Chapter 25

"What exactly happened between you and Count Weiss, that rainy night?"

Clatter!

Startled, April dropped the fork she had been holding.

It made the perfect morsel for ladies who were always starving for a new topic.

"Is it true you met with the Count that night?"

"W-who said such a thing... It's not true!"

April denied it fiercely at the question someone had tossed out to test the waters. But her face — her ears, even — had gone bright red, and she had walked straight into the trap.

"So the intruder that night really was Count Weiss?"

"I heard you ran to the balcony and let him in yourself. Your nightgown must have gotten soaked through."

Listening to the questions pour down on her, April's heart pounded hard. The memory of that night was still far too vivid.

That scorching breath. That low, secretive, scandalous whisper...

She had never…