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“Please excuse me,” she gasped, bolting away.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw Michael’s smoldering gaze following her. She picked up her skirts and pushed her way through the crowd.
* * *
Knowing the duke would watch her if she stayed in the Assembly room, she rushed past the entrance and through the foyer. She pushed her way through the crowd, forgetting herself and her place, in her attempt to find fresh air.
The way he watched her made her feel things that she had never felt before, which terrified her. Finding herself in the gardens outside the Assembly in the dark of night, she realized the foolishness of her venture. She had never been so risky as she had been the past few weeks but wandering into the gardens might have been the worst of all.
If she were caught alone there at night, her reputation could be ruined. She almost turned back immediately. However, she looked around, wondering if anyone saw her come out, but seeing no one around her, she decided to take just a moment to breathe and cool off. She closed her eyes, putting her hands on her hips, to suck in the warm, floral air around her.
The sound of footsteps startled her, and she whirled around. Michael had followed her. She could only see his silhouette in the darkness, but her heartbeat raced. For a moment, she wondered if he had come to take advantage of her. He stepped forward, causing her to squeak involuntarily.
“Are you afraid?” he asked, taking another step. She held up her hand to stop him.
“Please, come no closer,” she said. She looked around; the nearby yew hedges made her feel trapped.
“You fled from the dancefloor as though I had threatened you, frightened you, even,” he said, continuing to come closer.
She raised her chin to him, “You did not frighten me, but you did threaten me!”
“Then you deserved it!” he argued. “You were the one to lie and say we are engaged. Why did you have to pick me, drag my name through the mud? When the lie comes out it will embarrass me just as much as it will you!”
“If you think that, you’re mad,” she said defensively. She clenched her fists, seething. “When everyone finds out that I lied and why I lied, they will all know how desperate I am and condemn me. I will be the pathetic wretch who attempted to embarrass you, not the other way around.”
“You, desperate for a husband? Surely, you have failed a few Seasons yet, but to say you will die an old maid is not a good enough reason for me.”
“It’s not just me that I’m concerned about,” she told him. Her rage and anger towards Michael started to fade, realizing how dire the circumstances were. She hesitated for a moment to tell him the truth, but tears welled in her eyes.
Risking further embarrassment, she told him the truth, “My mother, my sisters, all of us. We need advantageous matches.”
His face softened slightly, from angry and threatening, to curious but defensive.
“Why are you and your sisters so desperate?”
She tried to press her fingers to her eyes to stop the tears. “My uncle has threatened my mother that if she does not marry him, he will throw us all out of the house by the end of the Season.”
“Your uncle is the Viscount of Rackliff?”
She nodded solemnly. “Our father died suddenly, not even a year ago. We were in mourning almost all of last Season.”
“And he’s pressing your mother to marry him?” Michael asked, an eyebrow raised, confused.
She merely nodded again, feeling small and inconsequential. They were quiet for a moment. Michael fished a kerchief from his pocket and offered it to her. She took it with a smile, dabbing her eyes.
“Perhaps I still do not quite understand,” he said. “So, you lied about an engagement?”
“Yes, you see, unless mother marries him, he will throw us all out. She convinced him to give us until the end of the Season for at least one of us to find a suitor. He didn’t think it was possible, so I lied, saying I was already engaged.”
“Who knows the truth?”
“My mother and sisters,” Lydia explained, handing the kerchief back to him. He reached for it, brushing her fingers in the process, causing her to shiver again.
She continued to explain, “We thought it might help one of us find a match. And it is working, just the last few weeks we’ve had much more interest than we have all Season long.”
“I’m glad I could be unwittingly of use to you,” he replied with a grin, amused. “I could say I’m surprised that just the idea that you might be engaged to me could bring you good fortune.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, turning away from him. Though he was teasing her now, she still felt uncomfortable and embarrassed to be caught in her lie. Even worse, the consequences were dragging on, forcing her to face it for far longer than she wanted.
