“I don’t believe I asked your opinion,” Ursula countered, determined to ignore his goading.
“He may have been a neighbour, but he isn’t the man you think he is. He lured Barbarella in, compromised her, and then refused to marry her. Her father tried to force him to fulfil his obligations to the engagement, but I have it on good authority that he was paid a considerable sum of money to forget the incident by Trenton’s father. The gossips don’t forget though – anything.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered, carefully pushing aside all memories of the rumours she had heard about his engagement. “Trenton isn’t like that. He is an honourable man.”
“I know you two may have a long standing acquaintance, but the man cannot be trusted.”
“I have found Trenton to be nothing but kind, considerate, and generous,” she snapped.
She adamantly refusing to acknowledge the tendril of doubt Brampton’s warning created. She didn’t want to believe it. Especially from someone like Brampton, and especially given the way he was sharing knowing, rather intimate looks with Barbarella. Unless her imagination was playing tricks with her, there was something going on between the two of them.
Why were they involving her though?
“Allow me to escort you home,” Brampton offered.
“No, thank you. I am waiting for Trenton. He will be back in a moment.” Although her voice was confident, she eyed the trees beside them d
oubtfully. She hoped Brampton would get the hint and offer to go and look for Trenton. To her disgust, he merely continued to stare at her as though he was waiting for something.
“Maybe he has forgotten about you? Or is waiting for Barbarella?” He nodded toward Barbarella, who was walking along the path that led toward the trees.
“I doubt it,” she countered, refusing to allow Brampton to see just how much the thought hurt her. “He has made his dislike of her perfectly clear. It would be a fool indeed who believed they are connected in any way.”
“Ah! But there is no smoke without fire my dear Miss Proctor.” Brampton sidled closer. “You see, you forget that he was caught in a compromising position with Miss Somersby. That started the rumours about their engagement in the first place. Were the gossips wrong to expect someone who had been caught in a compromising position to do the honourable thing, and offer for the woman he was caught with?”
Ursula didn’t bother to answer him. Deep inside, she knew he was right. There was indeed no smoke without fire. Trenton had said that Barbarella had attempted to trap him, but that could hardly be done in the middle of a ballroom. They had to have been in a secluded place for her to be alone with him and risk being compromised. Her thoughts immediately turned to her own encounter with him in the conservatory, and it made Brampton’s statement all the more reasonable.
Determined not to give Brampton any hint that he had upset her, she squared her shoulders and stared at him. It was difficult to keep her face impassive, but she turned a look on Brampton that was frigid.
“I should be very careful about casting aspersions on anyone, Brampton. You would have to be impeccable in your own behaviour to do so and get away with it,” she warned.
She saw the flash of anger in his eyes even though his face remained a mask of polite indifference as he tossed his head back and laughed mirthlessly.
“May you never find out just how bad my reputation is,” he mused wryly.
In that moment, Trenton crashed through the trees and thundered toward them. Ursula had never been so glad to see anyone in her life, and almost wept with relief when she realised that he hadn’t met with Barbarella after all. Not only had there not been time, but he was still on his horse, and had been for quite some time if the sweat on the horse was anything to go by. She wondered where he had been to get the horse so exhausted and studied both horse and rider carefully as they approached.
“Are you alright?” Trenton demanded as he dismounted and strode toward her with a frown. Before she could speak, he caught hold of her hands and glared at Brampton over the top of her head.
“Don’t worry old man. I haven’t compromised her. That’s your job,” Brampton snorted, and doffed his imaginary cap at her before he turned around and sauntered away.
Trenton ignored him. “What happened?”
“A large black carriage nearly ran me over,” she replied.
“That’s the one I have been chasing,” he reported.
She looked at him in surprise. That explained his horse. “You saw it?”
Trenton nodded. “Come on,” he growled. “I’ll explain once we are out of this park.”
“Where are we going?” she asked when she realised they were heading away from Adelaide’s house.
When she looked up she winced at the sight of so many people and carriages now littering the pavements. She hadn’t realised how late it was, and just had to wonder how many people had just witnessed her in conversation – alone – with Brampton.
“My house is closer than Adelaide’s. I need to talk to you about that carriage.”
Ursula wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to walk through the crowded pavements with him, and looked at him hesitantly.