Page 85 of A Naughty Proposal for His Winter Countess
“Others may forget, but I'll have the memories for the rest of my life,” Harriet said in despair.
“It'll pass, I assure you,” Daniel tried again. “Please come out and let me take you home. You can't stay out here too long, Harriet. Please, you'll get ill.”
Much as she wanted to hide herself from the world, Harriet knew that if she stayed any longer, the cold would affect her. With regret heavy in her heart, Harriet started to shift herself out of the tiny space. Daniel moved away and stood just in time for her to stick a hand out for help.
His hand was warm and the moment she was on her feet, Daniel enveloped her in his arms. “It will be all right, I promise you.”
“How?” she asked pitifully.
“Leave that to me,” Daniel said as he pulled off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders.
As she closed the lapels, Daniel slid a hand under her knees and lifted her to rest on his chest. It was a good thing too as Harriet knew she didn't have the strength to walk back. She felt drained, bone-weary and her head felt as if it was stuffed with cotton.
Harriet could only cling to him and trust that he would take care of her in her weakest state. She felt him pull a hand away, to open the coach door and gently place her on a seat.
“I'll only be a moment, Harriet,” Daniel said. “Please, try to have some faith that everything will be fine.”
Nodding, she huddled into the opposite door and dragged the lapels of his jacket tighter around herself.
She knew Daniel was trying his best to change her mind from imaging the worst, but she knew better. Harriet was assured that by dawn, she would be the mockery of London.
My life is over. I'm a disgraced woman.
True to his word, Daniel came back and boarded the coach that soon drew away from the curb.
Dimly, she asked, “Do you have one of those papers?”
“I do,” Daniel replied, “but I don't think it'll do you any good to read it.”
“Why not?” she asked flatly. “Everyone already has.”
“Do you know where the passages could have come from?” Daniel asked, trying to redirect the conversation. “I don't know how anyone could know some of those things.”
“Someone stole it from my diary,” Harriet said tonelessly. “From my room, in a home that I'd thought was safe and secure.”
Daniel's expression went rigid, “So someone in that house is the traitor?”
Shrugging tiredly, Harriet said, “That's the only explanation.”
“I don't think I should take you back there,” Daniel said darkly. “Who knows what they'll try next.”
Snorting a little, Harriet added, “I'm already at rock bottom. I don't think there's much more anyone can do.”
“They can kill you.”
“It would be a mercy kill,” Harriet said dourly. “I'll never show my face in polite society ever again.”
“Harriet,” Daniel emphasized her name, “would you please stop this defeatist outlook? People have risen from greater scandals before and you will too.”
Clenching her eyes tight, Harriet said through the turmoil in her heart, “I wish I could believe you, I truly do, but I have little faith that anything will come from it.”
Maybe I should have gone on to be the seductress I first wanted to be.
What was the sense of trying to be sensible and upstanding when she had known all along that being on the straight and narrow would never be her life. The illusion might have been enjoyable for a while, but now that the fantasy had been ripped away, Harriet found herself back where she had started. Perhaps even less than that, as now, she was under a cloud of humiliation.
“I wish I could promise you that, Daniel. I do, but I can't,” Harriet replied, honestly. “I wish this nightmare would end.”
“I do wish that you wouldn't go back to that house,” Daniel voiced.
