She’d be going from the schoolroom to her marriage bed so quickly her head was still spinning.
She stood still and shut her eyes. Marriage bed. She should not have gone there, not even in her mind.
One thing at a time. That was how she would adjust to her new life.
For now, she merely had to find air. Space. A brief respite from the crush of the crowd.
She’d also prefer to do so without running into her friends from Miss Grayson’s. She was still annoyed that her stepmother and Everley had planned the guest list without her.
But then again, she had little to do with this engagement or the wedding, so why start participating now?
Her stepmother was here somewhere, but Delilah was doing her best to avoid her as well. It was surprisingly easy to avoid running into Prudence, Addie, and Louisa when there were so many people trying to get close to her.
She’d pretended not to notice as they took turns frantically waving her down.
She knew what they wanted. They wanted to save her.
Silly girls.
As if she needed saving.
She sniffed at the thought. Hardly.
And besides, Everley certainly wasn’t all that bad. He might have had his faults but it wasn’t as though he’d been abusing her these past weeks. Just ignoring her. But that was hardly a crime, now was it?
Besides, every time she’d spotted him this evening, he’d worn a congenial smile. He hadn’t spoken to her, but he’d smiled. She reached the edge of a crowd with a sigh. A smile had to count for something.
The doors were within reach when she spotted familiar red hair.
Drat.
Louisa was heading toward the doors as well, her betrothed hovering beside her as she laughed at something he’d said.
If Louisa managed to get her alone outside, there would be no shaking her. The girl was tenacious—and melodramatic, to boot. Delilah’s insides fluttered wildly in panic at the sight of her.
So silly. No one ought to fear Louisa, for heaven’s sake. The girl was wild, unpredictable, dramatic, and loud, but she wasn’t—
Delilah turned toward the nearest hallway as her mind worked to finish that sentence.
Never mind. Perhaps one ought to fear Louisa for every reason she’d just listed.
After all, if there was one person to be counted on to cause a scene—intentionally or not—it was Louisa.
And all Delilah wanted right now was to get through this engagement and her wedding with her pride intact and her head held high.
The hallway Delilah found herself in was dark. Private quarters, no doubt. She paused for a moment, eyeing the shadows before her. She ought to turn back. She ought to rejoin the party.
And yet…
The shadows seemed to call to her. A quiet, dark, safe mirage. Surely it couldn’t hurt to escape…just for a moment.
She took a step forward, fear making her pause as a voice spoke behind her. But it was a stranger addressing another stranger. And still, her heart picked up its pace. She shouldn’t be entering Everley’s private quarters—
But then again, why shouldn’t she? This would be her home, too, would it not?
Sooner rather than later.
The thought had her moving into action before she could think it through. Her breathing was coming in gasps now. If only she could slip away long enough to untie her stays. She needed to breathe. She needed—
Thwack!
She’d been rushing so quickly down the darkened hallway she ran headlong into a stranger. A gentleman whose features she couldn’t make out and who seemed to be a hunchback or a monster or—
“Ee—” Her strangled screech was cut short by a hand over her mouth. Large, warm, and calloused, it clapped over her mouth so hard her eyes bugged out. And then the form grew.
The shadowy figure grew, and grew, unfolding into a man.
A large man.
A giant.
She realized now that he hadn’t been a hunchback. He’d been bending over the doorknob of the doorway to her left. She could just make out pins sticking out of the lock before the stranger used his free hand to open the door with a snick.
She wanted to scream.
Fear had her immobile.
And then she was moving, but not of her own free will. With a rough grip, the burglar grabbed her by the arms and shoved her into the room.
She was drowning in the darkness. Her earlier feeling of breathlessness growing a millionfold as fear gripped her chest and made her heart pound against her ribcage.
His hand dropped but his low voice was dangerously close to her ear. “Do not scream.”
A scream died in her throat.
Not because he told her not to scream. She was just too scared to work her throat properly, that was all.
It wasn’t until he took a step back away from her that she remembered how to breathe. “What do you think you’re doing?” Her voice was quiet but cold as ice and she was pleased to hear it did not shake.
The man muttered something she could not hear.
“I will give you to the count of three to leave this room, and if you do not, I shall call for help.”
The man was moving away from her.
Excellent. She felt a surge of satisfaction just as a match was struck and the dark room gave way to the glow of candlelight.
The gentleman held the candle in one hand as he approached her slowly.
She shuffled back a step. He wasn’t running away.
Why was he not running?
Hadn’t he understood?
“If my fiancé finds you here—”
“You’ll be ruined,” he finished.
She gasped in shock. “How dare you—”
“A young lady alone in a room with a stranger?” His low voice held a note of amusement that had her hands clenching at her sides. He sounded so casual, talking about her potential ruin as though they were discussing the weather.
And as though this was her fault,
