He leaned closer, his hand landing on Prudence’s shoulder, and she cursed herself for not running when she’d had a narrow window of opportunity to do so.
“What the devil is going on out here?”
The sound of a new voice shocked both of them, and they turned toward the door through which Prudence had come onto the balcony.
Prudence’s heart sank.
A whole group of people had just come through—and right at the head of the group were Levi and Caroline.
Her sister stared at her in shock and dismay, and Prudence saw the scene through her eyes and knew exactly what this must look like.
Before she could say anything—before she could insist that it wasn’t what it seemed—Levi was hurrying forward. His arm settled around her shoulders, and he began to pull her away.
Prudence was too shocked and dismayed to do anything but go along with him and allow herself to be hustled through the ballroom and back out to the carriage.
CHAPTER 2
“Prudence, I don’t care what you have to say about it—you’re going to marry now, whether you like it or not! No more excuses! This scandal is exactly what comes of your deviant behavior!”
Prudence’s father, Baron Stephen Wetherby of Highgate, paced the length of the sitting room. Her mother, Caroline, and Levi all sat looking pensive and distressed.
The carriage ride to their parents’ home had been silent. Prudence hadn’t even had a say in what had happened—Caroline and Levi had agreed without consulting her that they would come here instead of returning to their own home as had been the original plan. It had been Levi who had told the Baron and Baroness, in rushed whispers, of everything that had happened at the ball and the scandal they should expect come morning.
No one had gotten much sleep.
Now the scandal sheets had arrived, and sure enough, Prudence’s name was in black ink at the very top. Well, this wasn’t the first time she had been the subject of society gossip. Who cared what stories people wanted to make up? Prudence never had, and she wasn’t about to start.
“Father,” she said, attempting to strike a reasonable tone. “What’s printed there is a fabrication. It simply isn’t true.”
“Oh? So youweren’tseen on a balcony alone with a drunken rake who had his hands on you?”
Prudence sighed. “Well, no,thatpart is true. But I can assure you, nothing scandalous occurred.”
“For God’s sake, Prudence, you aren’t a child. Thatisscandalous. You can’t possibly think that sort of thing is all right.”
“I only mean that it wasn’t what it looked like. What people are saying it was. We had an argument, that’s all.”
“And what are you doing on balconies arguing with strange men when you ought to be socializing?” He turned to Caroline. “Where were you during all of this?”
“I was inside,” Caroline said evenly. “She wanted some air.”
“And you didn’t think she ought to have a chaperone? You know how Prudence is.”
“Father, that’s unfair,” Prudence said. “It’s certainly not Caroline’s fault this happened. It’s mine far more than it is hers.”
“Oh, it’s utterly your fault,” her father snapped. “And we’ll be lucky now to marry you to anyone at all, but I’m going to find you a marriage no matter what it takes. And this time, Prudence, you’ll accept it, no matter who it is to. I don’t care if you like him or not. You should have married one of themanyperfectly decent men I have found for you over the years, but you chose to be difficult. Now you’ll take whatever you can get—and in light of this scandal, I don’t imagine you’ll find him too favorable.”
Prudence turned away. The truth was that she did feel guilty—she knew her actions had put her in this position. Not that she had done anythingtrulyscandalous, the way people were going to believe. There had been no inappropriate moments between that man—Peter—and herself.
“This is all going to blow over,” she said. “As soon as there’s another party, something else will happen, and it will be the new talk of the town. Everyone will forget about this.”
But her father shook his head. “We told ourselves that when you ran from your first wedding, Prudence,” he said. “There are only so many things we can ask people to overlook. There are only so many times we can expect them to forget. Your name is becoming sullied whether you like it or not.”
They were interrupted by a commotion in the hallway. Prudence’s father frowned, turning toward it, and Levi rose tohis feet. A moment later, two men came bursting in, trailed rather frantically by a footman.
Prudence recognized them at once, and her heart stuttered.
One of the men was Peter. He appeared to be sober today. He wasn’t wearing that idiotic grin, and he held himself upright. Seeing him sober made Prudence realize for the first time what a mess he was when he drank. She’d thought she had known that, but the contrast brought it home to her. He looked like a normal person.
