Page 80 of The Duke's Cursed Bride
“Can you see her?” Thomas asked. His back was to Lady Deborah.
Madeleine peered over his shoulder. “Yes.”
“Is she still staring?”
“She is. I think you shocked her.”
“She wasn’t expecting me to be so blunt, I think.”
“I don’t think that’s it. I think she wasn’t expecting you to be so obviously happy to be here with me. Remember, you were very blunt with her when you caught her mocking me in town. She knew you were capable of doing that.”
“I think you may be right,” Thomas agreed. “She might have been expecting me to be upset that you left the dance floor at our wedding ball. But I’m pleased you did that. After all, it gave us a chance to speak to each other privately that we otherwise would not have had that day.”
“That’s true,” Madeleine said. “And that moment did mean quite a lot to me.”
“And there was no chance I would ever have been unhappy to be here with you now,” Thomas added. “Not after everything you and I have been through together since the wedding. You make me happier than anyone else in the world, and besides, you’re the loveliest lady in the room. I’m thrilled to have you on my arm.” He chuckled. “The fact that she thought bringing up the curse might be off-putting to me is actually humorous. Nothing like that could possibly bother me today.”
He rotated them slowly in time with the music.
“Did you know,” Madeleine said, “that you are the only gentleman I’ve ever danced with?”
“Is that really true?”
“It is. At my first ball, no one asked me to dance. I suppose it’s to be expected. They were avoiding me because of the curse.”
“They’re fools,” Thomas said.
Madeleine smiled. “I was prepared to go home and tell my uncle that I had failed to make an impression on anyone,” she said. “I’m sure there must have been a part of him expecting that.”
“I can’t see why he would. I’m shocked to hear it, personally.”
“You see me in a way no one else ever has,” she said. “It was different for the others. They looked at me and saw nothing but a cursed lady. A scarred lady. Someone they wanted nothing to do with.”
“You know,” Thomas said, “I’ve always known that the gentlemen of thetonwere of lesser intelligence. But until now, I had no idea how deep their stupidity ran. To think any gentleman could look at you and not see how lovely you are—it’s just impossible for me to understand it. When I look at you, I can’t tear my eyes away. I would spend all day marveling at how beautiful you are if I didn’t think it would begin to annoy you to be stared at all the time.”
Madeleine laughed. “You’re right,” she told him. “That would annoy me after a while. But to know you feel that way is very flattering, Thomas.”
“Maybe we should have stayed home,” he said. “I think I would have preferred just spending the evening with you without all these people staring at us and coming up with ideas about our lives.”
“I thought you said gossip didn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t. But you do. I’d like an evening alone with you. I’d like it more than this party.”
She smiled at him. “We do have the rest of our lives,” she pointed out. “There will be plenty of evenings.”
“I suppose you’re right about that.”
She couldn’t quite believe what was happening. She was falling deeply in love with Thomas, something she had never meant to allow to happen. Even now, she wasn’t sure at all that this was a good idea.
But she didn’t think she could stop what had begun between them. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she didn’t think she wanted to.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
The following night, the nightmares found Madeleine again.
She awoke in a cold sweat, her entire body trembling, unable to calm herself down. She couldn’t even move from her bed. She pulled the covers over her head. She tried to breathe deeply, to remind herself that everything she had just seen was a product of her imagination. None of it had been real.
But she was afraid that if she opened her eyes, she would see the grim things she had dreamed about.
