Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
T here she is.
Daniel entered the dining room the next morning, his heart constricting as he spotted Maddie looking as delectable as the night before, when they had played chess… and done so much more.
It feels like a thousand days since I last laid eyes on her.
He had barely slept at all. The whole night, after she had left him, he had been assailed by visions of her. Her glorious beauty, in full nakedness, was imprinted like a brand on his mind. She had the figure of a goddess, like Venus herself, rising out of a conch shell, breathing new life into him.
Today, she was wearing a gown of pale lemon with tiny nosegays embroidered on the sleeves and bodice. It was simple and almost plain, especially when compared to the ball gown she had worn the night before, but it became her, clinging to her chest. His eyes lingered on her magnificent decolletage, in particular her nipples, which he could just discern beneath the fabric.
A frisson went down his spine. Had she dared come to the table without wearing her undergarments, as he had instructed her? Was there nothing but those glorious curves beneath the light muslin of her gown?
Quickly, he walked towards her, claiming the seat next to her before anyone else did, glancing around the room as he sat down.
Lady Augusta was seated on his other side, but she was intent on her breakfast and ignored him. To his surprise, almost everyone was there. He had been expecting that most people would stay abed later this morning after the late night. However, they did all look a little worse for wear, especially the Dowager Duchess, who was rather bleary-eyed. He noticed she was picking at her food as if it slightly revolted her.
He nodded curtly to his mother, unfolding his napkin and placing it on his lap, before turning to Maddie.
“Have you done what I requested last night?” he whispered.
Maddie blushed hard but nodded. A wave of desire swept over him as he pictured her delectable body beneath that pale lemon gown, completely free of her undergarments. He was so hard that it was almost embarrassing. He thanked the Lord that it was hidden by the napkin on his lap underneath the table.
His hand gripped the white tablecloth tightly as he tried to control his reaction. Fervently, he wished that they were alone right now. He imagined grabbing her and lifting her onto this very table as the dishes crashed to the floor, plunging into her over and over…
His other hand drifted towards her across the table. Perhaps he could sneak it beneath the table, find her, gently pull up her gown, and caress her leg, before climbing ever higher until reaching her delicious honey pot, making her writhe and shudder beneath his fingers?
The thought was so arousing, so very tempting, that he was almost going to do it, before the voice of Lady Darnley reached him from across the table. She was staring at a piece of paper in her hand through a quizzing glass with a stunned expression on her face.
“Well, that is shocking!” she exclaimed, putting down the glass, and gazing around the table. “I simply cannot believe it!”
“Whatever is the matter, Lady Darnley?” the Dowager Duchess asked in a weary voice, rubbing the back of her neck ruefully. “I do hope that not another of those mischievous puppies of yours has vanished. We cannot be sending out constant search parties for the little beasts.”
Lady Darnley gripped the paper in her hand tighter. “No, indeed, Your Grace! This has nothing to do with my dear pups.”
“Well, what is it, then?” The Dowager Duchess sighed, looking exasperated. “What are you reading?”
“It is Mrs. Camberwell’s scandal sheet,” Lady Darnley replied, her voice rising. “It was delivered just this morning…”
Daniel rolled his eyes. He detested scandal sheets, not only because they were highly invasive, prying into the private lives of people, but because most of the ton were addicted to them. Cheap gossip was their lifeblood. They were like vampires, feeding off the misfortunes of others.
“Oh, dear.” The Dowager Duchess looked offended. “Must we listen?”
“I think you might like to hear this, Your Grace.” Lady Darnley picked up the quizzing glass again, squinting at the paper. “For it concerns you. It concerns everyone here, really.”
The chatter around the table died down. Everyone was looking at her now.
“Go on, then,” the Dowager Duchess urged crisply. “You have our attention.”
“It concerns this house party,” Lady Darnley began slowly. “And it is quite scandalous. It claims that there is an unmarried couple that are spending time alone together every night… after the rest of the party are abed!”
There was a shocked hiss around the table. Heads were whipping around, looking at the party, evidently trying to figure out who the illicit couple were.
Daniel froze. He couldn’t look at Maddie. But he heard her small gasp of distress. His blood ran cold. There could be no doubt that the scandal sheet was referring to them.
His hands balled into fists. Who on earth knew they had been meeting in private? And who wished to cause them harm by leaking it to a common scandal sheet?
Maddie gaped at Lady Darnley as the full impact of her words crashed over her. She couldn’t breathe.
