James looked at the Voltaire in his hand. "This is your book," he repeated. He sounded as if he couldn't quite believe what she had told him.
"I know," Victoria said. "You've never seen a lady read Voltaire before." She felt frustrated with him, for he had made it very clear that he didn't believe she was smart enough to read the books she liked best.
She held out her hand for the book. He handed it over, although he seemed reluctant to do so.
"I answered your question," she told him, "so now you should answer mine. Tell me what you're doing up in the middle of the night."
"I don't have to explain myself to you," James told her. "I'm the master of this house and you just live here."
"Well, try showing a little courtesy," she said. "You may not owe me any answers, but it wouldn't kill you to give me an answer."
"Well, if you must know," James said, "I couldn't sleep either. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping at night."
"I suppose we have that in common then," Victoria said.
"I suppose we do, although the reason I can't sleep has nothing to do with fears that the house might be haunted."
"I'm not afraid that the house is haunted, Victoria said, "but I do become frightened when a man puts his hand over my face in the middle of the night!"
James exhaled. "I'm sorry for doing that," he said. "You're correct. I shouldn't have done so."
"No, you shouldn't have done that."
"Well, I did apologize."
"You shouldn't make fun of me for being afraid the house is haunted when you are the one who told me that there were cold spots in the house that might mean that there were ghosts in here."
"In my defense," James said, "you did believe me."
Victoria let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes," she agreed. "I did believe you. You wanted me to believe you."
"I was teasing you."
"You're merciless."
"So did my ghost stories keep you awake? Is that why you're here?"
"Yes, of course it is. Of course that's the reason," Victoria said. "I'm not frightened of ghosts." That wasn't entirely true, but the truth was something she wasn't ready to admit to him. She felt unsure of herself, shaken and upset, and she didn't want to let him see too much about her. "I knew that you were teasing me. But the stories stuck in my head and made me feel anxious and agitated. It wasn't very kind of you to do that."
"You began it."
"But I'm a lady. Do you think it's all right to frighten a lady?"
"I suppose I shouldn't have," James said. "I didn't think it would upset you as much as it did, since you were the first one to tell ghost stories."
"Well, I apologize too," Victoria said.
"It would be interesting if the place was haunted by the late duke," James mused. "What do you think he would make of all this?"
"I think he would tell you to let me stay," Victoria said firmly. "He would say that you ought to let me have the house. I earned it by marriage."
"Your marriage lasted less than an hour, from what I've been told," James said. "Did you know there are those who wonder if I'm the one who died?"
"What? How can anyone wonder that? You're sitting right here. Any fool can see you aren't dead."
"But I wasn't sitting right here, was I?" James asked. "I was away for a very long time, and no one knew what to make of my absence. Surely even you must have wondered, knowing there was an heir, why I didn't come back and claim what was rightfully mine."
"I suppose I thought you weren't interested," Victoria said. "After a year passed with no sign of you, I confess I allowedmyself to stop thinking about it." She frowned. "I see now what a mistake that was, of course."
