The Devil Rogue (17 page)

But t
hat would be a total disaster
!
She would
be left without funds and no
place to go
.
Returning
to The Baron’s house was not an option – she would beg on the streets before
she allowed
that
to
happen.

T
hey were to go to the Iverson’s ball
, which
were usually grand affairs
. E
veryone who was anyone would be in attendance
.
Angela groaned
inwardly
.
It would be difficult at best, disastrous at worst, and since
Blackridge
wouldn’t be returning until that very day, she had no opportunity to beg off before
-
hand
.

Bloody
hell
and damn that man!

Well, she would just have to hold her head up, get through the evening, and
let the chips fall where they may
.

5

Villarreal / The Devil Rogue
                                     

Chapter
1
0

THE BALLROOM WAS crammed
to capacity with a crush of people
.
Angela walked
be
side
Blackridge, her hand resting lightly on his arm
.
Her stomach felt like she’d swallowed a handful of
marbles
and her legs
trembled with every step
.
When they’d first
arrived
and
Blackridge’s presence
was
announced, a hush had fallen over the crowd, all eyes turn
ing
to them
.

Well, maybe not a complete hush, but rather a slight lowering in the noise level, and not everyone turned to stare, but quite a few
did
, nonetheless
.

Her body tensed when she received
a few
cool looks
as they passed by a particularly large group.
A couple of
older matrons actually turned their backs
on her
, giving her the cut direct.
Angela
felt so brittle at the moment that she
feared she would
shatter
at the slightest nudge.

Blackridge
leaned near her ear in order to be heard over the din of the crowd
.
“Would you like a glass of punch, Miss Hopkins?”

Angela’s mouth was so dry she could barely speak to answer him
.
She could use something to soothe her parched throat, but feared her stomach would reject anything
she put into it
.
She didn’t care to humiliate herself further by casting up her accounts in the middle of the Iverson’s ballroom
.

“No, thank you, my lord,” she
said
, staring straight ahead
.

She refused to acknowledge
the fact
that
she
seemed to be
the main topic of conversation
.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see members of the crowd whispering in ears,
tilting their
heads in order to receive the most titillating gossip of the evening
:
that
T
he Devil Rogue
and his mistress, Miss Angela Hopkins, had arrived.

“Are you sure
?
How about a glass of champaign, or better yet, I could get you some brandy.”
His brows were drawn together in what might be concern, but she couldn’t sure.

“No, my lord,
”
Angela
said
flatly, “
but thank you
,
just the same
.
”

They’d been there for about an hour, making a slow, leisurely circuit around the room
.
Angela wanted to scream
at
him to take her away from this
place
,
to
take her home
–
his home
, rather
–
it didn’t matter
.

She couldn’t help but hear snippets of whispered comments as they passed various clusters of people
.
They were talking about her, right in front of her
,
as if she w
eren
’t even there
.

“She’s his mistress now, can y
ou believe it?
”

“
To think she has the nerve to show up here!”

It wasn’t until she heard,
“
. . . h
ad several offers of marriage,
but turned them all down, flat,
”
t
hat she halted abruptly, causing Blackridge to
lightly
bump into her.

Ian looked down
at Miss Hopkins, curious as to why s
he
’d
stopped
so suddenly
,
and was
alarmed by the ghostly white pallor of her face
.
As they’d walked through the ballroom, he’d
actually becom
e
a little concerned.
F
rom what little he knew of her,
he could tell she wasn’t herself. But wasn’t this
what he’d
planned for in the first place? Even so, it tugged
at his conscience
to see the
signs of
distress
shadowed
in
her beautiful
blue
eyes.

“Are you all right?” he asked
.
He was the
one who
had
made sure
of it, so of
course she wa
sn’t all right
.

“I-I don’t feel very well, c-could you escort me to the retiring room
, please
?”

Ian had to
move
close
r in order
to hear her quietly spoken words
.
“Of course, come this way.”
He guided her around the perimeter of the room where it wasn’t so packed
with people
.
The cloying scent of women’s perfume, mixed with pomades, powders, and the odor of unwashed bodies
,
drifted around them as they walked
.

