The scene looked like something from a romance novel. Despite her anger, she still looked gorgeous to him.
“We need to talk,” Simon said, taking a step closer to her.
Harriet raised an eyebrow, her voice clipped as she replied, “I think we’ve said enough for one night, don’t you?”
“No, we haven’t,” Simon pressed his lips together. “I am in no mood to have tension between us moving forward because of my brother. He has caused harm enough.”
Harriet’s eyes narrowed again, and for a moment, Simon thought she might simply turn and leave. But instead, she let out a huff of breath and turned to face him fully, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Fine,” she said, her voice icy.
Simon clenched his jaw, biting back the retort that rose to his lips. She was being difficult again.
“You’re angry with me,” he began, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Brilliant deduction,” Harriet shot back, sarcasm lacing her words.
Simon felt his patience fraying, “I meant what I said about my brother. You may have your issues with it — but frankly, it is a topic that is not as simple as you may like to think. Especially when it concerns our marriage.”
Harriet’s expression darkened, and she took a step closer to him. “Our marriage? You mean the marriage you abandoned the moment it began? The marriage you’ve spent the past few months ignoring while I’ve been left to fend for myself?”
Simon did not respond immediately, but that did not stop Harriet from continuing on.
“Did you forget that marriage was your responsibility as well? It is certainly a vow — a promise that you make. No bride expects her husband to leave her the next day….”
“I did it to protect you,” he said through gritted teeth. “You know that. I have told you that.”
“Protect me?” Harriet’s voice rose, incredulous. “Protect me from what, Simon?”
She was beyond the point of coming back from her anger now. When it came to Catherine, it was as though Harriet transformed into a different person entirely.
Simon was silent for a moment. He did not want to answer directly.
“What is it, then?” Harriet got even closer to him. “What is the big threat that somehow you see but I do not? Why did you put all that distance between us? What were you protecting me from?”
“From me,” he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
For a moment, they both stood there, frozen in place. His confession had an impact. The anger in her expression wavered, replaced by something else — something softer, more vulnerable.
Something that Simon had never seen from her before.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice quieter now, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
Simon ran a hand through his hair, “I didn’t want to hurt you, Harriet. I didn’t want to become the man my father was. I thought that by keeping my distance, I was doing the right thing. I thought I was protecting you.”
“You thought you were protecting me by abandoning me? By leaving me to deal with everything on my own?” Harriet asked, the softness of the moment subsided and her anger returning worse than before.
“Yes — and it was?—”
“I am so tired of people making decisions for me!” she exclaimed, cutting him off. Her hands were shaking now, and her voice had a little tremor. “First my parents, now you. You can’t decide how I feel, Simon. You can’t decide whether I want to be protected or not. That’s my decision to make!”
Simon felt as if he had been struck. He had never considered it from her perspective.
As Harriet’s voice rose, her frustration clear in every word, Simon could feel his own composure beginning to slip. The anger in her eyes, the hurt in her voice — this was exactly what he had tried to avoid, yet here they were, standing on the edge of an argument that threatened to undo everything. He clenched his fists at his sides, trying to keep his temper in check, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
Don’t look at me with hurt in your eyes, Simon thought desperately, his chest tightening with a familiar ache. “This is what I tried to avoid. I left to protect you, to protect us, but I’m only making it worse.”
Harriet’s voice grew sharper. “How can you decide my future so quickly? This isn’t what I wanted, and this scandal was not even my fault!” Her voice cracked slightly, and Simon felt something inside him snap.
