Page 33 of The Rakehell's Seduction
Alex tried to digest this, but a wave of horror and shock hit her as she fully understood how dire her situation was.
“Are you…will you…” She failed to ask if he would force her.
Darlington grimaced. “I’ll not touch you, not in that way. All I require is proof that you stayed in my townhouse unchaperoned, and once I’ve offered that proof, your lover will come to your rescue. I can be most convincing regarding your ruination.”
Alex’s relief that he didn’t plan to force her was momentary.
“My lover?”
He smiled. The expression was smug. “I am all too aware of which manactuallyruined you. Why else would you show up at our door looking for Worthing after midnight? I’m not a fool, darling. You’re besotted with him, and the sad fact is that you have no idea he is a part of all of this.” Darlington waved his hand around the coach interior.
“What?” Alex barely got the word out. His declaration had knocked the breath from her body. Surely he was lying. Ambrose couldn’t—
“I’m not the man who put his name down in the books beside your wager. Any man could try to satisfy the terms, but Worthing put himself directly into your wager with dozens of witnesses to see him. He’s the one who vowed to seduce you in front of a roomful of gentlemen. I’m simply the man trying to beat him to it.”
No…Alex’s eyes burned with fresh tears, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe. Not Ambrose. Not after everything…
Her heart gave a painful beat. Then it seemed to stop altogether as an awful hollowness took its place.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there in the silence of the coach as it rattled toward London. It was likely hours. She was numb by the time they’d entered Grosvenor Square. Pale early-morning light peeped warily through the parted coach curtains of the small windows. Alex gazed at the fine row of houses on Duke Street, watching the predawn light turn the white stones a pale pink and the trees a lovely shade of purple. But she didn’t really see it. Her mind was turned inward, dwelling on her pain.
Ambrose had broken her heart, betrayed her, for the sake of some damned wager by a bunch of cruel men in a club. It was all about money, for him and for Lord Darlington. At least the latter had been brave enough to own up to his schemes. Ambrose had truly seduced her, not just her body but her heart. She cringed at how foolish she’d been to let her guard down and let him into her heart.
The coach stopped in front of an elegant townhouse, and she let Lord Darlington escort her up the stairs and inside. There was little point in fighting him off or trying to escape. She was in her nightclothes and dressing gown. If she ran about in the streets dressed like this, it would ruin her and make her appear to be mad. Better to stay with Darlington for now until she could reason out a better alternative.
“This way, my lady.” Darlington ushered her to an upstairs bedchamber that, while well furnished, was clearly outdated and a bit unkempt. It was clear Darlington was in dire straits just as Perdita had said.
“Lord Darlington,” she began, turning to face him as he stood in the doorway, blocking any escape.
“Yes?” He held his hat in one hand and watched her seriously, his blue eyes cool and calculating.
“What if my father paid you? Would you let me go and not ruin me, at least publicly?” It was worth a shot, however small, to ask him that.
Darlington studied her, and she could see him weighing the options she presented against the wager’s payout. There was a flicker of hesitation in his eyes as they softened to pity.
“That wouldn’t work, at least not to save you from ruination. The bets are a serious thing, my dear. If it wasn’t me, another man, possibly one who wouldn’t be bothered to leave you truly untouched, would take up the challenge. I don’t believe either of us wishes to see you fall prey to another man.” He started to leave, but Alex rushed to him and caught his arm.
“Please, Lord Darlington, let me go home. Don’t do this.” She’d never been one for begging, but in that moment she would’ve done anything to get free and escape ruination.
“I’m sorry. Truly. It is not to my taste to seduce innocents or even pretend to. But this necessary charade will help me survive a little bit longer before I must sell the clothes off my back.” He hesitated and then sighed. “It will be over soon. All I intend to do is bring over the gentleman who arranged the wager and let him see you in my house dressed as you are. That should be public enough, I hope, to satisfy him. Then you may return home. Please stay in this room. There is nowhere else for you to go. I will send up a tray of food shortly so you may break your fast.” He bowed and then slipped outside, closing the door behind him and turning the key in the lock.
Alex stood facing the closed door for several long minutes, her heart stinging and her body still numb. What would happen when her father and Perdita awoke to find her gone? What about Ambrose? She banished that thought from her mind. The last thing she needed to worry about was a man who had publicly accepted a wager to seduce her.
If only I had listened to my mind and not my heart that night at the assembly rooms in Lothbrook. We never should’ve waltzed. He never should’ve set foot in my home.
She had made too many foolish mistakes, ones that condemned her to ruination and heartbreak. This was worse than when Marshall had left her for a wealthy woman. Far worse. She hadn’t given Marshall everything, as she had done with Ambrose. He had her heart, body, and soul. She was the fool who would pay for indulging in such girlish dreams of falling in love and marrying a man who would love her back. Twice she had been burned upon the altar of love, and she was done with it all.
Love be damned.
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Chapter 13
Ambrose woke to a world where everything was pounding, his head, the door…
“Mr. Worthing! Please, you must wake up!” a feminine voice begged him.
A foggy pain seemed to have settled in his head, and he could barely hear anything aside from the blood pounding in his ears.
