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Chapter Eighteen
Hermione was trying to abate her tears as she jumped to her feet. Antony hurried to stand too, but they both knew they were too late, looking at one another with equally wide eyes full of shock. She straightened her skirt and dropped the silk to the floor as he snatched his jacket up off the floor.
It was all they could manage as the sounds of three sets of footsteps walking through the bookshelves got nearer. Within seconds, three faces appeared: the Dowager Duchess, Rufus and Cordelia.
Hermione was horrified. Her body was still thrumming with the excitement of what she and Antony had shared. She wanted more than anything to return to the rug and share more with him, to see what else they could do together, but that moment was now long gone. They had been caught, with Hermione’s hair falling out of its updo and her skirt ruffled, with Antony at her side halfway through putting his jacket on and adjusting his trousers. It hardly took a wild leap of the imagination to see they had been doing something that they shouldn’t.
The three faces looking back at them held equal expressions of shock. Hermione had to give one thing to her father– he had to be a good actor to look so shocked by her doing exactly what he had asked of her.
That’s not why I did it!She had wanted to be with Antony in that way; that was the only reason. Her attempt to save him from her had been too slow.
“What in God’s name am I seeing before me?” Rufus asked, stepping forward first. Cordelia covered her face with both hands and turned away, apparently unable to look at the two of them. The Dowager Duchess was so uncertain on her feet that she lifted a hand and rested it on the bookshelves nearby. “You dare to damage my daughter’s honor in this way?” Rufus said, addressing Antony alone.
Hermione turned to Antony, still blinking madly to try and stop her tears. He had abandoned trying to get the jacket on properly at all now, with one arm in the sleeve. He would not turn to look at Hermione and held Rufus’ gaze instead.
“Nothing happened. It is not what it looks like,” he said hurriedly.
Not what it looks like? It is exactly what it looks like!She was amazed he was even attempting to deny it.
“Antony…” the Dowager Duchess spoke up. “You have tarnished a young lady’s reputation.”
“I have done no such thing,” he said quickly, dropping the jacket off his arm and holding his hands up in surrender. “You three are the only ones to see us like this.”
Hermione said nothing, she kept quiet, uncertain how to get Antony out of this mess. “You expect me to go back to that ball and keep this a secret?” Rufus asked. “You expect me to permit my daughter’s virtue to be so damaged and for no repair to be made?”
Hermione turned away, feeling the tears now threatening to fall even more than before. She breathed deeply, knowing how erratic her breathing had become.I am not virtuous or innocent. My reputation is already spoiled, and Antony should know that.
“Father, please–”
“Do not say a word, Hermione,” he ordered, waving a hand in the air. She turned back to see he was unusually purple in the face, either from drinking at the party or putting on his act of anger remarkably well. Cordelia behind him had turned back now, shaking her head as though she couldn’t believe the proof of her eyes. “Your Grace, I demand retribution for the damage you have done to my daughter.”
“I have done no damage to her,” Antony said quickly, with such passion that Hermione could have sworn the bookshelves around them shook. It certainly felt like no damage had befallen her, only pleasure and thrill.
“I am not blind, Your Grace!” Rufus added the address of ‘Your Grace’ in the aftermath, as though struggling to be polite at this time. “There is nothing else for it. You must marry my daughter.”
“Father, please don’t do this–” Hermione begged, but Rufus waved a hand in her direction, ordering her to be quiet.
“I cannot.” Antony’s voice rang out clearly between the shelves. Hermione snapped her head toward Antony, startled by it. Even though she wanted to protect him from this, after what they had just shared, to hear the insistence in his voice that he could not marry her hurt greatly.
“This is an outrage!” Rufus bellowed, taking a step forward. The Dowager Duchess stepped forward too and stretched out a hand toward Rufus, trying to calm him.
“Please, Lord Branigan, allow my son a moment to think. It is the shock, that is all. He is a gentleman and will do right by your daughter,” the Dowager Duchess nodded at Hermione with the words.
“If it were simply a case of doing right by your daughter, then I would marry her,” Antony said quickly, gesturing to Hermione. She flinched at the casual gesture. “Yet, I have made a vow to never marry, and I cannot break that now.”
“Then my daughter is ruined forever!” Rufus stepped toward Hermione and took hold of her wrist. She tried to retreat from him and back away, but it was too late. He had hold of the same hand he had bruised before and used it to drag her away toward the bookshelves, his fair hair whipped around his face as his head darted back and forth. “You do my family the greatest dishonor I have ever known.”
“It is no slight against Lady Hermione.” Antony’s words prompted Rufus to fall still, giving Lady Hermione enough time to look back at Antony. This time, his eyes were on her when he spoke. “I cannot break my vow. I have promised to never marry, and that is that. I cannot be persuaded otherwise.”
Not even to save me from ruin.The tears came now, fresh and hot on her cheeks. She tore her arm out of her father’s grasp, wincing at the fresh pain and hurried through the bookshelves, running as fast as she could from the room.
“Hermione? Hermione!” Cordelia was shouting after her, but Hermione ignored her. She needed to be as far away as possible from Antony and the thought of what they had just shared.
He can pleasure me then send me to the gutters, for that’s where I’ll be once this gets out.
She ran through the corridors of the house, heading toward the stairs as the tears came quickly. She had ruined herself, not for her father as he had pleaded, but because she had wanted to do it. Had Antony pushed for more, she had a feeling she would have given it to him. Yet none of that mattered now, for she had given herself to a man that couldn’t even marry her when she was facing ruin.
She ran up the stairs and to her chamber. She briefly considered finding Phoebe, but her sister was still at the ball, and Hermione wasn’t going to go anywhere near their guests now. Once she was inside her chamber, she flung the door shut, placed her back against it, and sank down to the floor, placing her head on her knees as she cried. At one point, she lifted a hand to her neck, ready to hold onto the locket, but she found the space empty.
