“I see. When?”
“Last Christmas Eve.”
Very well.“Why?”
She took a breath. “He was…not being a gentleman.”
Right you are.“I see. Exactly howun-gentlemanly was he?”
The look on her face, the despair, the anguish, the tears that clouded her lovely green eyes told him all. He cupped her cheeks and thumbed away her tears. “Was he the man to whom you were engaged?”
She nodded once.
“And did you love him?”
“I hoped I might grow to. He was sweet and attentive. He was funny, too.”
“But?”
“He had a mean streak. I suspected it, but did not see it until that night.”
“How?”
“Oh, Octo! He was the only man who ever held a candle to you. And by last Christmas, I was lonely. And sad. I hadn’t seen or heard from you in so many years. You were gone in the wars. I feared you’d died on some filthy plain. I’ve always known you were adventurous and that you would go. Had gone to fight somehow, somewhere. It’s who you are. Valiant, chivalrous Octavian Simms.” The tears flowed from her like a river. “I wanted you and he was there, but he….”
He picked her up then and strode with her to her bed. There he laid her down and crawled up beside her to pull her to him, heart to heart, belly to belly, one of his legs up over hers, heat to heat. He pulled the counterpane over them. And then he stroked her head, her cheek, her arms.
She burrowed into him. “He had given me the Everhard rubies as his Christmas gift. You see we were to officially announce our engagement after the new year. He wanted me to wear the rubies and I was grateful for the gift but did not like his demand I wear them. Instead, I told him I look terrible in rubies and he became furious. I didn’t blame him as I shouldn’t like to have a gift criticized. But when I saw how insulted he was, I told him I was sorry and that I’d wear them, just for him. Still he was angry and would not give over. I apologized. I did! But he went into a tirade about my pride. How it would be the death of him. I did not agree and told him I was reasonable. That my pride was not as vain as he thought. But he went on and on, about how he overlooked the debauchery of my father to offer for me. I was shocked that he even brought up my father’s name. He told me he was ashamed of Leith. That I was my father’s ignorant whelp and that I bore my father’s disgrace on my name as well and—”
He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “He is wrong in that.”
“He was. I’ve known that for years. But Everhard was…irate. Shouting by then. Yelling that I would be a taint on his family name. Even, he said, with all my money. I could not bear it. I ordered him out. He would not go. And then, he…he slapped me.”
Anger surged through him. “I’ll kill him.”
“No!” She caught his chin. “No, Octo. You won’t. You won’t go to jail or die for his mistakes. No. Besides, when he hit me, I was so furious that I lashed out at him. I got hold of his arm and took him to the ground. He was shocked. I was surprised myself.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Imagine! A man of the town who is as weak as a puppy. He resisted. Of course, he did. But I yanked his arm a bit too roughly and so…”
“You broke it.”
“I did.”
Octo wanted to laugh. “What happened then?”
“I called for a surgeon. It was Christmas Eve, after all, and I had to promise a significant fee. I didn’t care. I was angry at myself that I’d been so furious as to injure another. But by three in the morning, he was in a sling. His arm was set. Everhard had a dose of laudanum in him and off he went in his carriage.“ She winced. “As he left, I threw his box of rubies at him.”
“Good of you.”
“True. Besides,” she tried to smile and failed, “I don’t look good in rubies.”
He laughed then and rocked her close.
She let him hold her.
And in the silence that stretched out between them, she nestled closer to his heart. Minutes later, she declared, “I love you, Octavian. I have never loved another. And if you do not love me and never can, that is a fact I will accept. You can tell me so. I am old enough to hear such truths.”
It would cost him every promise he’d ever made to himself to stay far from her, but now he would confess what he could no longer deny.
Chapter 8
