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“Do not speak. We invited you into our life, and by association you and your family were greatly elevated and this is how you repaid Evie? By stealing her fiancé?” Lady Gladstone’s voice was sharp and accusatory.
Adel’s heart skipped a beat, and then another. A deep sense of foreboding traveled through her. She glanced at Evie. Guilt darkened her eyes and tears tracked down her cheeks.
“Forgive me,” Evie mouthed.
Adel was too numb to react. She was herded to the library despite Evie’s plea to her mother that she needed to speak with Adel. The countess all but shoved her out of the chamber, and she was grateful to see the guests had gone. A minute later Adel entered the room and the countess slammed the door on her exit. Oh. It did not take long for loss and betrayal to scythe through Adel’s heart. Surely the countess would prevent further association with Evie…and what had she been thinking?
Adel paced, waiting in dread for her father to arrive and voice his displeasure. How could it have gone so wrong? The door creaked and she lifted her head. Her father and stepmother entered. Lord Gladstone strolled in behind them and gently closed the door. He gave her a reassuring smile, but Adel’s stomach dipped, and fear coated the back of her throat. She had never seen her father so livid and so embarrassed. “Papa, I can explain, I—”
“Be silent,” he roared, a bit of spittle flying from between his lips. He advanced and she retreated, her hips hitting against the oak table positioned in the center of the room. “I was in the card rooms with your mother when I was summoned. Your mother is appalled at your reckless disregard—”
“Stepmother,” Adel snapped, the agitation of being reminded of how easily he replaced her mother loosening her tongue.
He continued as if she had not spoken. “I have spent the last few minutes reassuring your fiancé this must all be a dreadful mistake, and you would never act with such wanton impropriety. Lord Vale has agreed to announce the engagement immediately. Now to stave off any further scandal the wedding will be proceeded with urgency. No time for banns to be posted and Vale is in the process of using his considerable influence to procure a special license.”
Somehow she never imagined her father’s reaction would be to foist her off even faster onto the earl. She glanced at Lady Margaret, and was met with a similar resolve in her gaze. Adel swallowed the laugh bubbling forth. She was found in the bed of a powerful duke who would certainly crush her for her temerity. The humiliation to come was enough to encourage her to flee to Derbyshire to her godmother. Why would Lord Vale still insist on marriage?
She hugged her middle, caught up in a vice of fear. As she thought on her life so far this season, Lord Vale’s constant veiled insinuations and repulsive pinches, a hot tide of rebellion stirred inside. “I have been compromised. Surely Lord Vale would not wish for a wife that is—”
Her father shook his head. “He understands that the blackguard James Atwood must have forced you to come to his room, and that young man will be dealt with. You are fortunate, Lord Vale is still willing to marry you and—”
“Young Mr. Atwood?” Lord Gladstone asked, from the mantel where he been watching the entire exchange.
Adel’s cheeks burned at the humiliation. The countess had not revealed with whom she had been caught. But why would Lord Vale pretend it had not been the duke? Of course, he was correctly thinking her parents would eagerly seek a forced match with Wolverton. Why would they settle for an earl when they could snag a duke? Lord Vale must have been hoping, they would have shepherded Adel from Pembington House and straight into his arms immediately.
Her father’s expression bloomed with ire at the interruption. He enjoyed listening to his admonishing sermons, which he had been delivering quite often ever since Adel could remember. No…since her mother died and he remarried.
“Yes,” he snapped. “Mr. Atwood has been hounding me for my daughter’s hand, and I have refused him several times, and this ploy of theirs is nothing more than their attempt to circumvent—”
“Forgive me, Sir Archibald, but your daughter was not found with young Mr. Atwood.”
She had never thought her father could be rendered speechless. He spluttered, then swung a wild-eyed gaze to her, while her stepmother affected a swoon and wilted on the chaise, sobbing.
“Your daughter was found in the bed of the Duke of Wolverton,” Lord Gladstone said with some measure of satisfaction. Why was he pleased? It was his daughter that had been set to marry the man. Why was he not as angry as his lady?
“I was not found in his bed,” she said hoarsely.
“The Duke of Wolverton?” Lady Margaret whispered, disbelief rife in her voice.
At the pronounced silence in the library, Lord Gladstone excused himself, leaving Adel alone with her father and stepmother.
Lady Margaret glanced at Adel, eyes wide with apprehension and was that a glimmer of excitement? She was no doubt envisioning the lofty circles their family could be mingling with. “My dear,” she turned to her husband, her fingers laced tightly together. “You cannot insist Lord Vale marry our daughter if she was found in the bed of a Duke. She may even be with child as we speak. We must insist the duke to do the honorable thing.”
Heat burned Adel’s face. With child? Good heavens.
“Yes, yes, of course,” her father muttered.
Adel rushed forward. “Papa, this is ridiculous. The duke is innocent in this matter and it was all a dreadful mistake on my part. I do admit I did intend to compromise Mr. Atwood, who most ardently desires to marry me despite the shortcoming of not possessing a sizable dowry or being a fashionable beauty. It would be beyond cruel to even think to make a demand of the duke, when an hour ago he had no knowledge of me. I am sure he will be expecting to marry a young lady of great fortune and impeccable breeding…and that is not me.”
Lady Margaret threw her a glance filled with incredulity. “All of society is now aware he stole your virtue.”
Adel blushed furiously, thinking of their kiss. “He did nothing of the sort!”
“You are a grave disappointment to your family,” her father said. “To act with such…with such…” He closed his eyes as if pained.
“It was ill-judged of me to concoct such a plan, but what was I to do when you refused to listen to reason, Papa? Lord Vale attacked me, left bruises on me, and you were still insisting that I wed him. I had little choice but to protect my virtue, for certainly he would have tried to steal it before we were even married,” she said, her voice roughened with unshed tears.
Lady Margaret’s lips flattened. “You are failing to understand the import of your actions. You will be forced into seclusion, and we will not be able to show our face in society because of the shame. No one will accept us.” Her lower lip trembled and tears glistened on her incredibly long eyelashes.
