Page 57 of Rose and the Rogue
“It’s terrible and so nasty, I can barely put it into words. But I swear it’s true. I overheard Uncle Fitz and his cronies talking about it during their card game. They were laughing about it, and they didn’t know I was there, so they had no reason to make up a tale just to shock me.”
“What is it, for pity’s sake?” Poppy demanded.
“You know that there’s a habit among some gentlemen to cast wagers on wild things. Absurd happenings or silly bets, but also things…they try to create. Such as making a fool of a certain lady.”
“Like that man leaving Rose on the dance floor,” Poppy said. “I guess it’s something like that.”
“This is worse, but I think it may stem from the first event. One of my uncle’s friends is just the type of man who will search out the strangest wagers on the books in the worst gaming hells and place money on them, just for the thrill of it. He placed a bet on you, Rose.”
“Me?” Rose asked in confusion. “How? What does that even mean?”
“Oh, God forgive me for being the one to tell you.” Heather inhaled, steeling herself. “There’s a pool for the question of what date Rosalind Blake, the blind girl, will be seduced and ruined, as defined by being unmarriageable. Any man can bet, but there’s higher stakes for the ones who bet on themselves doing the ruining. Apparently, one of the men who frequents that particular hell is none other than Viscount Norbury.”
Rose’s throat closed, and she sagged backward as her heart thudded ominously in her chest. Was this what happened when one died?
Poppy took her by the shoulders, holding her steady. “Rose, Rose, listen. There must be more to this. Or Heather misheard! Or something.”
“It’s worse,” Heather said. “Years ago, according to my uncle—who’d know because he wagered on the outcome like it was a horse race—there was a similar bet to ruin a young lady in Windsor. She was ruined, utterly, and finally left the country because she was so humiliated. The winner of that bet was a man named Adrian Marsh.”
“Who later became Viscount Norbury,” Poppy nearly spat out.
“Oh, no,” Rose moaned. To think she’d been so foolish. He talked about marriage afterward, as if he truly…cared.
Poppy and Heather sat on either side of her, forming a shield between her and the world. Poppy said, “Rose, darling, speak to us.”
“It all makes sense,” she said miserably. “I was ignored by society, and then Norbury danced with me, and then I was surrounded by men all trying to get me alone. And Norbury was one of them, and…he did get me alone.”
“He did?” Heather gasped.
Poppy squeezed her arm. “Tell me.”
“The night you stayed with your parents, Poppy, and Mama was gone, and Lady Sara chaperoned me at the party…well, I left the party, but I ended up at Adrian’s house. It wasn’t my personal charm that made him want to seduce me,” Rose said slowly. “It was some vile wager.” How was that possible, when he asked her to sing, when he told her any number of times, even right to the end, that he would take her home if she said?
“Oh. My. God,” Heather said heavily, her shoes stomping the ground as she cursed under her breath.
“You didn’t say a word!” Poppy almost wept.
“What was I to say? I wanted to be there, and it was a…secret.” Rose gasped in air, the memories of that night washing over her. Was she so easily manipulated?
“What are we going to do?” whispered Heather. “We have to do something to protect Rose from all this scandal!”
Rose’s hands were all wet, and that was when she discovered she was crying.
Heather wrapped her in a hug, and dabbed at her face with a handkerchief, murmuring useless platitudes that nevertheless felt like very necessary advice. Rose could barely think at the moment, and what if her friends weren’t with her now? It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Then why is this bet still on?” Poppy asked, to no one in particular. “If all he wanted was to ruin you, he’d have told the world about it and collected his winnings. But he hasn’t.”
“Perhaps he gets more money if he waits till a certain day,” Heather guessed.
“He did tell me it might take him a few days before he…” Rose choked up for a moment. “Lord, I’m such a fool.”
Poppy’s silence indicated that Heather’s guess could be correct. But then she said, “Listen, I’ll speak to his friend. I’ll get Mr. de la Guerra to tell me what’s going on.”
“And you’d trust him to tell you the truth?” Heather demanded. “He’s probably part of the whole plan!”
“If he is, I’ll scare him away from England forever,” Poppy said grimly.
Chapter 20
