Page 2 of Taming a Beastly Duke
Adelaide made a face and shook her head.
“He is trying to usurp a duchy which is not his to claim,” she said.
Her mother looked at her with a distaste she knew well. “And you are trying to uphold a dignity that is not yours,” she hissed. “When will you learn that you must be more ladylike and less bold? Your sisters were betrothed before their third seasons, and yet you cannot get a single suitor to call on you after one dance.”
Adelaide shook her head, her cheeks flushing. She had expected such a reaction from her mother. But it never became easier to accept her admonishments.
“Just look at your sisters,” the viscountess continued, her tone instantly changing to one of pride and love. “Henrietta is mingling with her guests with such grace and charm that she is the envy of all the other countesses in attendance.” She paused, glancing to the other side of the room, where Adelaide’s other sister walked arm in arm with her husband. “And Catherine is a portrait of wedded bliss. In her six months as a baroness, she has been more charitable than half the ton ladies combined in the past year.”
Adelaide bit her cheek to keep her expression from souring. She knew her sisters had taken better to their prim and proper upbringing than she had, and that her parents wanted nothing more than to marry her off as they had done with her older sisters. But hearing such praise of her sisters, when all she ever received were lectures and disapproval from her parents, made her distaste for elegant social events and societal expectations even stronger. Shewanted them to be proud of her. But could they ever be proud of her for who she was, rather than behaving as though her every breath was a ruinous scandal to their reputation?
When Henrietta approached with her gracious smile and chiding eyes, Adelaide prepared herself for a stilted, pointed conversation. Her mother and sisters had no reservations about talking about her as though she was not present, even at social affairs. She did not wish to listen to the passive, stinging remarks made toward and about her, but nor could she make a scene.
She glanced around, hoping to find someone with whom she could speak, if only for a moment. However, what she saw was Baron Gregory Heyden approaching with a stride as ancient as Bath’s great abbey. Her mother had compelled her to dance with him at previous assemblies, and she could discern the tremor in his hands, which was manifest even as he held them at his waist, and the cloudiness of his advancing years was as revealing as ever. He would have been too aged to be her grandfather, she was convinced, and a dance with him would be nothing but a source of mortifying discomfort and torment.
She looked to her mother, prepared for a brilliant, expectant smile on her face. However, Adelaide realized that she and her eldest daughter were engaged in a conversation, apparently about the recent marriage matches in the ton. It was a conversation that would, undoubtedly, turn to Adelaide’s failure to secure a match. But for the moment, her mother and sister were occupied, and a moment was all she needed.
She stepped back, seamlessly blending herself into a group of people just behind where her mother and eldest sister stood. She glanced around, seeing no sign of her lady’s maid. Her heart leapt into her throat as the antiquated baron continued toward her mother like a snail. She only had a couple of minutes before the viscountess noticed her absence. And she needed more than a breath of fresh air.
The ballroom lacked a balcony or an exit to the gardens, but Adelaide was familiar enough with the corridors of her eldest sister’s house to know where she needed to go. She breathed more easily the instant she was away from the heaviness of the disappointed eyes and pointed comparisons to her older sisters.
By the time she stepped onto the terrace on the west side of the mansion, the cool night air brought a smile to her face. She relished the solitude, grateful for an opportunity to hear nothing but her own thoughts.
“Good evening, beautiful,” slurred a deep, husky voice from the shadows behind her, disrupting her relief.
She whirled around to see Lord George Huntley, known for being one of the biggest rakes in all of England, stepping into the pale moonlight. He wore nothing beneath his tailored green coat and held a matching scarf in his hands, wrapping one end of it around a closing fist.
“Excuse me,” she said, trying to sound less startled than she was. “I thought I would be alone out here.”
The rake studied her, the confusion on his face turning into chilling intrigue.
“And I thought you were someone else,” he murmured. “However, you are even lovelier.”
Adelaide moved to walk past him and back inside the mansion, but he stepped to the side, blocking her reentry. Lord Huntley was well known for soiling the reputations of innocent debutantes by coaxing them to come to him alone and ending up in scandalous situations. How many young ladies he had completely ruined was unknown to Adelaide. All she knew was that she did not wish to end up as one of them.
“My mother expects my return at any moment," she said, her voice trembling beneath the serpent-like smile he wore.
The man shook his head, licking his lips and chuckling, filling the air with the scent of brandy on his breath. Her heart raced, and she looked around with wide eyes, desperate to find an escape.
Just as Lord Huntley grabbed her and pulled her close, shocked gasps filled the air behind him. With horror, Adelaide saw London’s most notorious gossip-monger, Lady Jessica Jersey, leading at least half the ball’s guests onto the terrace. At first, she was as surprised as Adelaide had been. But as she took in the scene before her, noting the proximity of the rake’s body to Adelaide’s, her expression transformed into cold calculation.
“Miss Barrett, how could you?” she asked, clicking her tongue reproachfully, even as her eyes shone with glee. “Such a display is abhorrent anywhere for a lady, but to behave so lasciviously in your own sister’s home?”
The color drained from Adelaide’s face as she opened her mouth in a vain attempt to explain and defend herself. But she glimpsed her mother’s horrified expression as she stood between Henrietta, who glared at her with cold disapproval, and Catherine, whose hand flew first to her lips, then to her cheeks to hide her embarrassment.
I fled from Mother’s efforts of matchmaking and straight into my own ruin, she thought as the disgusted, mortified stares of her peers and social superiors showed her just how dire her situation truly was. She regarded the scoundrel of a man who held her, silently beseeching him to elucidate his intentions and absolve her of the transgressions of which all were convinced her to be culpable.
The rake turned his head at last, surveying the audience, which had continued to grow as the whispers of the ball guests grew into murmurs and finally, into animated, echoing chatter. He released Adelaide quickly, taking an unsteady step backward and straightening his coat.
“Forgive me for such a terrible misunderstanding,” he said, his face twisted in a forced mask of horror. He put up his hands, looking almost asthough Adelaide had been the one to make advances on him as he disappeared down the stairs leading into the garden. He had vanished as quickly as he had appeared, leaving Adelaide to suffer the consequences.
“It was a mistake,” Adelaide stammered quickly, hoping that someone had heard what Lord Huntley had said and might be willing to listen.
“It was certainly a mistake, Adelaide,” the viscountess said, storming through the crowd and gripping her wrist fiercely. “Come with me. Now.”
Before Adelaide could continue pleading, her mother dragged her through the gossiping ball guests and back down the same corridors which had, only moments prior, offered her the promise of sanctuary. Her heart was racing as she unwillingly followed her mother. Would she get the opportunity to explain herself once her family was less angry? Or would they believe the situation to be as it appeared to be and dismiss her as scandalized and ruined, just as their peers did?
Chapter Two
