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“What?” Madeleine asked, stunned and confused. “You are telling me to marry another man?”

He understood why she was confused but could not let the pain he saw in her eyes influence his decision. It was for her own protection.

“Yes, I am. Marry Hamish MacElroy. He is the right man for you. If he cannot please you physically, then simply do what I just did with my fingers to yourself.”

The image of her pleasuring herself was almost more than Percy could handle. Not wishing to remain within the realm of temptation, he checked to make certain no one would see themthen went to step out through the boxwoods, back into the main garden. Madeleine caught his hand before he go far and tugged him back into the smaller garden.

Madeleine, with hurt and anger in her eyes, studied him so closely that he had to look away, afraid of all that she might see within him.

“I do not believe in curses,” she said vehemently, her hand still clinging to his. “But I do believe in love.”

Emotion swelled in Percy’s throat as he drew narrowed eyes back at her, his mouth set into a grim, flat line.

“That is the real problem, is it not?” she asked. “That you still love her—Francis. Even though she is gone. Cecil said that you did not, but I do not believe it. She was on her way to see you when she died. She was on her death bed, and yet she still tried to get to you. If that is not love, I do not know what is. Cecil said that you did not love her, even if she did love you. So, I ask you. Do you still love her?”

“I do.”

The necessary lie came out easier than he predicted, and those two words seemed to still the breath in Madeleine’s lungs. She did not stop him as he untethered himself from her grasp.

“And I always will.”

“Percival…” he heard her breathe, and it was then he felt the enormity of his pain. Swallowing it like a lump in his throat, he ignored the urge to go back to her and left her to find her way back to the ball alone.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Your sister, the Viscountess of Kensington, is here to see you, My Lady,” Lucy announced from the doorway. Madeleine poked her head out from beneath the covers, quickly wiping the tears from her cheeks. She had asked to be left alone for the morning, stating that she was not feeling well, but Lucy was clearly ignoring that order.

Emily swept into the room, not waiting for permission. She looked much better than she had the last time that they had spoken with one another. “I have been informed that you are not feeling well. You are sniffling. Have you come down with an ague?”

Madeleine shook her head. “No, I am simply tired.”

Emily came around to sit on the edge of the bed nearest Madeleine and frowned down at her in concern. “You have been crying. What has happened?”

Madeleine had not planned on telling anyone anything about what had transpired between herself and Percy, but with Emily sitting there, her face wreathed in loving concern, she ended up pouring her heart out. “Percy and I are no longer courting.”

“Why? What happened? Did he hurt you?” Emily reached out to take Madeleine’s hand in sympathy. “Shall I have Father or Cecil speak with him?”

Madeleine shook her head. “It was never real between us.”

Emily’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“It was a ruse. We were pretending to care for one another so that Father would not make me wed Herbert Mowbray or some other equally unpleasant suitor,” Madeleine explained.

Emily looked at her in shock. “But I saw the two of you together. You do care for one another. It was plain for all to see. No one is that good of an actor.”

Tears started pouring down Madeleine’s cheeks once more. “He is in love with someone else.”

“Who?”

“Her name was Miss Francis Rosiland Belmont. They were betrothed. She died in a terrible carriage accident after having been ill for some time. That is all that I know of her.” Madeleinesobbed even harder at the thought of the pain that Percy must have felt with the loss of his betrothed.

Emily gathered Madeleine into her arms. “You love him.” It was not a question. It was a statement. Unfortunately for Madeleine, it was a statement of undeniable truth.

“I did not mean to,” she sobbed, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. “I do not know how it happened. One moment, I was angry with him, the next moment, he was walking away, and my heart felt as if it was made of shattered glass.”

Emily brushed the hair back from Madeleine’s tear-stained cheeks. “Have you told him how you feel?”

Madeleine shook her head. “I have not. I cannot.”