“I need you to tell me which room Danielle and Cade are in,” she choked out.
Lucy searched Delilah’s face. “What? Why?”
“I… I… I must talk to Danielle immediately.”
Lucy squeezed her shoulders. “Calm down, dear. Tell me. What’s happened?” She put her arm around Delilah and led her to a small sitting area on the other side of the bed. She forced her friend to sit.
Delilah lowered herself to a green velvet chair and let her head drop into her hands. “It’s going to sound mad.”
Derek chuckled. “Remember who you’re talking to.”
Lucy lifted a brow toward her husband before turning back to Delilah. “Derek is correct, dear. I’ve heard and done many mad things.”
Delilah still couldn’t breathe. A thousand thoughts whirled through her mind. What had she done?What had she done? “I need Danielle. I must speak with Danielle.”
Lucy nodded. “What if Derek goes to fetch her while you tell me what happened? Would you like that?”
Delilah nodded. When Lucy inclined her head toward the door, Derek gave a nod and left. Lucy lowered herself to kneel on the thick rug in front of Delilah’s chair and grasped her hands. “Your fingers are freezing, dear. If didn’t know any better, I’d think you saw a ghost.”
Delilah shook her head. “It was worse than a ghost! Much worse. It’sreal!”
“What’s real, dear? Did you have a bad dream?”
“I…” Delilah bit her lip. How would she ever explain herself? She’d promised not to tell Lucy anything about this, but how else would she find Danielle in the middle of the night? And now, after what had happened, Danielle couldn’t possibly blame her for enlisting Lucy’s aid.
“Dear, whatever it is, it’ll be all right. I promise. Just tell me so I can help you.”
“Lucy, I made a mistake. A large one.”
Lucy gave her a matter-of-fact look. “What did you do?”
The door swung open, and Danielle hurried in with Derek at her heels. The French woman wore her night rail and a dressing gown. “Delilah, darling, what is it?” She hurried over to kneel next to Lucy in front of Delilah.
Delilah stood from her chair and paced across the room to the fireplace, where she rubbed her freezing hands together in front of the flames. “Danielle, I made a terrible mistake.”
“What happened?” came her cousin’s worried voice from behind her. The two women remained sitting on the rug, facing her.
Delilah braced one hand against the mantelpiece and pressed the other to her middle, certain she would cast up her accounts at any moment. “I went into the wrong room,” she moaned.
“What?” Danielle’s voice was filled with alarm.
Delilah whirled to face all three of them. Derek and Lucy exchanged a worried glance.
She wrung her hands. “I went to the wrong room. I thought I was going to the Duke of Branville’s room, but I went to Thomas’s room instead.”
Danielle hurried over to her, grabbed her shoulders,and searched her face. “Are you certain, Delilah? Can you be sure?”
“I’m sure. I thought I followed the instructions precisely. But it was so dark. I must have chosen the wrong door. Only I didn’t know it until it was too late.”
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Danielle prompted.
Delilah nodded. “I tiptoed over to the bed, and I—”
Derek cleared his throat. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be hearing this.”
She reached a hand toward the duke. “No, Derek, please stay. It’s not what you think.”
“What is it?” Lucy asked, clearly thinking the same thing Derek had.
