“You should know that I won’t force you into a courtship, not if you are not comfortable with me.”
It did not make any sense at first. After all, he had done everything in his power to make her feel welcome, and since her arrival he had been nothing but cordial. There was no real reason for her to feel uncomfortable around him, as far as she was concerned.
Then she saw how the sunlight reflected on his hands, the scars shining. All at once, she realized what he meant. He expected her to be horrified by him, as if he were some beast rather than a man.
She did not know, of course, the extent of his burn scars elsewhere, and should he have felt uncomfortable letting people see them, then she would not have been surprised. But they were to marry—if all went well—and she could not spend her life being suspicious of his looks. Whether she liked it or not, they would have to handle the matter before they could go any further.
“We ought to be more at ease with each other, I believe,” she said gently. “If we are to make this work, then we will both have to give a little, if that is all right with you.”
“Oh… of course,” he replied, still facing mostly away from her.
“Very well. Might you turn and look at me, so that we can speak face to face?”
She saw his eyes widen.
“Lady Jacqueline, as much as I would love to do that, as I know it would help you know me better, I—”
“We cannot very well have a wedding ceremony with you standing several feet away from me,” she joked gently, trying to lighten things. “I assure you that I will not see you any differently. If anything, it will make me trust you a good deal more, because I will have seen you properly.”
He kept his distance, not moving at all, as if thinking about the best course of action.
“Please, Your Grace?”
Chapter 6
Philip was well aware that, eventually, Lady Jacqueline would ask to see his face.
He had not once, however, expected it to be so soon. It had not even been an entire day since her arrival, and already she had requested it. It had not been particularly demanding, but that did not matter. What mattered was that she had asked, and even though he wanted her to see him with time, he was not ready.
“N-no,” he stammered, taking yet another step away from her. “I cannot let you, not just yet.”
He wondered if any facade she was holding might slip, and she would turn into some demanding and petulant child, but of course it did not. Even from his distance, he could see that her features remained soft. Any worry that she saw him as some creature left him for the moment, something that rarely happened around others.
“Very well,” she replied gently. “I shall not press the matter further. Instead, I shall ask you how you came to be near me a second time.”
Somehow, that questioning was even worse.
“I have been thinking about your behavior,” he explained. “Not that it has been anything untoward, of course, but it was a surprise to me. You see, we had been led to believe that you were aware of the plans, and that you were happy with them. I had no idea that the truth was kept from you.”
“I cannot say that I am surprised by that,” she smirked. “It is quite like my father to do something like this, though I never thought that he would go to such extremes.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, not that she could see it, but she seemed to know he did not fully believe regardless.
“Well,” she laughed sadly. “It is not as though I am surprised, as he had been acting quite bizarrely of late, as well as my sister. I am yet to forgive her for her part in it.”
“Her part?”
“She knew. For the first time in our lives, she has kept something from me, and all because she fancies herself in love—loveI tell you.”
“Yes, with Lord Greene. She was quite enraptured by him last night.”
“I shall have to meet him myself at some point, seeing as I was not at dinner last night. Surely, I cannot be blamed for holding this all against this gentleman, at least a little?”
“Would you rather honesty or support?”
“Honesty. Always.”
“I believe this poor gentleman is none the wiser about all of this, and so it is unfair to place any blame upon his shoulders.”
