She vanished into the fog. He must find his one true love or remain lost, cold, and alone forever.

“What delicacy appeals, Miss Cummins?”

“Oh, I should not, but I would love some of the gingerbread and perhaps some champagne. But you need not purchase…”

“It is my pleasure, my dear.” Trevor raised her hand to kiss her fingers.

“I’ve no doubt my cousin sees to all your pleasures, Trehallow.” The man in front of them, turned with his purchases, revealing her cousin’s disgusted sneer.

“How dare you, sir.” Trevor began.

“Indeed, cousin.” Percy stepped in front of Trevor. “How dare you cast aspersions where you have no knowledge of any dishonorable behavior on my part.”

Percy’s interruption startled Trevor so much he lost his speech.

Donald swept his gaze around the room, suddenly grown quiet. Skirts rustled as women stepped back forming a space in which Trevor, Percy and Donald confronted each other. However, Trevor noted, no one turned their backs. Too avid for gossip to give the cuts they imagined Percy deserved.

“I had the tale direct from your former fiancé, Baron Blanchard . How on the eve of your betrothal, you were found in intimate circumstances with a stable boy. You always did let your passions rule you, and, as I predicted, it led to your downfall.”

“You predicted nothing.” Percy challenged the man’s lies. “You and I had never met in person until my father’s funeral. You did not know me then, and you do not know me now. You believe any tale that suits you. Even if the tale misrepresents the facts.”

“Facts. Facts!” Donald nearly shouted. “You were found by your fiancé in flagrante delecto. That is a fact. Your fiancé could not face the shame of being cuckolded before he was wed and fled the country. That is a fact. Your father killed himself from shame, and your mother, whom I sheltered when you deserted her, died of grief. Those are the facts, cousin. One more fact remains. I denounce you and your licentious ways. Neither belong in the Cummins family.”

Trevor watched Percy go white and tremble. He prepared to catch her should she faint at the bile her cousin spewed. But just as Trevor raised his hand to comfort her, her face flushed. The only remaining white was on the knuckles of the fists at her sides.

Before he could blink, she drew back and punched Donald in the nose.

He fell like a stone.

“You broke my nose,” he said. Though the words sounded more like Do boke ma nofe.

The crowd tittered.

“That, cousin, is the least of what you deserve for spreading lies and rumors of an event about which you know next to nothing.