Page 38 of The Rakehell's Seduction
“No.” The word escaped her brokenly, and she mustered the last bit of her strength not to burst into tears in front of him. “I’m the farthest thing from it. I need to go home.Now.” She shoved his chest, feeling her heart break even further.
He carefully climbed off her and put his coat and waistcoat back on. A minute later Darlington open the door.
“Ambrose, I believe I figured out Langley’s motives.” Darlington’s gaze swept to her, and then she glanced away. She wasn’t ashamed. She’d done nothing wrong, at least nothing by choice, but the way she felt in that moment, wounded and vulnerable, she didn’t want to meet anyone’s eyes.
“Well?” Ambrose demanded as he finished pulling on his boots.
“Langley is the brother to a woman named Hilary Clifford. She married a man named Marshall Clifford a few years ago.”
The name Marshall Clifford was a renewed staff to her heart.
“Marshall is involved?” she asked.
Both Ambrose and Darlington turned toward her.
“You know him?” Darlington asked. When she nodded, he continued. “It seems that Marshall has upset his wife by mentioning you too often—old loves fade slowly—and well, she complained to her brother, Gerald Langley. He seemed to think it would please his sister to destroy Lady Alexandra’s reputation for being a paragon of virtue and grace.”
Stunned, Alex took too long to react as the identity of the man who’d begun the wager sank in. This had been about Marshall and his wife.
“He wanted her ruined because Marshall Clifford was too much of a fool to marry Alex when he had the chance and it upsets his current wife to know that?” Ambrose growled.
“Yes, that about sums it up,” Darlington said. “Nasty man, Langley, and Clifford sounds like a fool.”
“He is,” Ambrose said. “I’ve met Hilary. She’s an ugly woman who believes her position and money entitle her to just about everything. She bought herself a husband but couldn’t buy his heart. Foolish creature.”
“I should like to go home now.” Alex’s voice came out barely above a whisper, but both men heard her.
“I’ll summon the carriage,” Darlington said and met Alex’s gaze. “I offer my apologies, Lady Alexandra. I know you have no obligation to forgive me, but I beg for it nonetheless. If there had been another way to save you from the wager, we would have chosen that course of action.” Darlington, for once, seemed entirely sincere, which, given his reputation, left Alex feeling strangely conflicted as she watched the impoverished viscount leave them alone.
“Ambrose, I’m ready to leave. Please, let’s go,” she begged.
“Come on,” he said gently and escorted her downstairs and into the waiting coach.
The streets were just beginning to fill with people, and if they did not reach her mother’s townhouse soon, she would be spotted in her nightgown with Ambrose. Then again, what did it matter? The damage was done. Her life was destroyed, and her heart lay in crystalline shards at her feet.
*****
Ambrose’s arms hurt with a longing to hold Alex. She sat across from him in Vaughn’s private coach, her face cold and her eyes downcast. It was as though something had broken inside her—he could see it in the hollow expression on her face and the thinness of her lips. His beautiful, wild Alex was broken.
I broke her.
“Alex…” he began more than once, but she never looked up, and he never continued. The words were trapped inside his head and his heart. They created a pain just behind his eyes and at the back of his throat.
Nothing had ever hurt like this. It was like someone had plunged a dagger into his chest, and with each passing second the invisible blade was twisted deeper.
The coach stopped on Audley Street, and he held up a hand.
“Wait inside the coach. Let me tell them you’re here. I don’t want you to have to wait outside.” He climbed down the coach stairs and then walked up to the townhouse and rapped the lion-headed knocker. It took only a minute for the butler to answer, but Lady and Lord Rockford were right behind him.
“Worthing! Thank God! Is she here? Is she all right?” Rockford demanded.
“Yes, I’ll fetch her.” He returned to the coach and tried to assist Alex down. She ignored his reaching hands and braced herself against the walls of the coach and then stepped down. She brushed past him without a backward glance and rushed into her mother’s arms. Rockford looked between his daughter and Ambrose.
“What happened?”
“We were forced to satisfy the wager—at least in appearance only. She’s unharmed, but Gerald Langley, the man who started the wager, will spread the news of her ruination by nightfall.” Ambrose held his hat in his hands, awkwardly trying to catch a glimpse of Alex, who was still with her mother in the entryway.
“Come in, Worthing.” Rockford waved him in, his gaze somber. “I suppose we ought to discuss the matter of…well…marriage. I assume you are offering yourself after what happened?”
