She was at the bottom of the grand staircase about to take her first step when he caught up with her.
“Please stop,” Lucas begged.
She hesitated only because she had no intention of causing any more of a scandal, and being chased up the staircase by the Earl of Kendall would no doubt cause the grandmama of scandals.
Frances clenched her jaw, refusing to look at him. She kept her chin lifted, her gaze trained on the top of the staircase. If she turned her head, he would probably see the tears in her eyes. She refused to give him that. “Don’t follow me upstairs. My reputation won’t stand it,” she ground out.
Two of the faster debutantes had already caught up with Lucas and were standing on the edge of the foyer, their mouths agape. Frances could see them from the corners of her eyes.
“Frances, please give me the chance to explain,” Lucas said.
“Explain what?” she bit out, refusing to allow the heavy tears to fall. She wouldnotcry over this man. She would not cry over the confounded Earl of Kendall of all people.
At least not until she made it to her bedchamber.
“Explain why I lied to you,” he said in a rough whisper.
She closed her eyes. There it was. His admission. Whatever hope she’d held out that this was all somehow a crazy mistake and perhaps he justlookedlike the Earl of Kendall was dashed to bits.
“Does it matter? Does it really matter?” She felt her nostrils flare with each word. Her emotions were riding a runaway horse, a mixture of anger and sadness and jealousy and a host of other things she didn’t even want to think about. She had to get away from him quickly or he would see her tears and so would the bevy of young women congregating at the foyer’s entrance. Two more had joined the first two and they were jockeying for position to get a better view of the show.
Lucas reached for her and kept his voice low. “It may not matter to you. But it does to me. Please, Frances, let me explain everything. It’s not what you think.”
That was it. Her head snapped to the side as if he’d slapped her. He might as well have, the insult was just as brutal. “How could youpossiblyknow what Ithink?” She swallowed the painful lump in her throat and forced herself to keep her gaze trained on him. Tears or no, she wanted him to see her face when she said, “Don’t youeverspeak to me again, Lucas.” She paused for a moment, swallowing again. “Wait. Is that even your name? Lucas?”
He lifted his chin. His voice was hoarse, his face had lost its color. “Yes, it’s my Christian name.”
She put one hand on her hip. Anger spreading through her veins like poison. “Is that the only thing youdidn’t lie about?”
“Nearly.” He lowered his gaze to the polished marble floor.
She took a deep breath, still fighting like hell to keep the unwanted tears at bay. Just one minute longer. Just one minute more. Then she could leave his presence and never see him again. “I only want to know one thing.” She clenched her jaw so tightly it ached. “Why?” she breathed. “Why in the world would you dress up like a footman and pretend to be a servant? It makes no sense at all.”
He raised his gaze to hers. It was filled with something akin to regret, but at the moment she couldn’t even acknowledge it. “I fear my explanation would make even less sense,” he began. “You see, I made a bet with my friends and—”
The wind was knocked from her chest. Pain wrenched her insides. She clenched her fists and turned her head away from him, clenched her eyes shut. “Stop. Just stop. A bet? That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.” She forced herself to reopen her eyes, but refused to look at him. Instead she kept her gaze focused on the bannister this time. “You played with my life, myemotionsover something as crass as abet?” She practically spit the last word.
His voice remained low, obviously to keep the ladies from overhearing. “That’s not how it started, Frances. You’ve got to believe me. I—”
Still refusing to look at him, she faced the top of the staircase and lifted her skirts. “Go,” she demanded. “Just go. It makes me ill to look at you. I never want to see your face again.”
It took all her strength to climb that staircase without running, but she did it. She didn’t know how she did it and she had no earthly idea how long it took, but by God, she never once looked back.
By the time she made it to the end of the corridor and her bedchamber, she was a quivering mess. She opened her door, stepped inside, shut it behind her, leaned back against it, and slid all the way to the floor in a crumpled heap. Sobs racked her body and she cried until she had no more tears.
* * *
Albina came tiptoeinginto Frances’s room from the adjoining bedchamber. “Are you all right, Miss?”
“I’m fine, Albina,” Frances said, grasping the door handle and forcing herself to stand. The last thing she needed was that tell-all Albina running off to inform her mother that she was laying on the floor crying. “I’m just going to lie down for a bit.”
“Yes, Miss,” Albina said before tiptoeing back out.
Frances walked to her bed on wooden legs. She’d no idea how much time had passed. It could have been moments, it could have been minutes. She pulled herself atop the mattress, and sat on its edge, staring numbly at her sodden handkerchief.
How? How could Lucas, the footman, the man she’d met the first day—no, nearly the firstmomentshe’d stepped foot on this property—be the Earl of Kendall? How could he be the man she’d detested since learning last year that he was the sponsor of the Employment Bill? How was that possible? And more importantly, how had she managed tonotknow it? She’d always thought of herself as reasonably intelligent, but somehow, she’d failed to see what was happening. She was an utter fool.
No. That was not true. Shewasperfectly intelligent. The man had lied to her. He’d deliberately deceived her. Any normal person might have been duped if they’d been placed in her position. Butwhy? Why had he lied? And why to her? Had he singled her out? The other young ladies at the party obviously knew who he was. Why had he chosenherto deceive?
