Madeleine stiffened, her face turning pink and sudden tears starting to her eyes. “I assure you, it is not!”
“Then why have you waited until now to come forward with this tale, you wicked girl?” snapped the dowager.
“To be truthful, I had hoped that Robert would come back to me. And then I learned of his betrothal and marriage and”—she stopped, her voice choked by a sob—“I was so cast down I didn’t have the spirit. But when I learned of the scandal—!” Her large eyes flashed at Sarah and a look of derision flickered across her face. “I thought of his hurt, and I wanted to comfort him!” She uttered this with a kind of defiance that Sarah, through the miasma of her own pain, found strangely touching.This girl loves him?
Sarah swallowed, drawing on all her self-possession, and said calmly, “You were right to come.”
“Sarah!”
“The duke would wish to be apprised of such a circumstance; I am confident he will do the right thing by you.” Sarah clutched her hands tightly in front of her. She had to believe he would, or everything, absolutely everything she believed about him, was false. Her head was too thick at the moment to work out when this could have occurred.
Daphne had warned her he had a mistress. Sarah had hoped he had ended things with her, and Miss Kinsella’s words indicated that he had.I had hoped he would come back to me...So, it must have occurred before they’d parted ways.
“The duke is in London. I am sure if you return there and ask to speak with him, he will hear you out and—and make all the suitable arrangements,” said Sarah. “Should that not be the case, please apply directly to me. I give you my word you will not be abandoned.”
“You are most gracious, Your Grace,” Miss Kinsella bobbed her a curtsy. She glanced at the dowager, bobbed her a curtsy, too, and left the room.
“Sarah, have you run mad?” the dowager wiped her face with her handkerchief.
“Mama Duchess, do you know Robert so ill that you think he would abandon someone he was responsible for?” asked Sarah.
“No, of course not. But we have no way of knowing if what she says is true.”
“No, but Robert will,” said Sarah doggedly.
“Women like her make their living by lying.”
“I don’t believe she was lying; I think she truly cares for Robert.” Sarah swallowed and blinked. “If you will excuse me, I—think I need to lie down.”
“Oh, of course, you poor child!” said the dowager, rising and rushing to Sarah’s side. She put her arms round her. “Such a shock! You took it very well. I’m extremely proud of you. And Robert would be, too.”
Sarah smiled weakly and hugged her back. “Thank you, Mama.”
“I’m just thankful Ava didn’t appear. That would have been disastrous! Go and rest, you poor girl. I think I will need a little rest myself.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Madeleine, greatly fatigued,decided to stop at Swinford for the night. Stepping down from her carriage, she directed the footman she brought with her as escort to take her baggage into the inn, where she requested a room and private parlor to take her meal.
“We’ve only the coffee room, ma’am. There is a gentleman in the private parlor.”
Stripping off her gloves, she smiled and said, “I shall ask the gentleman if he will mind sharing with me,” and sailed off to the private parlor. Knocking lightly and entering on her knock, she paused in the doorway.
“La,” she said lightly, “I am awfully fatigued, and I really do not wish to sit in the public room. Would you mind terribly, sir, sharing the parlor with me?”
The gentleman was seated in a chair before the fire, only his boots and part of his breeches-clad legs visible to her. He rose and turned to face her, and she clutched the door frame.It was her blonde lover!
He clearly recognized her, too, and came toward her immediately, his hands held out. “Madeleine, what a delightful surprise!”
She shut the door hastily on the gaping landlord and moved into the room.
“Rey! What a shock!” she said, letting him draw her nearer to the fire, where she took off her bonnet and pelisse before sitting. “What brings you here?”
“I’m on my way to visit—a friend. I stopped for a meal, only. What a chance meeting. Where are you bound?”
“Back to London.”
The door opened and the landlord bustled in with a bottle of whisky and a glass. “Your meal will be coming shortly, my lord,” he said with an unctuous bow. “Anything for the lady?” He raised an eyebrow toward the gentleman, ignoring her completely.
