He paused, gaze unfocused now, directed somewhere beyond the walls of the study.
“One man inherits the name,” he said quietly, “and is expected to repair everything that was broken long before him.”
Cassandra felt something shift. She had never heard him speak like this.
“You mean your father,” she said gently.
His expression closed almost at once.
“It is not important.”
“It is to you,” she replied. “I can tell.”
He straightened, the ease she had admired moments ago receding.
“You asked about duty. That is the answer.”
She hesitated, then pressed on.
“Is that why you work so much? Is that why you never seem to rest? Why you carry everything alone?”
He met her gaze, something guarded returning to his eyes.
“This is not a conversation you need to concern yourself with.”
“I want to,” she said.
The words surprised them both. She leaned forward slightly, hoping that he would tell her more about himself.
“You ask me to behave as though we are partners, to trust you. It is only fair that you allow the same in return.”
His jaw tightened.
“There are limits,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because some responsibilities are not shared,” he replied. “They are borne.”
The warmth in the room dimmed. Cassandra sat back, disappointment flickering through her. She had thought, just for a moment, that he might let her see beyond the careful restraint he wore so naturally.
“I see,” she said quietly.
He looked away, shielding himself once more.
“You should find the library before you become lost again.”
The dismissal was gentle, but unmistakable.
Cassandra rose, smoothing her skirts. As she turned toward the door, she glanced back at him once more.
She had glimpsed something real, and she suspected that whatever he was protecting himself from, it was not nearly as distant as he wished her to believe. If he wanted to hide from her, she knew that there was nothing that she could do, but she wanted to try.
“You speak of responsibility,” she said at last, carefully, “as though it were something inherited rather than chosen.”
“In my case, it was both,” George replied. “I could have chosen to abandon it, so in a sense it is my own fault too.”
She considered that.