There is an unmarried couple spending time alone together every night… after the rest of the party are abed.
She felt beads of sweat break out on her forehead. Desperately, she tried not to react. She tried to regain her composure. But it was hard. So hard.
She stared straight ahead, forcing herself to look at the lady, trying to ignore the Duke seated beside her. Only a few short minutes ago, he had whispered to her, alluding to the fact that he knew she was wearing nothing beneath her thin muslin gown.
She blanched. She was sitting in this dining room, surrounded by people, wearing no undergarments at all. What had she been thinking? What lunacy had driven her to behave in this utterly reckless fashion?
But she knew the answer to that question all too well. The answer was seated beside her.
She felt the world tilt and sway. They had been caught. Someone knew they were secretly seeing each other and wanted the world to know. That person wanted to shame them and ruin her.
Who was it?
Fearfully, she glanced around the table, studying each face. They all looked shocked. No one was looking at her in any particular way, though. Whoever it was, they were hiding the fact they knew. They were playing their cards close to their chest.
Maddie felt sick. Was the motivation blackmail?
No one had spoken a word since Lady Darnley’s shock announcement. They all looked flabbergasted.
Lord Christopher cleared his throat. “It is nonsense, Lady Darnley,” he declared crisply. “It is poisonous gossip, that is all. Those scandal sheets are famous for it. I am rather disappointed that you are so avid as to believe a word they say.”
Lady Darnley flushed. “I am only reporting what is written, Lord Christopher…”
“Indeed,” he uttered, his lip curling in disdain. “But I think we should not pay it any more attention than it deserves.”
He turned to Lord Ollerton, who was looking rather confused and befuddled by it all, his spoon suspended in midair.
“Lord Ollerton,” he said, clearing his throat again. “I might take this opportunity to change such a disagreeable topic. I wish to discuss a potential courtship with your lovely daughter, Lady Madeline.”
Maddie gave a small yelp of surprise. Everyone turned to look at her. But all she could focus on was the Duke’s hand on the table next to her, balled into a fist. She could feel the shock and anger running through his body as if it were a palpable entity.
“I see,” Lord Ollerton stammered, looking even more confused. “Yes, yes, of course, we can discuss it, Lord Christopher. Perhaps we can confer after breakfast?”
“Oh, that is wonderful, Lord Christopher!” Lady Ollerton exclaimed, looking triumphant. “I am thrilled at the very thought of it! Our family is honored.”
Lord Christopher nodded, looking pleased. No one had asked what Maddie thought about this sudden turn of events at all. Her parents hadn’t even glanced at her.
Maddie’s head began to spin again. It was all too much—first, the revelation that her illicit meetings with the Duke were gossip fodder, and now Lord Christopher’s sudden public announcement that he wanted to formally court her.
But at least Lord Christopher’s announcement had taken the wind out of what was written in that scandal sheet. For now.
“I am also thrilled,” the Dowager Duchess declared, her eyes sharp, as she looked around the table. “For it means there is the possibility that our families will be bound twice.”
Everyone’s head swiveled to her, looking agog. Maddie thought it was rather like observing a game of tennis, with the ball careering from player to player on a whim.
“How so, Auntie?” Lord Christopher asked.
The Dowager Duchess threw her napkin on the table. “My dear son, the Duke, has declared to me his intention to formally court Lady Augusta Cole as well.”
There was an excited buzz around the table. Maddie was stunned anew. But this time, she knew that she should have seen this one coming. She had seen it coming. She had just chosen to ignore it.
She stared at her sister, trying to gauge her reaction. Augusta didn’t look shocked, she just looked resigned. If Maddie weren’t so upset, she would feel pity for her.
Suddenly, it was all too much. She was sitting here, without wearing any undergarments in order to please her lover, while his union with her sister was formally announced. And even though she had seen this particular revelation coming, it hurt the most, out of all of them.
He wants to formally court Augusta. Not me.
She felt cheap and used. Clearly, he only thought of her as a plaything. He didn’t take her seriously. She had always known it, but somehow, some small part of her believed that perhaps his feelings would change—that he would take her seriously.
And she was falling in love with him. In fact, she had fallen in love with him. She was head over heels in love. She knew now that it was the only reason she had kept playing this dangerous game with him, time and again, when her mind had screamed at her that she should turn on her heel and run.
It had never been about the list. Or it hadn’t been for a long time. She had been deluding herself about that as well.
