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She stood like a statue, except for the s to deny her father's presence “I…was co to you today”
“You should have coather his self-control, he turned to Logan “Mr Scott, it appears that explanations are in order You have no idea how sorely I regretunder these circumstances”
“I have soan murmured
“I ao I learned thatfrom school for al as he glanced at Maddy “I should have expected soest of h she is betrothed to Lord Clifton, she had refused to accept ment that he is an appropriate husband for her—”
“He's an old man!” Madeline burst out, and her father turned toward her with a thunderous face
“Refusing to accept ment,” Matthews resumed, his tone raw, “Madeline came up with just the sort of foolish scheme that I should have anticipated One of her friends at school, a Miss Eleanor Sinclair, was forced under threat of expulsion to confess the details of the plot”
“What plot?” Logan asked softly
Disgust and condehter “Perhaps Madeline would care to explain”
Logan forced hiirl who stood nearby…the innocent who had ive hio Her face was uilty color, her eyes round with protest Whatever she had done, she regretted it now Or perhaps it waswith him that she was sorry for He wanted the truth, wanted to choke it out of her His gaze remained locked on her as he waited
Finally she ed to speak “I never wanted to marry Clifton I was desperately opposed to the match, a fact that everyone—even Clifton himself—is aware of While I was at school, I realized that short of suicide, there was only one way to stop the wedding froed him to understand “S-so I decided to r-…ruin myself”
Logan's stoitated voice as if it cahter's chosen target Tell ed to arrive in time?”
Logan waited for Maddy to reply Tell him, damn you! he snarled inside, but she remained silent “You're too late,” he said flatly
Matthews rubbed his forehead and eyes as if they ached intolerably
Logan was surrounded by a red mist as the truth sank in
It had been a ga and love, she had been winding hi a fool of him He flushed with humiliation, but that was the least of the eht sickly Once again a woman had betrayed him But this was much worse than the last time
He glanced at Madeline, hating her for looking so pale and forlorn She was nothing h-priced broodhbreds It wasn't her place to de to do with love; it was an arrangement of economics and social advancement And in a fit of rebellion, Madeline Matthews had used him to avoid her responsibilities
“Why me?” he asked her, his voice a mere scrape of sound
She ly Logan stepped backward instinctively God help him, he would crumble if she touched him
Madeline stopped, realizing that he wanted to preserve the distance between the about the scene seean's controlled expression, not her own sickening sense of loss If only words could an would understand that what had begun as a schoolgirl's rebellion had turned into love She would do anything to take away the pain she knew he
“Eleanor had shownat his beloved face “I thought you were…dashing” She flushed as she realized how shallow she sounded “No, that's not the right word I…I began to fall in love with you even then, and I wanted…” She stopped and shook her head iht
“Flattering,” Logan said hoarsely, sounding anything but pleased
“You don't understand hoas” No ard it as insult added to injury I love you, she longed to cry out, but she hadn't the right to tell hi it She turned away as her father approached Logan
“Mr Scott, I'm not certain how much responsibility, if any, to ascribe to you, since you were apparently an unwitting dupe in the whole business I suppose one could have hoped that you wouldn't have touched Madeline, but debauching innocent young girls is no less than I'd expect of a man like you” Matthews closed his eyes wearily “It is too much to ask for reparations, I suppose”
“What kind of reparation would you like?” Logan asked coldly
“I'd like her to be ain Since that is an impossibility, I will have to settle for your silence I, and race with as much discretion as possible We will see to Madeline's future, whatever form it may take All I ask is that you deny the rumors if you are confronted with them”
“Gladly” Logan didn't look at Maddy She no longer existed to him
“Logan, please,” she whispered “I can't bear for things to be left like this”
“Mrs Beecham will see you out,” he said in a monotone “Good day, Lord Matthews” He walked fro, only aware that he had to leave at once
Soon he found hi with the door as he locked hi underwater He stood in the center of the roo to think But Madeline's voice echoed through his an…love you…
She was a better actress than he'd ever suspected She had sounded absolutely sincere And he had allowed himself to believe it
His eyes ached in their sockets Reaching up to clear away an infuriating blur, he felt an insistent trickle down his cheeks “Christ,” he muttered, while self-hatred washed over him
He heard a despairing groan, felt the exquisitely textured surface of a Tang-dynasty vase in his hands, and hurled it in no particular direction His ears were assaulted by the shattering of priceless porcelain It seemed that the sound unleashed a destructive demon within hi froile creation of canvas and oil, andworks of glass, wood, and porcelain until he had sunk to his knees, his bloody fists resting on his thighs
Thein his head “Mr Scott! Please won't you answer? Mr Scott—”
A key grated in the lock, and Logan turned with his features twisted in fury to view the worried faces of Mrs Beecham and Denis “Get out,” he said hoarsely
Shocked and frightened by what they beheld, they retreated at once, leaving hian dropped his head and stared at the floor He felt so inside…all the potential warmth and tenderness that could have transformed his life He would never be the saain