His concern increased when
Angela
faltered, her grip on his arm like a vice as she attempted to recover
.
He had to give her credit
, s
he was holding up admirably, considering how horri
b
ly she was being treated
.
Even though this was what he’d set out to accomplish,
Ian
found it
worrisome
to actually witness the effect it was having on her.

When they moved behind a
large marble
pillar, she suddenly turned on him
.
“Why did you bring me here
?
You must have known, or even guessed what my reception would be like
.
So I have to ask
if you
did this with
a
purpose in mind?”

Ian wasn’t about to tell her the truth
. . .
yet
.
He gr
ipp
ed her upper arms
.
“Listen,
princess,” he said, gentling his voice. “Y
ou had to face the reality of your situation at some point
.
I only
meant
to get it over with for you sooner, rather than later.”

What the hell kind of explanation was that?

“I don’t believe you,”
she
hissed
.
“You don’t think I noticed how much you seem to despise me?”

“I don’t despise you.”
Was that
true
?

“Just get me to the retiring room, if you would be so kind,”
Angela
said coldly.

Her head was pounding and her stomach rebelled more and more with every passing minute.
She felt unwelcome, unwanted, and claustrophobic in this stifling atmosphere
stuffed
with too many people.

When she turned to continue
on
, Angela caught up short with a gasp as a man approached
her
with
grim
determination
.
It was that nice Mr. Wardl
e
y
.
He
’
d called on her several times
this past year
, but then
,
for some reason
,
had quit coming around
.
When she’d asked
The Baron
about it, he
’d
just snorted
, giving a noncommittal
shrug
of
his shoulders.

Ward
l
e
y was quite
a
handsome and dashing
young man
, with
dark blonde hair and sparkling
,
blu
ish-green
eyes
.
If he
’
d asked her to marry h
im
, why
,
she would
most assuredly
have said yes
.
N
ow that he was closer,
she could see that
his eyes weren’t
so much
sparkling
,
but
throwing sparks,
making him
look rather angry.

“Miss Hopkins,” Ward
l
e
y greeted her stiffly
.
“What a pleasure it is to see
you
again.”

To Angela, it didn’t appear that he found
it a pleasure at all
.
“
Good evening,
Mr. Ward
l
e
y, I’d like you to meet
—
”

“I know who he is,” Wardl
e
y
snapped, hi
s
otherwise pleasant
mouth twisting
with malice
.
“He’s your new protector, and you’re his whore of a mistress!”

Ian
stepped forward, adopting an aggressive stance.
“
That will be quite enough, Ward
l
e
y.”

Angela didn’t understand
Wardley
’s reaction at all
.
He
’d
been the one to
abandon his suit, so why was he so angry now?

The hard look on Ward
l
e
y’s face
suddenly
fell away,
to be
replaced by an anguished expression
.
“Miss Hopkins
. . .
Angela
,” he said, taking her hands in
to
his own
.
“I offered you a secure future, a home, marriage
.
Why did you refuse me – to become a – a
. . .
why
?”

“What did you say?”
All the blood
rushed
from
Angela’s
head, making her feel dizzy and nauseated.

“I offered to marry you,
but
you refused
me
,” Wardl
e
y repeated.

Blackridge
stood quietly,
watch
ing
the two of them
intently.

“You did not!” Angela voice r
ose
with impending hysteria
.
“I was never informed of an
y
offer of marriage
from
you or anyone else
. . .
” She
suddenly
remember
ed
that piece of gossip she’d overheard,
‘
had several offers of marriage, but turned them all down, flat
.
’

“I went to your father
and made an offer
,” Wardley said
.
“
He accused me of ungentlemanly behavior, refused me, and
—
”
He stopped abruptly
, his face
suffusing with color
.

“And what?” Angela
was feeling
sicker by the moment.

“I’d rather not say
.
”

“My father
—
”
S
he
practically
choke
d on the words
.