Page 108 of The Earl’s Forbidden Temptation

How shall I ever learn to let you go? she cried silently.

“Would you prefer to withdraw to the library?” Elizabeth asked gently, her expression soft with concern.

Darcy understood the kindness in the offer. “I…”

“I think we should,” Agatha said. “I shall keep you company.”

Darcy nodded, then tensed as she realized Sebastian was drawing nearer, though he had not yet seen her. Oh God. She commanded her legs to move, to carry her away with as much speed and discretion as she could manage, but her body refused to obey.

The stares began anew, sharper now and emboldened by the countess’s presence. Fans lifted like painted shields. Whispers swelled. Several ladies regarded Darcy with thinly veiled satisfaction, as though her humiliation were an entertainment they had long anticipated.

They would not dare offend the countess. Nor her son. But Darcy had no title, no powerful family, and no gentleman publicly claiming the right to defend her. She was unprotected.

Expendable.

CHAPTER 35

Darcy lifted her chin and gathered the strength that had carried her through hunger, grief, and every sacrifice made for her sisters. She would not surrender it now to a roomful of strangers armed with whispers. Their judgment did not define her. This was not her world, and she no longer desired admittance into a society capable of dressing cruelty in silk and calling it breeding.

“I...” she began, turning toward Elizabeth, prepared at last to accept the duchess’s offer and withdraw with her dignity intact.

A sharp intake of breath traveled through those nearest, sudden enough to still even the whisper of silk and the flutter of fans.

Darcy looked up. Sebastian advanced through the glittering crush with a quiet authority that divided it before him. Candlelight glanced from the severe planes of his face and the dark perfection of his evening clothes, while men inclined their heads and ladies yielded without appearing to do so. His mother was no longer beside him. The countess stood among several matrons beneath the blazing chandeliers, composed and elegant, every inch a woman secure in her rank.

Yet Darcy no longer mistook composure for indifference. The vile sheet had dragged the countess’s most private humiliation before the world, and beneath that faultless poise there must be an agony Darcy understood too well.

Sebastian drew nearer, and a soft breath shuddered from Darcy. He walked with effortless command, though a faint tension sharpened the line of his mouth. Something fierce and controlled burned beneath his outward calm, and the sight of it made her pulse stumble.

He was devastatingly handsome, but it was not beauty that held her motionless. It was the terrible uncertainty of his purpose. His path led toward Elizabeth, his hostess, and Darcy’s newly mended heart faltered.

“Go,” Elizabeth urged beneath the swelling music. “Leave now with Agatha, before he reaches us.”

Darcy blinked, cold spreading beneath her skin. “You believe he means to cut me?”

Elizabeth’s pained expression answered before she could speak.

The possibility struck with all the cruelty of certainty.

“Do not surrender to fear merely because Elizabeth has,” Agatha said, her voice quiet but resolute. “It is too late to withdraw without drawing greater notice. Everyone in this room is watching while pretending not to look. I shall remain beside you. If he cuts you, Darcy, the loss and the shame will be entirely his.”

Shock and pain rooted Darcy more effectively than any command. The thought that Sebastian might pass without acknowledging her, that he might choose before the whole of society to deny what he had confessed only hours earlier, opened the wound he had once inflicted with his cold farewell. Darcy remembered its measured civility, and the hollow silence that had followed. She could not endure such abandonment twice.

She could not move, though every instinct urged her to escape.

She could not think beyond the brutal beat of her heart.

She could only wait as he came ever nearer. Her stomach knotted until she feared her knees might fail. The ballroom seemed to draw one collective breath around her. Candle flames trembled in their crystal sconces, the violins sang on, and beneath the music ran the brittle silence of hundreds awaiting a spectacle. Even Elizabeth had gone still, her gloved fingers closing protectively around Darcy’s arm.

The Earl of Raine crossed the final distance with unhurried grace, every inch the powerful nobleman society revered and feared in equal measure. When he reached them, he bowed to Elizabeth with impeccable courtesy.

“Your Grace,” he said, acknowledging his hostess as civility required.

“Lord Raine.” Elizabeth’s answering smile was gracious, though her watchful gaze betrayed her unease. “I am delighted you have joined us this evening.”

Then Sebastian lifted his eyes.

They found Darcy at once.