What am I to do? She tried to marshal her thoughts and reason around the panic rearing its head. First she needed to alert her father, then speak with Mr. Atwood, Evie, and then…
The door pushed, and Adel lurched around.
“Oh, Evie,” Adel gasped, and shocked herself by bursting into raw ugly tears. “Oh, forgive me. I fear my nerves are shattered.”
Evie’s eyes were red rimmed, and she looked broken and guilty. “Dress quickly. Mamma is coming.”
Then she hurried to the armoire and selected a pale yellow high waist gown that had already been pressed for tomorrow’s croquet match. Responding to Evie’s urgency, Adel shrugged from the voluminous nightgown and slipped on her underclothes and the dress with Evie’s aid.
The door to her chamber crashed opened once again.
The countess stormed in, lips flattened, eyes pinched in fury. What is it? When Adel had concocted her plan, she understood she would have earned the countess’s disapproval, despite Evie’s assurance her mother would understand. But the rage in her hostess’s steps spoke of something more.
“Sir Archibald and Lady Margaret will see you in the library. I have informed them of the situation.”
Adel was unable to imagine her father’s distraught. “Lady Gladstone, I—”
“Do not speak. We invited you into our life, and by association you and your family were greatly elevated and this is how you repaid Evie? By stealing her fiancé?” Lady Gladstone’s voice was sharp and accusatory.
Adel’s heart skipped a beat, and then another. A deep sense of foreboding traveled through her. She glanced at Evie. Guilt darkened her eyes and tears tracked down her cheeks.
“Forgive me,” Evie mouthed.
Adel was too numb to react. She was herded to the library despite Evie’s plea to her mother that she needed to speak with Adel. The countess all but shoved her out of the chamber, and she was grateful to see the guests had gone. A minute later Adel entered the room and the countess slammed the door on her exit. Oh. It did not take long for loss and betrayal to scythe through Adel’s heart. Surely the countess would prevent further association with Evie…and what had she been thinking?
Adel paced, waiting in dread for her father to arrive and voice his displeasure. How could it have gone so wrong? The door creaked and she lifted her head. Her father and stepmother entered. Lord Gladstone strolled in behind them and gently closed the door. He gave her a reassuring smile, but Adel’s stomach dipped, and fear coated the back of her throat. She had never seen her father so livid and so embarrassed. “Papa, I can explain, I—”
“Be silent,” he roared, a bit of spittle flying from between his lips. He advanced and she retreated, her hips hitting against the oak table positioned in the center of the room. “I was in the card rooms with your mother when I was summoned. Your mother is appalled at your reckless disregard—”
“Stepmother,” Adel snapped, the agitation of being reminded of how easily he replaced her mother loosening her tongue.
He continued as if she had not spoken. “I have spent the last few minutes reassuring your fiancé this must all be a dreadful mistake, and you would never act with such wanton impropriety. Lord Vale has agreed to announce the engagement immediately. Now to stave off any further scandal the wedding will be proceeded with urgency. No time for banns to be posted and Vale is in the process of using his considerable influence to procure a special license.”
Somehow she never imagined her father’s reaction would be to foist her off even faster onto the earl. She glanced at Lady Margaret, and was met with a similar resolve in her gaze. Adel swallowed the laugh bubbling forth. She was found in the bed of a powerful duke who would certainly crush her for her temerity. The humiliation to come was enough to encourage her to flee to Derbyshire to her godmother. Why would Lord Vale still insist on marriage?
She hugged her middle, caught up in a vice of fear. As she thought on her life so far this season, Lord Vale’s constant veiled insinuations and repulsive pinches, a hot tide of rebellion stirred inside. “I have been compromised. Surely Lord Vale would not wish for a wife that is—”
Her father shook his head. “He understands that the blackguard James Atwood must have forced you to come to his room, and that young man will be dealt with. You are fortunate, Lord Vale is still willing to marry you and—”
“Young Mr. Atwood?” Lord Gladstone asked, from the mantel where he been watching the entire exchange.
Adel’s cheeks burned at the humiliation. The countess had not revealed with whom she had been caught. But why would Lord Vale pretend it had not been the duke? Of course, he was correctly thinking her parents would eagerly seek a forced match with Wolverton. Why would they settle for an earl when they could snag a duke? Lord Vale must have been hoping, they would have shepherded Adel from Pembington House and straight into his arms immediately.