Protected by the Major by Anne Herries Page A

idea of giving her to the marquis.
    ‘I shall go to the card room,’ Lethbridge said. ‘Sit with your friends, Madeline. If you are asked to dance this evening, you may do so.’
    ‘Thank you, sir,’ she replied, glancing at his profile. A little nerve flicked at his temple, but he gave no other sign of emotion. Yet she guessed that there was conflict at work within him, though she could not think what it might be.
    Seeing Lady Jersey sitting with some other ladies that she knew well, Madeline went towards them and sat on an available chair. She was soon drawn into a discussion about a young lady who was said to be the latest rage and watched Miss Catherine Anderson being courted by her admirers with amusement.
    ‘Will you dance with me, Lady Lethbridge?’
    Madeline glanced up as Hallam spoke. She knew that she should refuse him, but seeing Lord Rochdale approaching her at that moment, she stood up with Hallam before he could reach her.
    ‘You ought not to have asked me,’ she said as he placed a hand at her back and drew her into a waltz. ‘It is useless, Hal. I cannot leave him...’
    ‘But he lies to you, he cheated you of your father’s notes.’
    ‘No, I have them back. My family is safe now.’
    ‘Then come away with me now—I beg you to leave him now, tonight.’
    ‘I am afraid of what he might do. Forget me, Hal. I am not worthy of you. I beg you to forget you ever knew me.’
    ‘Madeline...’ Hal stared at her in dismay. ‘Have you taken leave of your wits? Or is it that you care for him?’
    Madeline met his eyes, tears hovering on her lashes as she said, ‘You must believe what you will of me.’ Breaking from him, she walked swiftly away from him and left the ballroom.
    She went up to the bedroom given over for the use of female guests that evening and shut herself away in the closet provided for relieving oneself. There, she allowed her tears to fall until she could recover her composure. Returning to the bedroom, she washed her face in cool water from a porcelain jug and tidied herself before going downstairs. No trace of the tears remained, though she looked pale.
    It was as she reached the bottom of the stairs that she saw the Marquis of Rochdale. He was about to enter the ballroom, but stopped and waited for her.
    ‘May I escort you back to the dancing, Madeline?’
    ‘I did not give you permission to use my first name, sir.’
    ‘Did you not?’ His lips curled in an unpleasant sneer. ‘You think to flirt with me and then spurn me, madam, but you will learn to know better. It will give me great pleasure to teach you a lesson.’
    ‘Sir, I think you forget yourself. I shall speak to my husband of your discourtesy.’
    He laughed low in his throat. ‘Say what you will, Lethbridge may not be listening,’ he said. ‘A reckoning is coming, Madeline. Next week I dine with you—and then you will discover I am a man of my word.’
    Madeline lifted her head proudly and walked past him into the ballroom. Her heart was thumping madly, but she gave no sign of it as she looked about her.
    She was afraid of the marquis, afraid of what her husband had done—but she’d sent Hallam away. Oh, how she longed for a shoulder to weep on and a strong arm to hold her!
    But it was best this way. She could not bear that Hal should know the depths to which she had fallen. It was best that she never saw him again, for she was soiled and shamed, no fit companion for any decent man.
    * * *
    Lethbridge rose from the card table after the Marquis of Rochdale had departed, taking his winnings with him. He had lost ten thousand pounds in one sitting to that detestable man and was now ruined. He could not pay without selling his country estate, and if he did that he would lose everything he cared for. His estate had been in his family for four hundred years and it was the source of his income—and his pride. Once it had gone, he would be dunned by all those he owed money to—and then...there would be nothing