Page 32 of The Earl's Secret
“Come,” he said. “Time to go.”
Cassandra had never been so grateful as she sagged into him and allowed him to lead her away.
CHAPTER13
Devon was doing all he could to hold himself in control. He did not often lose his temper nor resort to rage – he far preferred to deal with most circumstances with honey rather than vinegar – but what Lord Amberdash had been about to do to Cassandra had pushed him beyond any anger he had ever felt before.
“Devon,” Cassandra was saying, her hand urgently tapping on his arm. “Devon, can you slow down?”
He looked down and then around him, as though just realizing their current setting, before he took them through another door into what appeared to be a library. There were a few other people within, speaking in small groups. Devon nodded to them before leading Cassandra over to two chairs in front of the fireplace. Here they would be able to speak without risking being caught in a position that would, once again, be considered improper, yet would also provide Cassandra a few moments to compose herself before they returned to the ballroom.
He couldn’t look at her just yet, for the thought of what could have happened had him seething all over again. Instead, he took a few breaths, trying to calm his rage and rapidly beating heart.
“Devon, it’s fine,” she was saying once more. “Nothing happened.”
“No,” he finally managed. “Nothing happened. But whatcouldhave happened…”
“I know,” she said, and he finally looked over at her. Her gaze was upon her hands, until she seemed to realize how she must look, and she reached up to fix the pins in her hair.
“Are you sure you are fine? Would you like me to find your friends? Or your mother? Or your maid so that you can retire? Or—”
“No,” she said, finished with her hair, and she looked up at him now, meeting his eyes. “Just stay with me, please.”
“Of course,” he said, knowing that even if she hadn’t asked it of him, he wouldn’t have been able to tear himself away, for he would be too concerned that something else would threaten her. While he knew it wasn’t her fault, she seemed to attract danger wherever she went.
“Devon,” she said in a small voice, “is what he said true? Does everyone see me as a woman with loose morals woman? I know that there is some scandal attached to my name, made more difficult by my father’s situation, but I wasn’t aware that everyone thought such of me.”
He was silent for a moment, uncertain of how to answer the question, finally deciding that honesty was the best policy.
“I had heard nothing except now I understand that some people speculate that there was more to your being sent away than what your mother and Gideon shared with others, which was that you were staying in Bath with your aunt,” he said. “My suspicion would be that someone took a small speculation and turned it into a much larger rumor. Perhaps an enemy or one of the gentlemen you turned down when they asked for your hand.”
“You have heard of that, then, have you?”
“I have now,” he confirmed. “Whitehall informed me while we played billiards.”
“If I had been found with Lord Amberdash by anyone else, the consequences could have been—”
“Dire,” he finished. “Very dire. He certainly would not have been a man to provide any other explanation. He is one of those who hungers for power, who would do anything to be part of the family of a duke, to possess the influence that might come along with that. I imagine that was what drove him to seek you out.”
“I am not sure if I should be insulted or relieved that this had more to do with his yearning for position than with me,” she said wryly. “Still, I must thank you, Devon – not only for finding me, but for understanding that I wanted nothing to do with the man nor his… attempts.”
He sat back to get a better look at her, blinking.
“Why would I ever think that?”
She shrugged. “Most people believe what they see without providing me a chance to explain.”
“As happened to you before.”
She nodded slightly. “I must admit, one of the reasons I was trying so desperately to get away from him was worry about what you might think if you learned what had happened, orwashappening. I didn’t know if you—”
“Stop,” he said, though he tried to keep the word soft and not at all authoritative. “I would never think such a thing.”
“But out of anyone, you are the only one who knows what I did—”
“And I also know that it happened between you and I because we wanted one another, not because you were seeking out a liaison with just any man, nor would you again.”
Her lashes dipped low over her eyes again. “You are right about that. I would never—that is, no one else—I have no affection…”
