Page 9 of The Scarred Duchess Deal
Did they want her to overhear? Perhaps Tessa was right in her assumption that people simply enjoyed being cruel.
Another one of the wallflowers laughed and shook her head. “I would never leave my room!”
The mocking she could tolerate. Tessa could even withstand the lingering glances… but the laughter? That she could not tolerate. She felt tears welling in her eyes as they continued to speak about her as if she did not have ears to hear them. Her chin dimpled, and she shoved away from the wall. She would not allow them to see her cry.
She cut them what she hoped was her most scathing look before she wound her way through the crowd to the door. It was not as if her aunt or Sophie would miss her company. She had been their ticket inside, and now her purpose had been served.
Tears started to fall the moment she found she was alone in the hallway. Her footsteps made nearly no sound at all as she walked quickly along the polished floors. She left the venue through the very first external door that she found, but it did not take her to the carriages as she had hoped it might. Instead, she found herself facing an elaborate garden with high hedges and a trellis that formed what seemed to be a privacy wall. She did not hesitate to head inside it.
The music of the ball started to fade behind her. The chill of the evening air did not even register until she was far enough out of the ball to feel just how dark it had gotten. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and sank down onto her heels.
All alone, she finally gave herself permission to cry.
ChapterSix
“Hello?” Leo called once more. “Is there anybody out here?”
He stepped between the hedges and followed the circular path set out. He walked with some urgency as he was not certain if there was an animal that was injured or if it was a person. Either way, he knew that he’d heard the sounds of something or someone in distress. It was a welcome diversion from the way he felt about his own situation.
He did not pay much attention to the direction that he was headed, for he allowed his ears to be his guide. “Do not be afraid. I can assist you?”
Perhaps it was a lost child? No, it did not sound like that at all. Leo moved so quickly that he nearly tumbled over a bush in his haste. He twisted his body at the last possible second and threw himself off course. He was forced to stop moving as he turned to apologize to the bush – and then caught himself realizing how silly that would have made him feel. Apologizing to a plant? Who had ever heard of such a thing?
Only, it was not a plant. The soft green and pink of her gown when seen out of the corner of his eye had misled him. “Oh! My deepest apologies! Please, allow me to help you up!” he exclaimed quickly.
The woman sniffled and shook her head. She did not rise nor did she turn to look at him. It appeared that she desired to be left alone. “I am quite all right. Thank you, Sir, you may be on your way.” She had a sweet, melodic voice, despite it being very obvious that she had been crying.
“If you are all right, then why are you crying?” Leo asked without moving.
“I am not crying.”
Leo grinned. “I know what crying sounds like when I hear it.”
“I was merely… picking flowers. Besides, if I were crying, you would be quite rude to comment on it,” the woman answered, finally turning to look at him. The moment she started to stand, Leo extended his hand to offer her assistance but she either did not see it or simply had no intentions of accepting help of any kind. “See? I am quite well, Sir. Please be on your way.”
She looked up and the moonlight exposed her face to him. He could not help but stare. Half of her face was perhaps the most beautiful arrangement of features that he had ever seen in his life – breathtaking really. She had the sort of delicate yet bold features that poets dreamed of… then there was the other side. Twisted and marked by fire’s kiss. He had seen wounds like that on the hands or feet of soldiers that he had met during his travels but never anything as extensive as what this woman had. It twisted down the side of her neck and he could see similar scars on the small gap of skin below where her gown’s sleeve ended and her glove began. It was a disfigurement, to be certain, but he could not have assigned a description to her overall that was not stunning. For better and for worse. She must have suffered extraordinarily to have lived through something that could have left her marked in such a way.
“Am I so shocking to you, Sir?” the woman bit out.
Leo shook his head in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“You should, actually. You should beg for my pardon! Am I really so strange looking to you that you feel it is acceptable to gawk at me like that?” Tessa rarely allowed herself to react in the way that she wished to, but here in the privacy of the gardens, she gave herself permission to behave the way that she wished. It felt good. Too good. No matter how much everything else spiraled out of her control, she would have this one moment to cling to.
“I do beg, My Lady, I beg your forgiveness – I did not mean to offend you. I certainly did not gawk in a… negative–” Leo struggled to find the words to express himself. It was hard not to look at her. He tried to look anywhere other than her face so that she would be less offended but it did not work well. “I merely came to the gardens in search of a friend of mine. With your pardon, I will resume my search and pray that you forgive my impertinence.”
Tessa deliberated for a moment. She did not know if she wished to accept his apology or not. He seemed genuine enough. “You are the only other person who has come out into the gardens. Whomever you are looking for, I assure you that they are not out here.”
“I thank you.” Leo bowed at the waist to thank her for her forgiveness when he realized that was not at all implied. “Perhaps, while you deliberate my penance for offending you… I might ask a favor of you?”
Tessa grinned in spite of herself. “That would be most bold – asking a favor when you already have a debt of politeness.”
“I know, but I trust you to be fair in your judgment of me, My Lady. I only ask that perhaps you could tell me if you have seen a gentleman by the name of Mortimer Windrop this evening? I arrived quite late and do not know if he was announced,” Leo asked hopefully.
The woman’s face shifted instantly. She went from playful to almost cold in the span of a second. “What business do you have with Mortimer Windrop?”
It was obvious that she knew him, at the very least. “Nothing sinister, I assure you. I have been out of town for the last few years, traveling, and wished to reconnect with him. Many years ago, I considered him to be one of my very closest friends. He does not yet know I have returned to town. I wished to surprise him.”
It was not alie.Leo always found that it was easier to get away with things when one took the truth and simply bent it a little bit. He allowed his natural charm to do the rest.
