‘What have I done to you that would give you such an opinion of me?’ he said, smiling expectantly.
He’d plied her with pornography, then pulled her into his bed and kissed her. Not that she wanted to admit the fact with Bessie standing right there. Or at all. Owning their shared past was one step closer to admitting that she could not forget how pleasant it had been to be held in his arms.
And since meeting him again?
He had rescued her from Rutland, proposed marriage, given her flowers and a pin… And tricked her into waltzing. His recent behaviour was hardly the work of a scoundrel.
But he was still staring at her, waiting for an answer.
‘Everyone knows you for what you are,’ she sputtered. ‘And Julian says you are not to be trusted.’
‘His assessment of my character is accurate,’ he said, after a moment’s reflection. ‘I have much to repent for. But not this.’ He reached into his pocket and withdrew a letter. ‘I told Blake I would deliver his apologies. Time was short. And since I meant to see you anyway I had him write you a note.’
She snatched the paper from his hand, tore the seal and read.
It was just as he said, a brief note to tell her he was sorry that he could not meet with her because of a marvellous and unexpected opportunity. It went on for several lines, extolling the generosity and kindness of the Duke, before closing with a wish for her continued good health and good fortune in her search for a husband.
She stared at the paper, pretending to read it again while she searched for a response more appropriate than her true feelings. Tobias Blake was a good man. A decent man. If he had not been waylaid by Westbridge, he might have offered for her this very afternoon and ended her husband hunting.
But, when presented by what should have been a crushing disappointment, all she could think was,Thank God, he is gone.
Was there something wrong with her, that she did not want to marry? Or was there something wrong with the men who were interested in her?
Andrew would not have suited. She did not want to wed a gambler. But she had been preparing to reject him well before that scandal had broken.
And there was nothing wrong with Tobias. He was stable, trustworthy and hardworking. Her whole family would have been overjoyed if she’d have accepted his offer. As a husband, he would have been perfectly…
Adequate.
Boring.
I am a horrible person.
‘You are a horrible person,’ she blurted, staring at the Duke as she folded up the paper and stuffed it in her reticule. If it were not for Westgate and his waltzing and flirting and bogus offers of marriage, she would not be having these terrible thoughts.
‘Horrible,’ he said, considering. ‘I fail to see why you would think so in this case. I gave the man the thing he wanted most in the world. Do you not find that generous of me?’
‘Why did you do it?’ she demanded.
‘Altruism?’ He continued to smile, offering an open-handed gesture to show he had nothing to hide.
‘You did him a favour. But it was not out of the goodness of your heart,’ she said. ‘You are the first to admit that you have no goodness there. Do not spoil what must be a rare, charitable act by lying about it.’ She folded her arms and waited.
He dropped his hands, then folded them behind his back. ‘A tour such as he wishes will take three weeks at least, with additional time for travel, prayer and the purchase of souvenirs. It will be more than a month before we see him again.’
‘We?’ she said.
‘You,’ he admitted.
She fought back the feelings of relief, and waited for him to continue.
‘He is interested in you,’ he said. ‘Or, rather, he is interested in a position with your brother’s school, or a living on his property.’
‘There is nothing wrong with that,’ she said, trying not to be hurt by the blunt assessment. ‘He is to be admired for his ambition, and his beneficent nature.’
‘But it is not very flattering, is it? Wouldn’t you prefer to marry a man who was interested in you?’
‘We were not discussing marriage.’ They hadn’t needed to. It was assumed. Inevitable. Inescapable. ‘I have only known him for a week,’ she said, frightened by how quickly things were moving.
