Gray shook his head. He could only imagine the response that would be evoked once Rosalinde said her piece about why she wished to talk to the couple.
They entered Stenfax’s office and Gray shut the door behind them. As Lucien released Rosalinde, he caught Gray’s eye, but he did not ask him to go. Instead, his brother’s gaze slipped to Fitzgilbert and then back, and a world of meaning passed between them.
Gray nodded to indicate he would monitor the situation just as his brother did. Then Stenfax moved to his desk. He didn’t go around, but perched himself on the edge. He smiled at Rosalinde and said, “What did you wish to discuss with Celia and me?”
Rosalinde was worrying a handkerchief in her hands and Gray watched as she did so, turning and twisting the fabric until she almost rent it in two. He drew back. That washishandkerchief. The one he’d given to her earlier. Now she held it, taking out her nervous energy on the neatly stitched lines of his initials.
He found he wished he could slip his hand into hers instead. Smooth a thumb over her skin and whisper soothing words into her ear.
But he couldn’t. He had no right.
She cleared her throat. “I suppose there is no easy way to say this, so I will come right out and do it. I-I don’t think the two of you should wed.”
There was a moment when her words hung in the air, echoing like a gunshot in the small room. And then all hell broke loose.
Rosalinde had never heard such a cacophonous and terrifying sound as the screeching voices that bombarded her from all sides. Her pronouncement had gone over just as she had expected, but she didn’t regret making it. She had to be strong now. To face the consequences.
Her first instinct was to carefully watch her grandfather. Fitzgilbert was shouting at her, his voice breaking with the force of his anger, spittle flying from his lips as he fumed at her. She blocked out the specific words. She knew them all by heart. The slurs against her character, the ownership he claimed over her and her sister and their futures. None of it was a surprise. And though his reaction spurred the most physical fear in her, she found her gaze slipping away to Gray.
He had followed them, unbidden, to the office. At first she had hated him being there, for she feared that he would try to silence her. But he hadn’t. He’d allowed her to say what she’d said, even though it went against whatever new plan he had concocted to save Stenfax. Gray watched her carefully now, his arms folded. Not angry, not controlling, not denying. Just there, as if he were ready to offer a lifeline if she needed it.
And she might. For she forced herself to look in the direction that was her chief concern. She looked at Celia.
Celia, who she loved. Celia, who was pale and pasty, her eyes wide. “Please don’t do this, Rosalinde,” she pleaded, her voice hardly carrying. “Please don’t ruin everything.”
But though her lips spoke those words of denial, of rejection of Rosalinde’s statement, her eyes said something different. Rosalinde looked into her sister’s eyes, so dark and so blue, and she saw a flicker of…hope. This statement that the marriage should not go forward gave Celiahope.
“Please be quiet!”
Rosalinde jolted as Stenfax slapped a palm hard on the desk beside him. His tone was so sharp it silenced even Fitzgilbert and reminded Rosalinde just how much power the earl wielded. But his face was unreadable, neither angry at her declaration nor surprised, nor sad.
He held her stare with evenness, fairness. “I want to hear what Rosalinde has to say,” he continued. “You have always supported this union and now you say this, just two days before the deed is to be done. Tell me, were you influenced somehow?”
Stenfax glared at Gray, and Celia followed his stare. She caught her breath. “Did Mr. Danfordmakeyou say this, Rosalinde?”
“No!” she burst out, raising her heads in pleading. “God, no. Gray has had nothing to do with this at all. In fact, I would wager he would stand up against what I am saying if he could speak freely.”
Celia folded her arms. “He has made clear his intentions to break this union by any means. Ofcoursehe would not argue that we should wed, not when he now has an ally in my closest family member.”
Gray stepped forward and cleared his throat. “You needn’t talk about me like I am not here. Rosalinde is correct.”
“What?” Celia choked out, her eyes widening. “You cannot be serious.”
Gray inclined his head. “I can see why you would doubt me, but I must admit to a recent change of heart on this subject. I now think youshouldmarry Celia, Stenfax. I think that would be best for you.”
Stenfax jerked his gaze toward Gray and his eyes narrowed. “Bestfor me,” he repeated.
Fitzgilbert leapt in. “You’re damn right it’s best for you, Stenfax. Our arrangements have been made, our contracts signed. You have a special license burning a hole in your desk drawer. You wouldn’t dare back out now or you would face such a scandal.”
Stenfax’s lips thinned, and he slowly turned away from Gray and back toward Fitzgilbert. “I have asked you once to shut up, sir. I don’t want to ask you again. Everyone in the room has given me their reasons for what they think should happen except for the one person who has declared we should not wed. Rosalinde, I ask you again, why do you now oppose this union?”
Rosalinde took a deep breath. “You are clearly a good man,” she began. “I like you a great deal.”
“That is a relief,” Stenfax said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, though it wasn’t cruel. Rosalinde smiled at him.
“I hope it is, for this is not about you. I hesitate about this marriage because…because I see no connection between you and my sister. This is not a slur against you. But I know my sister is capable of great love. I have a feeling you are, as well. So when I see you two together, looking as though you were mere acquaintances rather than two people who will in forty-eight hours be bound together for life, well, I fear that your happiness is at risk.”
“You have created this entire situation because you want some fairytale version of love for Celia?” Fitzgilbert bellowed. He was moving toward Rosalinde now, and she fought the urge to back away. “You need to shut your mouth before you ruin everything we have worked for.”
