Free Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake by Jane Charles Page B

late?” Audrey interrupted
her.
    Millicent blinked. “Why yes. It was
three days into the party and he hadn’t arrived yet, not even by
the time I retired, but I was watching for him. I asked the
servants and hosts often when he was expected but nobody
knew.”
    Audrey had a sinking suspicion that
Jordan Trent had never been in Millicent’s bed. “Go on.” She
encouraged. “What else did he say?”
    “He was aware of my desire to be with
him and he felt the same.” Millicent brought her hands to her
breasts and sighed. “Then he made love to me.”
    “Who found him in your bed?” She needed
to know who would corroborate Millicent’s story though Audrey now
suspected it was nothing but a fairytale.
    Millicent heaved a sigh. “He left while
I was sleeping. Had I known he would do such a thing I would have
remained awake.”
    “Then how did anyone know?”
    “My maid told my parents,” Millicent
ground out. “But I’ve dismissed her.”
    “He did get you with child so they had
a right to know.”
    Millicent was shaking her head. “Nobody
will believe me, except you.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    Millicent scowled and narrowed her
eyes. “That blackguard ruined everything. Why wouldn’t he just
leave me alone? He was constantly pursuing me at the house party
and knew I was waiting for Jordan.”
    “Who?”
    “Lydell,” Millicent cried.
    “He married you. I don’t see how he
ruined anything.”
    Millicent huffed and crossed her arms
over her chest and glared. “After Jordan left my room that night,
he snuck in while I was sleeping. I can only assume he saw Jordan
leave and took a chance.”
    “Lydell?”
    “Yes,” Millicent shouted. “That is who
my maid found in my bed.”
    Did Lydell lie about who he was to get
into Millicent’s bed and how could any woman mistake one man for
another in that circumstance? Yet, that wasn’t the reason Millicent
gave for her parent’s decision. “So your parents didn’t reject
Trent because he didn’t have a title.”
    “They would have, if they would have
believed me. Now we will never be together.”
    The headache that was earlier an
inconvenience was now making her ill. Lydell had lied to Millicent
about who he was to trap her, and her fortune, into a marriage, but
Millicent was too stupid to understand that Trent was never
there.
    “What did Mr. Trent say the next
morning when he found out Lydell had gone to your room?”
    Millicent planted her fists on her
hips. “He was already gone.”
    “Gone?” Or perhaps he was never
there.
    “I am sure it was urgent, otherwise he
would have stayed by my side and not left again, I am sure of
it.”
    Audrey simply nodded. Was her friend
mad or delusional or both?
    “That is why my parents wouldn’t
believe he was the one but accepted Lydell’s version of the facts.
Jordan arrived so late and left so early that none of the guests
ever saw him. Not even the servants, so my parents refused to
believe he was there.” Millicent reached out and grabbed Audrey’s
hand. “You believe me, don’t you?”
    She was practically begging and all
Audrey could do was nod. She didn’t dare tell Millicent what she
really thought for fear the woman would become even more unhinged.
Was Lydell aware of his wife’s misconception? Had he tried to tell
the truth or was he simply letting her believe what she
wanted?
    “I am so glad we had this talk,” Audrey
found herself saying. “I must go now. We will visit
later.”
    She turned on her heel and walked back
toward the entrance as quickly as her feet could carry
her.
    Audrey paused just outside of the gate
and grasped it for support. Her stomach churned. What had she done?
She had believed Millicent last spring and cut Trent out of her
life and kept her resentment alive all this time. Two letters from
Millicent had altered everything. The first saying that Trent had
come to her bed and the second, that her parents were marrying her
to Lydell because Trent refused.
    She