“You were rude to me, Tristan,” she said, her tone firm. She could tell, though, that her hurt was bursting through and was clear in her voice. He could be in no doubt of her distress, but she realized that she did not care. Perhaps it was time that he realized the impact of his behavior, after all. “If you want to marry Grace, and you want my approval, then you should watch how you speak to me.” She stared at him, waiting for his response.
“I do not need your approval for anything,” he shot back, turning around to face her fully, with his chest puffed out. There was a hint of anger in his eyes as he spoke. “I have been speaking with your father, and although we have not reached a formal agreement yet regarding your sister, I feel sure that he likes me well enough.” He stopped and stared at her for a moment, a challenge in his eyes. “So your opinion does not matter quite so much as you think it does,” he finished.
She felt the indignation rising up within her. “Is that so?” she demanded. “You think that just because you have spoken to my father, that it does not matter what I think? How little you know about how things work in our family. My father does not care for the details; he leaves everything to me.” She paused, holding hisgaze. “You can be sure that if I told him to forbid the match, then he would do as I say. So you are sorely mistaken if you think that my approval is irrelevant.”
They stood facing one another, the tension crackling in the air like an impending summer storm. “You were rude to me first,” he insisted, taking a step closer.
She could feel the heat radiating from him as he leaned towards her. She swallowed. Now was not the time to let her own feelings take over. She had to think of Grace, she told herself. Her own thoughts did not matter.
But her feelings took over, and she could not hold back. “I still do not understand it,” she said. “I was not rude to you at all. What I really want to know is whether you were bothered by my presence, or Lord Anthony’s?”
“Both,” he replied, his voice low and intense.
“But Lord Anthony has done nothing to offend you,” she insisted. “Or is it simply that he took my attention away from you, and you want everyone to be focused on you all the time, no matter what?”
“You are cruel to me, Diana!” Tristan said, his voice breaking.
She stared at him. “I do not know what you want.”
Was he really jealous? Diana told herself that she could not even allow herself to imagine such a thing. He had simply been toying with her, she told herself. When they were in the maze together, during the treasure hunt, it had just been another one of his games. It had all meant nothing. He had spoken to her father about Grace; that was still his plan. He may not have proposed yet, but he was going to marry her sister. She would be his sister-in-law, and that was all. None of this mattered, not really, and she was letting herself get upset and distraught over nothing.
Perhaps she should refuse to give her permission, she thought, as she stared at him. But what if it was what Grace really wanted? She let out a ragged sigh. She had no idea what to do, what to think, what to say. They stood there in the moonlight, staring at each other, the silence between them thick with tension.
She had never seen him looking so serious before, though. Surely he must be struggling with his own feelings, too? All his bravado had faded away, and all that was left on his face was confusion and doubt.
“Diana, I do not know what I want either,” he said softly.
Her temper flared again. “If that is the case, then you must stop toying with my sister.”
“I am not toying with her!” he protested.
“You are!” she insisted. “You have not had a serious conversation with her yet, in all the time that we have been here. If you hadwanted to make your intentions clear, then you have had plenty of opportunities. And yet you have said nothing. What am I to think? What is Grace to think?”
His jaw clenched as he looked at her. “Is that all you can think about? Grace?”
“Of course she is all I think about,” Diana retorted. “She is my sister, and it is my duty to steer her towards a good marriage.”
Tristan rolled his eyes. “All you talk of is her and her prospects. What about you? Are you waiting for Lord Anthony to speak?”
She felt another surge of fury. “I do not care about Lord Anthony! Why do you keep on talking about him?”
He gave a sharp laugh, a rather bitter sound. “I cannot bear to see you with him, that is all.”
“I do not understand you at all,” she said. As she waited for his response, she thought for a moment of Lord Anthony, who seemed to infuriate Tristan so much. He was perfectly pleasant, but she did not for a moment think that he would propose to her. It was a ridiculous notion; they scarcely knew each other. And yet, Tristan seemed almost obsessed by it. Why did he care so much, when it was Grace he was going to marry? Nothing made sense. She felt as if she was going mad.
“I just cannot stand it when he looks at you like that,” Tristan said, his voice low. He gazed into her eyes, then looked away.
She stared at him. “Are you really jealous?”
His eyes were fixed on the ground in front of him and he said nothing.
“Admit it, if that is how you feel?”
He jerked his head up, his eyes blazing. “I have never been jealous of anything in my life!”
“And yet now you behave as if you are,” she retorted. She could not understand him at all. Everything he said made her feel even more confused.
“It is all because of you,” he murmured.
