The Resilient Lady Collins

Chapter 19: Diamond ball (3)

"That was a close one," Ian said, keeping his arm around Scarlet’s waist to keep her against him.

Scarlet placed her hands on Ian’s chest to put some space between them. The dance had come to an end and in the middle of parting from him, Ian had pulled her toward him.

Rather than push him away, Scarlet became distracted by the sight of Beth sitting on the ground less than an arm’s length from where she stood. Jack was by Beth’s side seconds later.

Scarlet was missing a piece of this puzzle as everything had happened too fast for her to understand what happened.

Did Beth approach her and fall?

Ian looked down at the woman putting on a poor show of acting like she had hurt herself. If not for his quick thinking, Beth would have touched Scarlet’s shoulder.

Scarlet was in a good mood after their dance so he couldn’t allow anyone to ruin it.

"It hurts," Beth said, referring to her foot. She was to make herself fall, but somehow with Scarlet suddenly moving she had lost her balance and slipped. Why did Scarlet suddenly have to move and ruin everything?

"What hurts? Your belly?" Jack frantically asked. He didn’t wait for Beth to answer and tried searching for himself.

Beth froze, remembering that it was her belly to be in pain. Why did she have such bad luck that her feet and buttocks were what hurt because of the fall? She was so distracted by the pain in her right foot that she forgot about crying out for the loss of her child.

’Dammit,’ Beth cursed in her head.

Before it was too late, she had to create a scene. Beth slowly looked up in Scarlet’s direction and could almost smile because the woman was still there. "I was only trying to apologise for my actions days ago. Did you need to hurt me this way?"

Beth didn’t know how many people might have seen that she slipped by herself. All that mattered was that she was close to Scarlet and those who noticed the truth could easily be swayed once others who saw nothing started to speak.

Scarlet had a lot of reasons to want to hurt Beth in the eyes of the town. Beth had the child Scarlet wanted.

Beth’s eyes filled with tears to help sell the sorry. She rested her head on Jack’s shoulder.

Jack embraced her, not knowing what to think as he had witnessed Beth falling, but how did Beth suddenly fall when she was walking fine all night long? It couldn’t be a simple coincidence that this happened now that Beth was standing close to Scarlet. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Scarlet rolled her eyes after noticing Jack glaring at her. She had pieced together what Ian had saved her from and knew the fools around her were so quick to shift the blame on her that they would ignore the truth.

Scarlet had nothing to say and was ready to turn around, but Ian’s hold on her stopped her.

"I hope the way you look at her isn’t because you assume Scarlet had anything to do with that little fall. Are you a man so easily fooled?" Ian questioned.

Scarlet couldn’t leave now for the town to start rumours that she had injured a pregnant woman. freewebnøvel.com

"You were getting a bit too close to her so before you could collide, I moved Scarlet. Your being in a rush caused your fall. Was it to go to the bathroom or was that you shamelessly wanted to speak to Scarlet?" Ian questioned, hardly impressed with Beth. "You’re an annoying little secret, aren’t you?"

Beth was quite stupid, but then again Ian had to give some credit to her fooling a businessman like Jack. Was it the child that crowded Jack’s ability to think it did Jack just hate Scarlet so much that he would believe every word said by Beth?

Hearing the crowd turn to question how she fell, Beth lowered her head. Why couldn’t this man just go somewhere else? This had nothing to do with him so why was he so involved and speaking for Scarlet? Was this Scarlet’s lover?

"This is getting nowhere. We can consider it a mere accident and let it go," Jack said. Beth had in fact rushed to Scarlet and did not stop to listen to him. She needed to stop seeking to speak to Scarlet. How many times must he say it?

Ian loosened his hold on Scarlet so that she could leave and once she started to walk away, he followed her.

Rather than go back to where her parents stood, Scarlet led Ian toward the open doors that looked out at the palace garden. She made her way outside and waited for him.

"What are you doing?" Scarlet asked, turning to face him.

"Following you," Ian replied.

"You know that is not what I meant. Why get involved to pull yourself into that mess? Thank you for ruining her plan to say that I caused her to fall, but don’t help me again. I don’t want to be the reason your name is in everyone’s mouth. I can take care of myself," said Scarlet.

Ian’s name might be tied to her name a little longer after this.

"Scarlet, I wouldn’t be myself if I witnessed what I did and said nothing. Like you, I don’t care what will be said by anyone in there. It’s a shame that was how our dance ended. It wasn’t in our deal, but since it didn’t end smoothly, should we dance again?" Ian suggested.

"Nice try, but I had enough dancing for the night and only want to enjoy the music and wine. You should seek to mingle and spread word about your business. Regardless of how they love to gossip, they are potential patrons," Scarlet said, giving him a start to help grow his business.

Now that she thought about it, Scarlet wasn’t sure just how well-known and successsful his business was as she never visited at night when it would be the busiest time.

"Thank you for the advice, but I am not here to speak about my business tonight. If you don’t mind, I will stand here beside you for a while before going back inside. It might just be my turn for drama," Ian said as he looked out at the palace garden.

’His drama?’ Scarlet didn’t know what drama he had and didn’t want to pry.

"It is my first time in the palace," said Ian. "Must be surprising to hear from a lord’s son."

"It is," Scarlet agreed. He should have attended plenty of balls since his family was regularly invited. All the old nobles were. "Are you about to share your childhood story with me?"

Ian chuckled as Scarlet sounded annoyed by the thought of it. "I won’t ruin your night by telling you such a depressing story. Unless there is a chance you would want to comfort me? Kisses and hugs always do the trick."

"I have not drunk enough wine for me to be hugging or kissing you. What I will do is stand with you a little longer as a thank you for helping me there. It would have been a headache to have to listen to claims that I pushed her out of jealousy. Hopefully, this shall comfort you," Scarlet said, looking out at the palace garden with Ian.