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dined her like a regular Prince Charming. Then he bedded her with equal elegance.
    Her mother liked him. "I think Thomas is simply wonderful. He's just the intelligent, polished kind of man I've always hoped you'd find. Did you know he's related to British royalty?"
    Beau Harris thought he was a phony from the get-go. "That guy is a stiff. If you call him 'Tom' he gets a sour look on his face and says 'my name is Thomas '. Do I insist everyone calls me 'Beauregard'? Hell no."
    But, he was outnumbered when Maddie and Amanda both went ecstatic over wedding plans. Thomas Smithton and Madeleine Harris were engaged in a big public announcement at the annual New Years Eve bash. Their party took up the entire society page. The plans for the wedding, the showers, the honeymoon went on and on. Maddie bought special wedding planner software for her computer to keep it all straight.
    The bloom went a little off the bud two months into the engagement. Thomas became short tempered and moody; lovemaking turned perfunctory on Saturday nights. Maddie tried all the harder to please him, agree with him. She bought him presents. Small criticisms of her hair, her body, her taste started to eat away her self-esteem in tiny bites. He had to know all her plans, her complete agenda of everyday. If he seemed a bit controlling, that just showed how much he cared. Shining moments of fun and passion became suddenly ruined by his peevish fits of temper. She chalked his moodiness up to work-related stress and doggedly kept on her rose-colored glasses.
    Reality crashed the morning she opened up the Boston Buzz, a gossip rag, that had been mysteriously dropped on her doorstep. As she sat down at the small glass dining table in her brownstone apartment and dipped her tea bag in the steaming mug of hot water, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes to focus on the front-page pictures. An electric shock ran through her body as she recognized the love of her life, Thomas Smithton, in a large photograph, surrounded by six smaller pictures of pretty girls. College age girls. Maddie's picture was inserted in a box headlined "The Fiancée."
    "Groom-to-be Exposed as College Casanova
    Looks like love is on the rocks for well-known Boston socialite Madeleine Woodbridge Harris and her college professor beau, Thomas Smithton. According to a class-action lawsuit filed by pre-law student, Samantha Collins, Smithton has been diddling pretty freshman girls for years. He seduced the wrong girl this time. Collins alleges the silver-haired professor gives private lessons not mentioned in any class literature. Poor, poor Madeleine. And just a month before the big-blowout wedding. Wonder if she can get a refund on the reception hall?"
    Recalling that last meeting in Thomas' office, Maddie wondered how many crow's feet began on that fateful day.
    Holding the newspaper in her hand, Maddie had confronted her lover. "Please, Thomas, tell me this is all a terrible mistake."
    "Of course it's a terrible mistake. Samantha will rue the day she took on Thomas Smithton," he said, putting books into a liquor store box.
    Maddie sat down with relief. "So, it's all lies. Why would all those girls say these things?"
    Thomas stopped and gave her an accusatory look. "Are you doubting me?"
    "No! I just don't understand it. Why would they say you forced them to have sex with you?"
    Thomas pursed his lips in perplexed annoyance. "You see, that is the falsehood of it. They stand there with their tight sweaters and short skirts, asking stupid questions after class. They're falling all over me and then accuse me of forcing them to have sex!"
    "What?" Maddie's voice was low, stunned. "You did it? All those nineteen year olds? Those children ?"
    "Don't be such an idiot." He turned back to his packing. "Every one of them wanted it. Enjoyed it. I can't help it if girls all have stupid illusions of living happily ever after just because they've been laid."
    "So it's all their fault? They seduced you and you