Page 17 of The Insufferable Duke
“Then we smile and say she is preparing for her wedding. Walk away fast after that so they do not have chance to ask any more questions.” Helena forced a smile as they walked into the assembly rooms.
Just as her aunt feared, everyone turned to look at them.
Maybe this will be harder than I thought.
Julia’s scandal had appeared in the publicity sheets just a day after the last ball. The announcement of the betrothal had not been published until two days later, so the scandal was still very much alive. People talked about it like children would feed on sugar as they pointed in Helena’s and Kitty’s direction.
“Pray, let the floorboards open and swallow me whole,” Helena muttered.
“I agree.” Kitty sighed deeply. “I know your father insisted we come to maintain our reputation, but what good comes of this?” she asked, waving an arm at the room. “They look at us with hatred.”
“It is not so bad…” she broke off. “No, you’re right, I can’t even finish the sentence.” Taking hold of her aunt’s arm, she crossed the assembly rooms hurriedly and found refuge at a drinks table. She poured herself a glass and hid in the corner of the room by a candelabra.
“This is your plan? To hide in the shadows?”
“Do you have a better one?” Helena asked, sipping her wine. She had always been taught to face gossip with a confident air, to dismiss it, and that gossip would pass, yet this was no easy thing to face. There was not a soul in the room who was not looking at her.
Her face burned crimson red as she turned her back on the guests and looked down into her glass.
“I wish we could go home,” Kitty whispered, pouring herself a glass.
“As do I.” Helena felt a burning urge to look around the room, but she fought it. There was one person in particular she wished to seek out, someone she was dying to talk to.
The mere want in itself was strange, for there was a time when talking to the Duke of Bridstone would be the last thing on her priority list, right below striding through manure, but that had now changed. She wished to speak to him about what he had done for her sister.
“Don’t look round, don’t look round,” she murmured, fighting the urge to look for him as she feared meeting those penetrating gazes.
“You know what a stir you have caused just by walking in here?” a familiar voice said to Helena, reaching her side.
“Nancy, thank God you are here.” Helena reached for her friend’s hand and clasped it tightly. “You can keep me company in the shadows tonight.”
“Gladly,” Nancy whispered with a smile.
“I must talk to my friends; I will leave you two alone.” Kitty tapped Helena’s shoulder, showing she was leaving. “Be careful what you do and who you speak to tonight, Helena. We do not need any more whispering about us.” With those words, Kitty walked off.
“That felt strangely like a belittlement.” Helena arched her eyebrows as she watched Kitty leave. She’d always been close to her aunt, but it was the first time there had been any suggestion that Helena would do something of ill repute.
“Ignore her,” Nancy pleaded. She pulled on Helena’s arm and tugged her safely behind the drinks table, so they were even more hidden from those in the center of the assembly rooms. “Pray, tell me if what the scandal sheets say is true. Is your sister to be married?”
“Yes.”
“To a Moore?”
“Yes! To Lord Robert.” Helena downed what was in her glass. “I fear no drink is strong enough to stop my whirring thoughts.”
“That will hardly help.” Nancy took the empty glass away and returned it to the table. “How are you, truly?”
“I do not know.” Helena shook her head. “I’m happy for Julia, for she seems genuinely to care for Lord Robert.”
“She does?” Nancy asked, a smile appearing on her lips.
“Truly. In fact, she declares she’s in love with him.” Helena fidgeted, shifting her weight between her feet, but she stilled as Nancy gasped. “It is shocking.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Nancy asked in a small voice. “Like star-crossed lovers as they say.”
“This is notRomeo and Juliet!”Helena hissed in panic. “And I pray it does not end the same way, for that would be truly miserable.”
“I always rather liked the play,” Nancy whispered, lowering her hands from her chest where she had laid them over her heart.
