
“I did not want gossips to wonder as to our relationship,” he insisted.
“Rule seventeen!”
“Do not make contact from across the room with an eligible miss or her mother. It encourages them.”
“I heard you discuss each and every rule with your friends that day, as if they were some great lark.”
“Those rules were for Ellings, not me, and I most certainly did not have them in mind for you.”
“Then it is a shame that I did not know, nor did you take the opportunity to explain.” Bethany arched a brow. “If you recall, after I pushed you in the Serpentine, instead of explaining for all to hear and witness, I asked you to call on me, but you did not, which I can only assume was because it violated rule number three. Never pay a call to any miss or lady, not even during the fashionable time as it will be speculated upon.”
Leopold had no idea that Bethany had heard him list the rules, or that she would believe that they were ones he followed himself.
Except, he had since the age of eighteen when he started making note of what he could and could not do in Society. He had never meant to use them with regard to Bethany, but perhaps they were so well ingrained that he had not even noticed.
“I had planned on calling that day and was determined to do so, but when I returned home to change out of my wet clothing, I was met with disturbing news.”
She folded her arms across her chest, head tilted, mouth pursed and waited for his excuse.
“That is when I learned that my brother Millard had attempted to kill Donovan MacGregor.”
Sadness filled her eyes as the realization of the timing struck. “I had forgotten that had been the same day.”
“I had assumed you had learned before me and that is why you pushed me in the Serpentine.”
Bethany frowned. “I did not find out until later, but why would I have punished you for something your brother had done?”
“It was a grave offense and all of Society placed some of the blame on me, as if I should have known that my brother was disturbed.” Leopold sighed under the weight of her words and how he had ruined everything. “Perhaps I should have been more observant, or spoke to him more…”
“Do not blame yourself,” Bethany insisted. “Nor should Society. He may have brought scandal to your family but to blame you is unfair. I would not wish to be held responsible for any transgressions my brother or sister committed.”
“It was attempted murder, not a mere transgression.”
“Nor were you to blame.”
All Leopold could do was stare at Bethany. Her accusations were damning, and she was not wrong. Had he only called on her then to demand why she had pushed him, the matter could have been cleared up, though it likely would not have done any good. Given that Millard had attempted to poison MacGregor not once, but twice, the scandal was too much for anyone to overcome and it was likely that Bethany’s father would have rejected his suit, even though Leopold was a duke.
“I left Town immediately, with my family. That is why I did not call that day.”
“I realize that now.”
“So, I was tossed in the Serpentine because you believed that I was toying with your affection.”
“That, and what you said of Tessa’s friends.”
If she had not been so hurt, she would have realized why Claybrook had not called that day, and the necessity of him returning to the country much sooner than she had. But Bethany had been lost in self-pity, her heart crushed and feeling foolish. It was then that she had decided as a certainty that she was going to be a spinster as her friend, Tessa, planned on being and the two of them would make their own way. She certainly was not ever going to love again.
“You did return to London the following spring, and had you been interested or even curious as to why I had pushed you, you could have called on me. That is, if it is true that you had wished to pursue me.”
“I did, twice; you were not at home.”
That was not possible for she would have been told. Had she been home, she would have certainly met with him.
“When?” she asked.
