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And now, Miss Delaney had made her appearance as well.

Just what is going on here?

The disgraced young lady looked at him regretfully. Her sorrowful smile was enough to garner the pity of anyone who looked at her. Had it been anyone, they would have been moved to sympathize with her.

However, Ethan could only see her duplicity and how she once intended to entrap him in a marriage with a child that was not his.

“I apologize for everything that happened between us, Your Grace,” she managed haltingly.

He looked at her coldly. “Nothinghappened between us, Miss Delaney.”

The young woman turned pale. “Indeed, Your Grace. It is as you say.”

He glared at her accusingly, and she seemed to shrivel under his stare.

There was no trace of her usual hauteur in her demeanor, but strangely enough, Ethan found no pleasure in that. There was simply no satisfaction to be had in kicking an opponent who had already sunk to the ground on their knees.

In fact, it could even be said that he felt close to nothing but a mild annoyance upon seeing the woman he had once led to the altar.

“Thankfully, my wife had been watching out for me,” he replied in a clipped tone, his patience wearing thin.

He had told Phoebe that he would follow after her shortly. He had no intention of breaking that promise to her, even if he had to jostle the very pregnant Miss Delaney aside.

“You are truly fortunate to have found Her Grace,” Miss Delaney said mournfully. “She has always been… very kind. But…”

“But what?”

Ethan looked at her, and while he once might have found her passably pretty, now he could only see the lies she had spunaround him. Had it not been for Phoebe’s intervention, he would have married her and lived the rest of his life in misery.

“I had hoped that the child was yours,” she told him brokenly, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Truly. I wished it was so.”

“Why?” he sneered. “So that you could become a duchess and receive all the glory and wealth that comes with the title?”

Miss Delaney turned a shade paler than she already was. “No,” she murmured, shaking her head. “If you had been the babe’s father, then I would have been assured that he or she would be taken care of. That you would not abandon his mother simply because his conception was an inconvenience to you.”

Ethan looked at her closely, expecting to see the sharp gleam of a lie in her eyes. She had fooled him once. He would not allow it a second time.

However, there truly was nothing but regret in the broken young woman before him. She had been well and truly deserted by the man responsible for her condition, and no doubt her family blamed their current hardships on her, too.

The Baron Latimer had not found success with any of his investments, and none of the other noblemen wished to do business with him. The Baroness’s name had also been struck out of the guest lists of many of London’s finest households.

Worse, Miss Delaney had a younger sister who was supposed to make her bow in two to three years. Now, the poor child will hardly be able to hold her head up high in Society after what happened to her sister.

“I am truly sorry for what happened to you, Miss Delaney.” There was no resentment in his voice, only the pity of a stranger. “As to your sudden appearance here, of all places, I simply do not understand what you hope to achieve.”

She smiled sadly at him, her hand cradling her slightly protruding belly, which now housed a growing, living child.

“I managed to escape from my family,” she said softly. “Papa went out to gamble once more, and Mama has taken to her rooms with her hartshorn after Lady Merryton refused to see her this afternoon.”

And from the state of her attire, he could tell that she was not invited to the ball either.

Indeed, the family’s woes seemed to never end. It was almost impossible to believe that not even two months ago, they had received the awe and congratulations of every single one of their acquaintances, back when their eldest daughter was poised to become a duchess.

It was quite jarring to see how quickly the ton could turn on one of their own, but such was the cruelty of Society, and those who dared to fly too high, as the Baron Latimer and his family did,often found themselves burned when they soared too close to the sun.

“You should make yourself scarce before anybody sees you,” he advised her. “They… will not be kind if they see you in your condition, Miss Delaney.”

Alice would not be so cruel as to turn away a disgraced young lady, but Ethan could not be certain about the other guests. He did not mean to be cruel—the truth was already far worse than he could ever be.