A Dance to Tempt the Duke - Chapter 16

He had an apology, but what value did it really contain? Was it for the hurt she had caused him, or because he had found her out?

‘You were never supposed to know. No one was supposed to know.’

He had his answer. She was merely sorry she had been caught. ‘Then you failed, didn’t you?’

‘Yes.’

She looked so crestfallen he almost felt sorry for her. Almost. To stop himself from succumbing to pointless pity all he had to do was remember how he felt when he saw her in the arms of another man. The intensity of that pain was something he knew he would never forget.

‘Then we have nothing more to say to each other.’ He turned to leave.

‘Please,’ she said, placing her hand on his arm. ‘Let me explain.’

He was tempted to once again shrug her off and return to the ballroom, but he also wanted to hear what else she had to say, even if he suspected it would be more lies.

He gave a terse nod, followed her to a stone bench, and they both sat down and stared out at the garden.

‘I never meant to kiss Edward,’ she said quietly.

He gave a snort of disbelief. ‘And yet you did.’

‘Yes, and yet I did. But believe me I did so for the best of all motives and you have to believe me when I say I never meant to hurt you.’ She looked down at her gloved hands, gripping each other in her lap. ‘Or my cousin Jennifer.’

‘Jennifer?’ He said in surprise, then awareness dawned on him and his lip curled in derision. ‘Wasn’t Jennifer Howard engaged to Edward Montgomery? Yes, I believe she was, but then the engagement was suddenly called off. Were you responsible for that, as well?’

‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘I knew Montgomery was only courting Jenny because of her dowry. I knew he was a rake because—’ She drew in a slow breath. ‘Because he had tried to kiss me when I was only sixteen, before my coming out. I’d tried to tell Jenny what he was really like, but she would not listen to any criticism of him, and the family were so happy that she was engaged to an earl they were blinded to his faults.’

‘So you decided to seduce him to prove what sort of man he was. How noble of you,’ he said, his words full of scorn.

‘Yes. Well, no. Not seduce. Never that.’

‘No, Montgomery is not a man who needs to be seduced. He’s more than capable of taking whatever is on offer and I take it that’s what you did, offered yourself to him.’

Her gloved hands gripped together more tightly. ‘Yes. I was a fool. I know that now. An innocent fool who thought she knew what she was doing, who could save her cousin from a bad marriage, without causing anyone any pain.’

‘Well, you were wrong,’ he said, his words clipped. ‘But you are yet to explain your actions or tell me why you kissed Montgomery with such passion.’

‘Yes, you deserve to hear the full story,’ she said, and Victor braced himself for more lies and excuses.