"I've never known her to be like this," James replied, shaking his head. "I think she's right — I think this must be due to the heat. It is a very warm day, after all."
Victoria felt furious that they were talking about her as if she wasn't there. She wanted nothing more than to get away from Lord Blackburn and away from this conversation. It was all she could do to prevent herself from turning in simply walking off, leaving them behind.
"Very well," Lord Blackburn said. "Perhaps it would be good to get to know her a bit better. That would enable me to make a decision about what course of action I wish to pursue. I would be happy to join the pair of you for dinner tomorrow."
"In that case, we will look forward to seeing you then," James replied. "Enjoy the rest of your day."
It wasn't until they were walking away that Victoria felt free to speak. "How could you have done that?" She demanded. "You ambushed me. Both of you ambushed me. It was so obvious that you made that arrangement ahead of time. You knew we were going to meet him today."
"You act as if I'd deceived you," James said.
"Do you believe that you didn't deceive me?" Victoria asked. "You told me that we were coming into town for a simple promenade. You led me to believe that's all it was. You didn't say that we would be meeting anybody at all."
"But you knew that my intention was to find you a suitor," James retorted. "You knew the reason for coming into town was to meet eligible gentlemen and to let them know that you wereavailable for marriage. Are you simply angry because I had a specific one in mind?"
Victoria fumed. How could he not be understanding this? "I'm angry because you made this plan without telling me what it was," she informed him. "How difficult would it have been to simply tell me that we were meeting somebody today?"
"You wouldn't have agreed to come into town," James said. "You wouldn't have gone along with the plan if you had known what it was. A lady as stubborn as you is hard to find. If I had told you that I had someone in mind for you, you would have put up much more resistance than you did."
The frustrating thing was that Victoria couldn't even deny it. He was right. If she had known what she was walking into, she would never have agreed to come into town today. She knew that the only thing she could reasonably be angry at him for was his deception, but what she was really angry about was the fact that he continued to push this marriage. That, and the fact that she had allowed herself to believe there might be a way out of it.
But, of course, she had only herself to blame for that. She had allowed herself to believe that, just because he knew she was innocent of murder, things might change between them.
But things were never going to change between them. He had made up his mind about her, about her future, and about his involvement in it. And now, it seemed he had also made up his mind about Lord Blackburn. The earl was coming to dinner, and there was nothing Victoria could do about.
The most maddening part was knowing that her anger wasn't even justified. She had been entitled to be angry at him before now, of course, but nothing new had really happened today. So she had discovered that there was a specific person he had in mind for her — that wasn't truly the upsetting thing, and she knew it. She should never have gotten her hopes up.
"You aren't really feeling faint are you?" he asked. "You were putting that on. It was an act."
Victoria didn't answer.
"I'm disappointed," James said.
"I don't see how you can be," Victoria shot back. "It's in keeping with everything you say about me. Aren't you always saying how stubborn I am? Don't you always tell me how insistent I am on having things my own way? How can it come as a surprise to you that I let it be known when I was ready to leave today?"
"Well, you're going to have to be more courteous tomorrow night when Lord Blackburn comes for dinner," James said. "I expect you to do your best to make a good impression on him. It wasn't easy to find someone willing to overlook all the rumors about you and consider a marriage."
"I thought you just told me that you believed in my innocence," Victoria said. "Didn't you just say that I ought to ignore the people who spread rumors about me? You said I should keep my chin up and disregard the gossips."
"And so you should," James replied. "I wish I could say that ignoring gossip would make it go away. But you and I both know that it isn't that easy I don't like to see you upset when they whisper about you. That's why I told you to keep your chin up."
"Yes," Victoria agreed. "That, and also the fact that you want me to look dignified and unaffected. You think making that kind of impression will make me look more appealing to the gentlemen of society."
"I won't deny that," James agreed. "You must do all you can to make a good impression."
Rage built within Victoria, but there was nothing she could say. She didn't intend to cooperate when it came to this dinner with Lord Blackburn. But there was no chance of convincing James to call it off.
She would just have to find another way to let Lord Blackburn know that she was not available to him.
CHAPTER 14
James awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of music.
He was immediately angry. He was sure at once what was happening. Victoria must be trying to disturb him. She seemed to derive such joy from tormenting him, and he knew that she was angry after the encounter with Lord Blackburn today in town. He should have expected some sort of retaliation.
That didn't make it any easier for him to accept. She was going to have to learn that this sort of thing was not acceptable. When she married, when she went to her husband's house…Well, it wouldn't be his problem anymore. But even so, the anger did not abate. Was she mad? Didn't she realize that a husband might not be as lenient with her as he had always been? If she were to try things like this in her husband's home, she might find herself facing a kind of anger she would never encounter here.
The anger he felt at being awakened in the middle of the night turned righteous. Someone needed to let her know that shecouldn't always get away with these things. It was for her own good.