The whole table was abuzz with talk now. It was the perfect time to slip away without anyone noticing. She couldn’t look at the Duke. She thought she might burst into tears, and that would never do.
She got up, walking quickly out of the room, with as much dignity as she could muster. It was only when she got to her chambers that she let it out, sobbing quietly, her face in her hands as she sat on the edge of her bed.
“Oh, dearest.” It was Selina’s voice, calm and gentle. “Is this about my cousin’s announcement? Is that why you are so upset?”
Maddie started. She had been so absorbed in her pain that she hadn’t even heard her best friend sneak into her room. Selina sat down on the bed beside her, taking her hand.
Maddie shook her head. “No,” she whispered, her heart fluttering in her chest. “At least, that is not why I’m crying.”
Selina was silent for a moment. She looked searchingly at Maddie. “Then why?”
Maddie took a deep, shuddering breath. “I am in love with your brother,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “And he is going to marry Augusta.”
There was silence. Maddie turned away. She didn’t want to see the shock and horror on her best friend’s face. Selina, after all, didn’t know a thing about what was going on between them. And her friend had told her, a few times, what a rake her brother was.
“At last.” Selina sighed. “Finally, you admit it!”
Maddie gasped, turning around to face her friend. She was so stunned that she couldn’t even speak for a moment. “You knew?” she whispered.
Selina nodded. “Yes, I guessed,” she admitted. “I suspected something was going on between the two of you.” She paused. “It is like the air is charged when the two of you are together. And you are always stealing glances at each other.”
“I am sorry I did not tell you,” Maddie said, her heart clenching. “I wanted to confide in you, but I thought you would get angry with me. You have told me often enough what a rake he is.”
Selina sighed heavily. “He is a rake,” she agreed slowly. “But that does not mean he cannot be reformed… if he finds the right woman.”
Maddie laughed brokenly, which turned into a sob. “I am not that woman,” she mumbled, feeling as if her heart was splintering into a million pieces. “He is only playing with me, Selina. He doesn’t feel the same way about me as I feel about him.”
“Are you certain?” Selina looked at her closely. “Daniel keeps his heart tightly locked. He does it because of our father. But underneath it all, he feels deeply. And I have never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you. It is even more than that—he is possessive of you, Maddie. He cannot stand it when Christopher flirts with you and monopolizes your attention. Tell me, why would he care so much if he is only playing with you?”
Maddie didn’t reply. She had deluded herself that the Duke’s jealousy meant more than it did. That time was over.
“He has had ample opportunity to express himself to me,” she said slowly. “If his intentions were honorable, he had only to say the word.”
Selina blinked rapidly. “You and my brother are the couple in the scandal sheet, are you not?”
Maddie blushed fiercely. “Yes,” she admitted. “I believe so. Unless there is another unmarried couple in this house party who have been doing exactly what we have been doing.”
Selina’s jaw dropped. “I did not realize it had progressed that far.”
Maddie stood up, gazing down at her friend. “I appreciate your advice, dearest,” she said gently. “But none of it matters now. As I said, your brother has had ample opportunity to express finer feelings towards me, if he has any. He has not done so. There is nothing more to say about it.”
She walked to the wardrobe in the corner, gathered her gowns, and threw them haphazardly into the open trunk next to it. It felt good to be active. It felt good to have a purpose.
“What are you doing?” Selina sounded puzzled.
“I am leaving this house party,” Maddie replied, glancing at her friend. “I cannot stay here a moment longer. Will you tell my family that I have come down with a malady and must leave immediately? It would mean the world to me.”
Selina sighed. “Are you sure? Can you not talk to Daniel?”
“I am sure,” Maddie insisted, throwing another gown into the trunk. She knew she could get Jane to pack it properly, but it felt strangely good doing it herself. As if she were flinging her past mistakes away. “I must leave this instant.”
“I entreat you to not be hasty,” Selina begged. “You should not act when in the grip of such high emotion. We can find a way to work out this muddle. Do not run away, Maddie!”
Maddie stopped what she was doing, turning to look at her friend. “My mind is made up,” she said in an oddly calm voice. “And that is the end of that.”
Suddenly, there was a rap at the door. They both froze, gazing at each other. Maddie could barely breathe.
Another rap, more insistent this time. Maddie couldn’t move a muscle. In the end, Selina walked over to the door and opened it.
“Selina,” a deep, familiar voice said, making Maddie’s heart do somersaults. “I must speak with her alone, Sister. Now.”