His voice had dropped to a near growl, and his eyes looked… almost hurt. As though he did not want to hear her words.
“Is it?” she challenged. “Then tell me, my lord—did you even consider asking what I might want? Whether I even desire to remarry at all? Or did you simply assume, as men always do, that a woman’s highest ambition must be to secure herself another husband?”
“What else would you have me do?” He spread his hands in a gesture of frustration. “Kick you out of here? For heaven’s sake, Lady Amelia, I am trying to do what is right!”
“For whom?” The question was asked more quietly now, but no less fierce. “For me? For Henry? Or for your own conscience,so that you might feel you have discharged your duty and can return to your dissolute pleasures without guilt?”
His expression changed from frustration to utter misery, and he found her eyes again.
“You truly believe that is all this is to me?” he asked quietly. “No more than an obligation?”
Amelia felt her anger waver, felt the careful walls she had constructed begin to crack. She wanted to believe him. Wanted to trust that his concern was genuine, that he saw her as something more than a burden inherited along with his brother’s title.
But she had learned the danger of such trust.
“What else should I believe?” she asked, and hated the way her voice trembled. “You speak of duty and responsibility, of finding me a husband and ensuring my security. You offer me exactly what every man has offered me—protection in exchange for my autonomy.”
Tobias’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, and for a moment, she thought he might argue further. Instead, he drew in a long breath and released it slowly.
“I understand,” he said carefully, “that you have no reason to trust me. That my brother’s treatment of you has left you… wary. But I am not Edward, Amelia. I do not wish to control you ordiminish you. I simply wish to ensure that you and Henry are cared for. Is that truly so objectionable?”
The gentleness in his tone was almost her undoing. She turned away, moving to the window where moonlight spilled across the nursery floor in silver pools.
“You do not understand,” she said quietly. “For two years, I was told what to think, what to feel, what to do. Every aspect of my life was managed and controlled. And I bore it because I had no choice, because that was what marriage required of me. But Edward is gone now. And I had thought—foolishly, perhaps—that I might finally be free to make my own decisions. To be more than simply someone’s wife, someone’s responsibility.”
She heard him move closer, felt the warmth of his presence at her back.
“You deserve that freedom,” he said softly. “You deserve far more than you have been given. But the world we live in does not grant such liberties to women in your position. Whether we like it or not, you need protection. And I… I am all you have.”
The words should have angered her. Should have rekindled the fury that had burned so fiercely moments before. Instead, they filled her with a weariness so profound she could scarcely remain standing.
She thought of Henry, sleeping peacefully in his cot. Of the life she wanted to give him—one free from the coldness that haddefined her marriage. And she knew, with devastating clarity, that her pride was a luxury she could not afford.
“Very well,” she said, the words tasting like ash. “I accept your… protection. Not because I desire it, you understand. Not because I believe I need a man’s guardianship to survive. But because my son deserves stability. Because Henry’s welfare must take precedence over my own wishes.”
She turned to face him then, forcing herself to meet his gaze with all the dignity she could muster.
“But I will not be managed, Lord Tobias. I will not be treated as though my thoughts and feelings are of no consequence. And I will not spend the remainder of my life dependent upon your charity. When the time is right, I shall find my own way forward. Is that perfectly clear?”
She watched something flicker in his grey eyes—respect, perhaps, or admiration. He inclined his head in a gesture that was almost a bow.
“Perfectly clear, my lady.”
Silence settled between them, then Tobias bowed his head.
“I should let you rest,” he said, moving toward the door. But he paused at the threshold, his hand upon the frame, and turned back to look at her. In the dim light, his features seemed softer somehow, less guarded.
“I meant what I said, Amelia,” he said quietly, and she noticed he had dropped the formality once more. “I will take care of you both. Not because I must, but because I…”
He trailed off, and she found herself holding her breath, waiting for him to finish the thought.
“Because you deserve it,” he said finally. “You and Henry. You deserve to be cared for. To be protected. And I swear to you, upon my honour, that I shall do everything in my power to ensure your happiness.”
Before she could respond, before she could parse the strange intensity in his voice, he was gone—the door closing softly behind him and leaving her alone with the sleeping child and the uncomfortable reminder that Lord Tobias Grant was certainly not his brother.
CHAPTER 4
“The eastern tenant cottages require new thatching, my lord, and the drainage system near the lower fields has been neglected for some months now.”
