Page 42 of Brazen Rogue
"I'm so sorry to hear of your broken betrothal," Miss Fernly said as she passed.
"We do hope you're able to find a match soon, Miss Hall," another young lady called out, a snicker in her tone.
Reign inwardly sighed. She knew tonight would not be easy, but already it had started off harder than she thought. To be here, to be the one woman in thetonwho had loved and lost the same man twice and to the same woman, was not ideal.
But at least you know he loved you as you loved him.
That was true, but it did not make losing him any easier. A ruckus started at the ballroom doors, and she turned to see Lady Lupton-Gage entering the ball, but not on her husband's arm.
Instead, a man of similar dishevelment to her ladyship walked alongside. His clothing splashed and stained with drink and food.
"What on earth ..." she heard Julia state, who came to stand at her side, her mouth all but gaping.
Reign glanced about the room and noted almost everyone present, too, was watching the spectacle stumble her way through the crowd. She gestured to some and spoke to others, her words cutting and cordial in equal measures.
What was wrong with the woman?
Reign took a calming breath and steeled herself when her ladyship spotted her, dragging her companion with her as she turned in her direction.
"Miss Hall, how surprising to see you here this evening. Have you not had enough yet of your heart being broken? You must wish to torture yourself seeing me happily back at my husband's side. A man only last week who was betrothed to ..." she stated, her high-pitched laugh not at all amusing. Not to Reign in any case.
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and took a step back when Lady Lupton-Gage's companion sneered and took a menacing step in her direction.
"We are all pleased you were not harmed, as we were informed. Lord Lupton-Gage would never have offered marriage to me had he known you were alive," she stated, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I wish you very happy."
Her ladyship scoffed, pinching her companion when he did not understand her sarcasm and react to her retort. "You do no such thing. You have loved his lordship for years. Pathetic, really," she drawled, pursing her lips, as if she had to study Reign for a minute or two. "But I knew from the moment he proposed that you would be heartbroken. Poor little Miss Hall, and poor you are."
Gasps sounded about them, and Reign fought to keep her composure. She would not make a scene. She would not be dragged into this sick, vile woman's world.
Instead, she did not say anything at all, which unfortunately seemed to increase Lady Lupton-Gage's ire tenfold.
"How providential it was that you were hired as a governess at my husband's home. Of all the estates and families in England, how was it that you ended up there, I wonder ..."
"I think we ought to leave," Lord Chilsten said just as Reign turned to see Bellamy making his way toward them, horror written across his handsome features.
Where had he been?
"I do not know what you mean," Reign stated, keeping to the story that they had all agreed upon when leaving Derbyshire.
Again, her ladyship laughed, the sound making Reign's teeth ache. "Oh, do be serious, child. Who do you think ensured your application for employment was directed to the Lupton-Gage estate?" She grinned, turning to everyone who listened about them. Their eyes wide, each leaning in as if the need to hear her ladyship's words were worth more than anything else in the world.
"I have always known, you see, that you loved his lordship but lost him to me, which of course, was what should have happened. A marquess marrying a nobody from Grafton, who ever heard of such a thing? But, I could not forgive your gumption, you see," she said, stumbling before righting herself.
"You are foxed, my lady," Julia declared, her tone ice. "Maybe you ought to retire."
People about them gasped but did not move. They merely turned toward Lady Lupton-Gage to see if she had a retort.
Her ladyship nodded. "Oh I am, Lady Chilsten. Why would I not be? This is a party, after all."
The guests chuckled, and Reign steeled her nerves to keep from scurrying away.
"Enough, Sally. I think it is time you retired before you embarrass yourself further," Lord Lupton-Gage said, coming to stand beside Reign.
She welcomed his presence and his strength and hoped that the ball would soon be rid of his wife. What a horrible woman she was. Who was this man she stood with anyway? Another lover to throw in her husband's face?
"All these years, and you never married. I have my spies who keep me informed, and I was not saddened to hear you had fallen on hard times. How very terrible for you, but how very fortunate for me. When you required a place as a governess, Derbyshire seemed the perfect solution, and you were so eager to start your new life. What fun it was to receive letters stating how you arrived, only to find my husband, the man you once hoped to marry, was your employer."
Reign gaped, and without a flicker of doubt, she knew who had been behind telling Lady Lupton-Gage of her triumph in getting her settled at that particular house. Mrs. Watkins had never been kind, no matter how much Reign had tried to be friendly to the housekeeper.
