If she wasn’t already.
Nella watched them walk away for a moment, then she sped up the stairs. She needed to get to the second bedchamber down the hallway on the left before Danvers arrived and drank any of the brandy.
With unladylike speed she reached the second bedchamber, then opened the door and rushed in.
“Lord Danvers,” she whispered, then looked around the room.
He wasn’t there. Thankfully, he hadn’t arrived yet.
She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave. That’s when she saw him sitting on the floor, using the side of the bed as a backrest.
Nella ran to him. “Lord Danvers,” she said, struggling to lift his head. Struggling to waken him. Could the sleeping draught have worked that fast? She assessed the amount of time she’d been waylaid by her friends and realized that if enough of the sleeping draught had been used, he could already be feeling its effects. In fact, combined with the alcohol it could even deliver a lethal dose!
She crouched beside him, noting the glass of brandy that was tipped over and had spilled on the floor.
“Wake up, Lord Danvers. You must get out of here.”
“I can’t,” he moaned. “Something is…wrong.” His eyes rolled back and his head lolled to the side.
Nella shook him again. “Lord Danvers. Wake up. You have to get out of here.”
His only response was a pitiful moan.
She shook him again and again. Nothing.
“Wake up, my lord. Wake up.”
“Nooo,” he slurred. “Tired. Sooo…tired.”
“You’ve been drugged. You have to wake and get out of here before someone finds you.”
“You found…me,” he said, then smiled.
“Yes, but you don’t want anyone else to find you.”
“Who…are you?” he slurred.
“That doesn’t matter,” Nella said, then placed her hands on his shoulders and tried to lift him to his feet. He was impossibly heavy.
“Can you help me?” she said, struggling again to make him sit.
“No, I don’t want…to help you. I want to…sleep.”
“You can’t! Get up!”
He opened his eyes and looked at her, then smiled. “Do I…know you?”
“No, my lord. You don’t know me.”
Nella put her hands behind him and lifted with all her might. He shifted and she almost cried for joy. But her relief was short lived. He went from sitting to falling to the side. He hooked his arms over her shoulders and fell.
Nella couldn’t keep from toppling over with him. She landed on her back with the earl on top of her.
She pushed him as hard as she could but he didn’t move. Instead, he lifted his head and brought his mouth down over hers.
He kissed her. He cupped her cheeks in his palms and kissed her again.
Nella had never been kissed, but that didn’t matter. Danvers was an expert. He kissed her a third time and a fourth, and Nella kissed him back. God help her, she knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and shameless harlot that she was, she took full advantage of it. But when his hands began to wander, reality came back with a jolt and she turned her head to break off the kiss.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and rolled with him to her side. “Get off me, my lord. Please.”
His eyes opened. “I’d rather sleep,” he slurred. “You’re so soft. So very…comfortable.”
“No. Please, wake up.”
He would have none of it and rolled her onto her back, preparing to ply his kisses. But this time his eyes opened and he looked at her. Confusion filled his gaze. He had no idea who she was. Where he was. How he’d managed to find himself here.
“Please, let me up,” she begged, and he started to obey her, but not in time.
At that moment the door flew open and Lady Blanche stepped inside. “No!” she cried, her voice reaching hysterical heights.
Suddenly, a growing crowd of nobility stood inside the room, filling it with their stifled gasps, their mouths hanging open.
“Who is she?” someone in the crowd asked.
There were several who answered they didn’t know who the girl was and Nella was thankful. She crawled gracelessly from beneath Lord Carmichael and thought perhaps she could escape without being identified. But that wasn’t about to happen.
“She’s the Earl of Shelton’s eldest daughter.”
There was a chorus of ‘oos’ and ‘ohs’ followed by the suggestion that someone fetch her father.
Nella wanted to run. She tried to make her way to the door, but a hand reached out to stop her.
“Oh, no you don’t, young lady. You will stay to face the consequences.”
Nella looked up into the face of the woman who had proclaimed herself the arbiter of Nella’s fate.
“Nothing happened, my lady. It isn’t at all what it seems.”
“That’s hardly likely,” clucked Lady Gladmoore, the ton’s biggest gossip. “Considering your torn gown, flushed cheeks, and swollen lips.”
“Petronella?” her father said as he entered the room. “What is going on here?” he added in an angry tone Nella rarely heard him use.
“Nothing, Papa. Nothing. It’s not at all what it seems. Nothing inappropriate happened. Nothing at all.”
As she spoke, she began to slowly realize her lie. Something inappropriate had indeed happened—as was evidenced by her torn gown. She raised a hand to cover her bared shoulder.
Lady Gladmoore stepped forward. “That’s not what we saw, Lord Shelton. Your daughter’s been ruined. The lot of us opened the door to discover your daughter on the floor with the Earl of Danvers on top of her.”
Every pair of eyes turned to stare at her. The earl’s head swung in her direction, as well.
Nella thought she might die of embarrassment. Not because of the condescending looks from the members of Society. But because of the look of horror and disgust she saw in Lord Danvers’ eyes.
The man of her dreams raked his hand down his face and shook his head. He was slowly coming awake and stared at her as if nothing made sense. She realized he couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Nella had never been so humiliated in her life. She knew what he was thinking. Knew from the expression on his face that he realized his world had just crashed down around his feet.
He slowly rose and turned to face her father. “Lord Shelton?”
“Yes, Lord Danvers.”
“Please, allow me to call on you tomorrow afternoon.”
“No!” Nella cried. “Nothing happened, I tell you.”
“I will be expecting you,” her father answered to Lord Danvers’ retreating back.
“No,” Nella whimpered, but her father clamped his fingers around Nella’s arm and ordered her to keep quiet.
“No, Papa. I will not! Because nothing happened.”
But no one heard her entreaty. And just that fast, it was over. She was ruined…
…and so was Lord James Carmichael, Earl of Danvers.
Chapter 2
Danvers, woke with a stampede of renegade beasts thundering between his ears.
“The Lords Candleton and Pomeroy are waiting in your study,” his butler announced in a voice so loud it echoed in the room.