That gave her pause. If he thought she should be afraid of him, then she probably should be. But then he didn’t know how she felt about her brother. She decided to tell him.
“Because, believe it or not, I hate Robert, too. And believe it or not, I would rather be here with you than with my own family, no matter that you’re a churlish beast.”
“You might want to stop calling me names.”
“You might want to give me a reason to.”
She had kept her tone pleasant thus far. She’d even smiled at him, which was obviously confounding him. Good. It was a start. Make him curious. Catch him off guard.
“Why would you hate your brother?”
She’d never told anyone but Alfreda. She shouldn’t share the reason with him, but suddenly she did.
“He’s hated me from the day I was born, I don’t know why. But he used to come into my room in the middle of the night, put a hand over my mouth and hit me, leaving bruises where they wouldn’t be seen, and promising to kill me if I told on him. I was too young to realize I could lock my door against him. I think I was only four or five. Most people don’t remember much from that age, but Robert’s beatings are something that I can’t forget and still can’t forgive. He became sick for several weeks after the last time he did it, justly deserved.”
That had been after Alfreda had found out what Robert had been doing and began sleeping on a cot in Brooke’s roomandlocking the door to prevent any more middle-of-the-night visits. Alfreda did that for nearly two years, although Robert stopped trying to get in the room when he started finding the door always locked to him.
“You wished him ill?”
She laughed. “D’you think I can make wishes come true?”
“Can you?”
“I didn’t take you for superstitious... well, actually, you must be if you can believe you are cursed. But if I had such a talent, I wouldn’t be here, would I? I’d be having my Season in London as I was promised.”
“That’s all? You wouldn’t wish for something more grand than that?”
She realized suddenly that they were having a normal conversation, with neither of them growling or snapping. “It’s something I’ve looked forward to for the last two years.”
It had made those two years tolerable, at least, better than all those before it. She’d had something to be excited about. The trip promised something better in the end, possibly even happiness. It promised escape. But this man could give her those things, too, couldn’t he? At least the escape.
So it was quite annoying to hear him say, “You know I have no reason to believe you about your brother and every reason not to.”
“How true! But I don’t feel a need to convince you of anything, so it’s all right if you don’t. You asked, I answered. And as long as we are making confessions—”
“Wearen’t.”
She ignored that. “I should warn you that I don’t usually reveal my feelings. I have become quite accustomed to keeping them under wraps, as it were.”
“Why?”
“Because the alternative would be—unpleasant,” she admitted.
For me,she wanted to add, but she was not going to try to win him to her side with pity, if he was even capable of it, by telling him what her life with her family had been like.
“So instead of this light, chipper nonsense I’m hearing, you’re really seething with anger inside? Is that what you’re implying?”
She blinked at that guess, then laughed. “Exactly! Often-times that is the case, but not right now. And earlier I felt angry and, as you might have noticed, I couldn’t hide if from you because—”
“But how will I know whether you are concealing or revealing your true feelings?”
“I admit it might be difficult for you to tell. So shall we both simply agree to be forthright with each other?”
“I hope you will not be here long enough for it to matter.”
That was not exactly what she’d hoped to hear after being honest with him and revealing so much personal information. “Well, I will continue to share my feelings with you.Youare already doing exactly that. So I suppose we don’t need to agree to anything.”
If he couldn’t tell that he’d finally annoyed her, then he was blind. But he didn’t reply because the food arrived and he finally let go of her wrist. She almost laughed it was so obvious that he’d only done so because he was hungry and the sooner she was done treating his wound, the sooner he could eat.
