Page 55 of Duchess By Accident
“It does to me.” Natalie took her hand gently in his and squeezed it. “You asked me to be here because I am good with children. I may know precious little about the world, but please trust that I know at least that.”
“I would say you know more about the world than you give yourself credit for.” Adrian gave her a weak smile.
“If that were true, perhaps things would have turned out differently. I suppose at least I can say that I learn from my mistakes.” She moved away from him, wrapping her armsaround herself and shaking her head, giving him a sad smile. “Though learning from them seems to have done me little good.”
“What do you mean?” he canted his head towards her.
“It is nothing.” She made a dismissive gesture.
“It is clearly not.” Adrian frowned at her. “You are upset.”
She sighed. “Sometimes it feels as though my life will be defined by one moment. One tiny moment where I put my trust in the wrong person, and now I will live with the consequences until I die.”
“You are talking about Lord Bolton.” Adrian clenched his fist.
“Yes.” Natalie swallowed, and turned from him. “I… It would seem my reputation has not been salvaged by our marriage. I am some irredeemable, scheming harlot as far as the ton is concerned. Yet the man who tricked me… He has faced no consequence, save a lightening of his purse. He is not shunned.”
“The ton is full of fools.” Adrian saw the pain on Natalie’s face as a fierce anger flowed through him.
“Be that as it may, they are fools who seem determined to make my life, and those around me miserable. Peter’s lady love… They have been torn asunder by my reputation. All of the people I love, they are paying for my mistake. And I can do nothing toprotect any of us.” Natalie opened her mouth, closed it again and chewed on her lip.
“I should have paid closer attention.” Adrian shook his head.How could I let myself get so distracted?“I am afraid our honeymoon is over. We will return to London on the morrow. I have let this go on long enough.”
“What do you mean?” Natalie asked.
“I will make each and every one of them regret the day they decided to believe such vile and nasty rumours.” His voice was full of an icy rage. “No one disrespects my wife – not if they wish to see old age.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Now, if you can wrangle an invitation to Marchioness Penworthy’s ball, that would be worth going to. She is well connected, and her words carry a lot of weight in the ton.”Lady Cotswalts said, looping an arm through Natalie’s.
They had only been in London one day, and Natalie had reached out to her in the hopes that she might be able to provide some advice on how she might fix her reputation. Having spent the better part of an hour in Hyde park strategizing, Natalie was beginning to wish she had brought something to take notes in.
If I remember everything it will be a miracle.She frowned. “In addition to the six we have already agreed to? Or should we replace one for hers? You did say we should not make ourselves too available after all.”
“The marchioness will no doubt plan her event on the same night as the Brightwell’s. Apparently, their youngest son was courting one of her nieces and broke the poor girls heart when heproposed to another woman instead. It has reignited their feud.” Lady Cotswalts made a dismissive gesture. “And as I said, there is no way to be certain you would be able to get yourself invited.”
“Ad- The Duke seems to feel that invitations will pose no issue for us.” Natalie hastily avoided using Adrian’s first name.I do not want Lady Cotswalts to think we are in that sort of arrangement.“Though I am not convinced.”
Lady Cotswalts gave her a frank look. “You may be the ton’s latest scandal, but your husband is a powerful duke and very few would dare slight him by not even extending an invitation to him.”
“But they are not so scared of him that they will not drag my name through the mud.” Natalie could not keep the bitterness from her voice.
“Yours is a new marriage and he is known as a man about town. Besides they will claim that they are only repeating what they hear. Even those writers in the scandal sheets have the good sense to use a pen name. One may repeat a rumour and be forgiven, but to start one is another thing entirely.” She wagged her finger in mocking disproval at an imaginary person.
Natalie furrowed her brow. “Then surely we should be trying to discover the source of the rumours? That is the person we need to stop.”
“That is one avenue, but you will still need to win the ton to your cause. Even if it was revealed that everything that is being saidabout you is false-” Lady Cotswalts was cut off as Natalie pointed out,“-which it is.”
“Did you want my help, dearest Natalie?” The Viscountess arched an eyebrow at Natalie, her lips becoming thin lines of disapproval. It made Natalie realise just why so many people balked at the thought of earning her ire.
She swallowed. “I will not interrupt again.”
“Good. Finding the person behind these rumours will accomplish very little if you do not also take steps to salvage your reputation.” Lady Cotswalts explained, “When the ton is this willing to believe the worst of you, you must show them the best of you.”
“Why?” Natalie frowned.
“Because that way you will have people who are willing to challenge the rumours. And if you do find the culprit and somehow convince them to completely debase themselves and reveal that everything they have said is a lie, then people will believe you.” She gave Natalie a gentle prod to emphasise this point. “Without fixing your reputation, there is every chance they will think you have found a stooge to simply do your bidding.”
