For her? This wasn'tfor her.It was a sick and pitiful attempt at power play, trying to force her into an impossible scenario. Well, if it meant losing her only sponsor, that was a risk she was more than happy to take.
"If you think I'm silly enough to believe a word you say, that's your own problem, Lord Foley. It's an insult to even think that I'd agree to terms so ridiculous or selfish; I'm baffled that you could even suggest it."
He looked as if he wanted to cut in, but Aurora cut him off to continue, "I may not be of high social status, but I'm still a woman with her own opinions. To think that you would insult me in such a way is, quite frankly, disgusting."
People were watching now. Although the dance continued, many of the dancers were trying to watch as they swept past. Aurora recognized one of the women from standing beside her earlier, and she quickly looked away when Aurora glanced over.
She was fuming, blood boiling, but refused to let Lord Foley see her lose composure. He didn't deserve to know how badly he had hurt her; nor did she want to embarrass herself in front of these well dressed, wealthy people.
“You must understand, this is good for both of us—”
“Good for you, you mean. I’d saywith all due respect,but since you've offered me none, I will be honest. I will marry you when pigs learn to fly, Lord Foley, and we both know that will never happen.”
He was floundering now, desperate to find an answer; but there was no follow up to that. She saw it in his eyes.
Aurora imagined that he had expected her to be some nervous, timid sprite; to go along with his demands because she was afraid of standing up for herself. Once, that may have been true — but Aurora had learned her lesson after Christopher.
She wasn'tevergoing to let a man like Lord Foley frighten her into doing what he wanted.
She parted from him now, arms folded stiffly across her chest. With one last glare, she stormed past Lord Foley and away from the dancers, heading straight towards the ballroom exit.
As if intending to follow, Lord Foley stumbled after her; only to pause. The sound of his frustration was quickly lost to the music and chatter of the ball, and he quickly vanished.
Meanwhile, Aurora didn't allow herself to look back. She strode with purpose, uncaring for who had overheard her argument. She felt eyes hot on the back of her neck, but for once that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting out of there before the heat and the noise made Aurora go mad.
She thought that she saw Father talking with a younger man but didn't stop to investigate. Father turned to watch her go, his expression forming a look of worry. He called after her, but his voice was muffled. Distant.
He tried to follow her, but a tall man in red blocked the way by mistake. She heard Father snap, and the man give an anxious reply.
In truth, it would have been kinder to stop and talk to Father. It would have eased his worry to know that nothing awful had happened...except that Lord Foley wished to marry her.
Even the thought made her want to be sick, and it only spurred her on faster. Crowds had never bothered Aurora, but suddenly it was all too much; the bodies pressed too close, smelling of alcohol and too-sweet perfume that stung the back of her throat.
A cough was beginning now, only a nuisance but quickly growing worse. She didn't have any wild bergamot here, or even a handkerchief to cover her face. That only made her feel worse, worry tugging at the forefront of her mind.
Somehow — and Aurora wasn't entirely sure how — she suddenly found herself in the empty entryway. Behind her, through the wide double doors, the ball continued on without her.
Yet here, with cool air from the open door drifting across Aurora's skin, she could finally breathe. She took a moment to steady herself, slowly ambling to the stairs to sit.
There were no guests here. No maids. A lonely doorman stood by the entrance, on the front steps outside. Yet he was too far away to have noticed a single lady on the grand staircase.
Slowly, Aurora allowed herself a slow exhale. It helped to calm her thundering pulse; but it also made that familiar tickle in her throat grow. Aurora lurched forward, her eyes scrunched shut against the force of the cough.
Her stomach twisted as the coughing continued to shake her slender body. Although she pressed an arm to her mouth to try and muffle it, the sound echoed too loudly in the quiet entryway.
She was vaguely aware of the doorman's footsteps — or was it someone else's? She couldn't see through the tears that gathered at the corner of her eyes, or for the way her body continued to shake.
Then there was a hand on her shoulder; not the doorman's, but the hand of somebody vaguely familiar.
Then she heard Elmore's voice asking if she was all right, as he pressed a white handkerchief into her hands. He murmured reassurances, sitting with her there on the step; and it was such a surprise that Aurora couldn't have said thank you even if the coughs allowed it.
How strange that out of everyone, he'd found her first.
Chapter 26
Aurora Washam
Aurora was reluctant to reply when Elmore asked if she was all right. She was the opposite ofall right;she felt sick, her stomach turning. Her entire body felt like it was crawling with grime from Lord Foley's hands, as if he could somehow have made her dirty just by holding her hand.