“Do you think Marian would mind helping me into my corset? I can’t go out unless I’m properly dressed, and I can’t do it myself.”
“Hannah.”
She finally turned away from the gown she’d set out. When she turned to him, there was muted hurt in her dark eyes. “I thought we had an understanding.”
“We did. We still do. I’m not forcing you into anything.”
“No. You just wanted to win my trust so that you could persuade me to give up on my plans.”
Silas winced. He would have worded things differently if he’d known she was listening. “You’re making it sound like I tried to trick you, but it wasn’t that. I wouldn’t take advantage.”
“But you hoped I would change my mind, even though I’d told you what I wanted.”
“Is that so wrong?” he challenged. “I want to live under the same roof as my wife, that’s all.”
“Then why not tell me how you felt? Why pretend that I could buy a property and live separately if you never meant it?”
“Because I knew you would never have me otherwise. You were so worried about turning out like your parents that you needed some reassurance, so I gave it to you.” This was ridiculous. Was she angry at him for admiring her? “Nothing has changed,” he tried to explain. “You can still stay in London if you want to. I just…hope you’ll reconsider.”
“Why?” She shook her head. “You have everything you need now. I know there’s a certain connection between us, but there’s no need to let that dictate the rest of our lives. I want my independence. I told Jane I’d help at her club and that’s what I intend to do, while you want to start your brewery. It makes perfect sense for us to part ways.”
“A certain connection?” he echoed, trying not to be insulted and failing. “Hannah, I love you.”
The words hung in the air for several minutes.
I shouldn’t have said that.Silas had never made such a declaration before, but he was fairly sure it wasn’t supposed to take this long for a woman to say it back, if she were going to. Hannah didn’t look overjoyed or even flattered. She didn’t smile. If anything, she looked more than a little worried, as if he’d revealed that he owed a large debt or suffered from some serious affliction.
“I should go call on my mother,” she finally murmured. “I need to tell her the truth about your plans for the army before you go to Burton, and it will be worse if I put it off.”
“Let me speak to her. I can fight my own battles.”
“No. It will be better coming from me.”
“At least have some breakfast first. You haven’t eaten.”
“I can eat something there.”
She was running away, but Silas didn’t know how to keep her here. Anytime he tried to cling to Hannah, she fought that much harder to slip from his grasp. How was he supposed to make her want something that didn’t come from her own heart?
Perhaps there was no solution. She was too determined to escape the prison that had trapped her parents to imagine another possibility, and Silas wouldn’t become her jailer. If Hannah’s feelings for him were as strong as his own, he wouldn’t need to persuade her. She would have wanted to stay.
Silas wasn’t about to beg. There was nothing he could do but let her go.
* * *
Hannah scarcely knew how she reached Jane and Eli’s town house. She felt as though she were floating somewhere outside of herself.
He loves me.
How could Corbyn love her? She wasn’t the sort of woman who inspired love or passion; she was perfectly forgettable. Four years’ worth of suitors hadn’t seen anything to love about her—not that she’d given them much encouragement, Hannah had to admit. But all the same, there must have been at least fifty of them, if she counted every hapless fool her mother had pressed into a dance with her. Not one had grown besotted. Surely that said something about Hannah’s charms (or lack thereof).
If Corbyn had been born a little richer or with a family pedigree, he might have had any lady he chose. He was handsome andambitious and showed kindness to a woman in need. His strength was tempered by a keen sense of justice—a rare combination.
It was one thing for a man like that to desire her. But love, when he might instead have his freedom? Hannah couldn’t understand it.
It was too early for a morning call, and everyone was still at breakfast in their rooms when she arrived at the town house.
“Please don’t disturb everyone on my account, Molly,” she instructed the maid at the door. “I’m only here to see my mother for a few minutes.”
