She backed up, preparing to scramble out of the room, but her heel bumped the door and the thump made the man look up. His eyes met hers and he smiled.
“You kept me waiting, you naughty minx,” he purred as he moved toward her. “But you’ll make it worth the wait.”
Aurora’s heart leapt. It didn’t seem that Roddenbury had recognized her, probably thanks to the dark wig that hid her blonde hair. But if she stayed too long with him, that would change swiftly. So she pivoted, turning her face away.
“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, making her voice lower. “I’ve come to the wrong room.”
She had never known Roddenbury to be anything but civil in the years she’d been in his acquaintance. He looked at her a little too long, of course, but he’d never been untoward. So she was utterly unprepared for him to lunge forward, catching her wrist in a cruel grip as he yanked her toward him.
“Now wait a moment. I’ve been standing in this room for at least ten minutes, and you’re not going to tease and leave. You’re here and you will do your job, girl.”
Her lips parted at the cruelty of his tone and his touch. She yanked back. “I’m not meant for you, let me go!”
He refused, tugging her even harder. She snaked out a hand and, without thinking, slapped his cheek. His dark eyes grew even darker and his mouth set in a thin line. She could see she’d made a terrible mistake and her fear flew higher than ever. His grip loosened and she took the opportunity, pivoting away from him toward the door.
She wrenched it open, but he grabbed for her. In the struggle, he managed to grip her bun. Of course, she was wearing the wig, so as she pulled away, the pins came loose and her own blonde hair cascaded down around her shoulders as he pulled the false hair away.
“Aurora Lovell?” he gasped.
She froze, her name echoing in the hallway, which was now filling up with half-naked people who were wondering what the fuss was about. She recognized a great many of the men, just as they recognized her.
She pivoted back toward Roddenbury. “How dare you?” she whispered, wishing she sounded stronger.
He looked anything but chagrined as his gaze flitted over her from head to toe. “I always wondered what it would be like to fuck you.”
She gasped at his crude words and equally crude expression. He reached for her again and she reacted out of pure instinct, lifting her knee hard into his groin.
He immediately dropped to his knees with a cry, clutching his manhood as he glared up at her. “You bitch!”
She ignored the slur and ran into the hallway, back out the door she’d come in. She ignored the sound of her name, echoing from the rooms, echoing from Roddenbury screaming it out into the night where the world could hear.
She hurtled herself into the carriage she had paid to wait for her and huddled in the dark as the driver turned the rig into the street, back toward the sad little home her husband’s family had deigned to bestow upon her.
She had only made everything worse by coming here. She hadn’t found Imogen, and now the foulest elements of her world knew what she’d done. They would assume even worse. And they would spread this tale far and wide. She covered her hands, shaking as she wept into her fingers.
What little she had left was gone. And she had no idea what to do next.
Chapter 2
Aurora paced the parlor in her small home, trying to ignore the worn, lumpy furniture and the low fire that didn’t warm the room. Once she had resided in a fine home just off Hyde Park, but now…
Well, her late husband’s family hadn’t allowed her to be settled with much. And she feared things would only get more dire now. It had been two days since she was caught at the Cat’s Companion, and since then her greatest fears had come true.
The word of her appearance there had spread through the ton like wildfire. Friends had stopped speaking to her, invitations had dried up and it had even been a barely blind item in the weekly Scandal Sheet newspaper.
She sank onto the uncomfortable settee and covered her eyes. Everything was falling apart. While she was normally an optimistic person, one who sought to make the best in numerous bad situations she had found herself in over the years,