“My deepest apologies, my lord,” she began. “Yes, you and I had begun to spend some time together, so I can understand how—how confusing this sudden announcement might have been to you.”
“We were on the edge of an official courtship,” he said coolly, and his watery stare narrowed on her again. “Webothknow that.”
She drew a breath. How did propriety say she respond to this conversation? Did she ignore the truth and soften everything? Did she accept responsibility? Oh, how she wished she could have searched one of her books for some answers that she couldn’t find on her own.
“If I had been so—so lucky as to have been courted by you, Lord Mickenshire, I would have been most grateful.”
“And yet you are now marrying another. So what was this dance, Miss Lockhart? That is what I wish to know. Were you toying with me only to catch the eye of a rake like Kirkwood? To make him see your value by flaunting your potential attachment to another, one with higher rank?”
Her lips parted. “To do so would have been abominably rude, sir. I assure you?—”
“Yes,abominably,” he interrupted, and stepped toward her. She took a step of her own backward, but she was against the terrace wall now and had nowhere to go. “I’m glad we agree. I do not like to be made a fool, Miss Lockhart.”
“Then do not make yourself one.”
They both turned at that statement and she caught her breath as Roderick exited the house and strode toward the two of them in long, certain steps. He stopped beside her, ever so subtly blocking her as if offering her…protection. And oddly, shefeltprotected. Relieved that he had intervened.
“I beg your pardon, young pup?” Mickenshire blustered.
“Miss Lockhart was kind enough to share some time with you inthe last few days, but there were no agreements, were there?” Roderick asked, holding the other man’s stare evenly.
“N-no,” Mickenshire admitted.
“You had not asked her to court, nor offered her marriage?”
“Roderick,” she said softly.
Both men looked at her briefly and she realized she had called him by his given name and only made this worse. She clamped her mouth shut and forced herself not to intervene a second time.
“I had not. And it seems I am better for it considering all this behavior.” Mickenshire smoothed his waistcoat. “I can smell a scandal being covered up from miles away. As can everyone else. So I suppose you have done me a favor, Miss Lockhart, keeping me away from the kind of woman who would?—”
Roderick stepped closer to him and pressed a hand to the older man’s chest. “Careful now,” he said softly but not kindly. “Be very careful.”
They stared at each other for a long moment and then Mickenshire turned away. “Good day.”
He moved off into the house and only then did Clarissa gasp in a breath that was more like a sob. Roderick turned toward her, his harsh expression for the marquess softening when it fell on her. “Are you well?”
“Not at all,” she said, for she had no ability to politely respond. It seemed all propriety was gone now. “Why did you return to the terrace?”
“When I went into the house, I felt like you might need some support,” he said. “I suppose you wouldn’t want mine, but I wanted to be certain you were well either way. And I’m glad I did, for I overheard that blustering arse beginning to berate you and that couldn’t stand.”
“He isn’t wrong, though,” she said softly. “I violated Society’s expectations. I behaved without decorum or thought. I should be better than that.”
He shook his head. “This obsession with propriety seems not to allow for you to be human.”
She blinked. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“To feel is human, as is to express those feelings,” he said. “That was what you did in the library earlier. To desire comfort is human, and it’s what I offered and what you accepted. Even a kiss is human, it’s physical connection.”
“Spoken as a true rake who may, and presumablyhas, kissed anyone he likes,” she said, then lifted her gaze to him. “You do not need to concern yourself with Society’s expectations in the same way I do. You are titled, rich, and most importantly, a man. You’ll be forgiven for almost anything you do if you’re clever enough. While I’ll be called a wanton for leaning into a kiss. For being caught in a library in the arms of…” She broke off.
He took a long step toward her and the tension that had been harsh in her chest seemed to ease a little. Or at least change. Changed back into the flutter of excitement she’d felt just before he kissed her. When he was close, that was what she thought of as she stared up and up at him, into those dark green eyes that held such certainty and warmth.
“You may tie yourself in knots, Clarissa, but know this: you didn’t harm Mickenshire by any of your behavior. He had no right to be rude to you. That washisbreech of propriety, not yours.”
Her lips parted at that defense of her, but he didn’t allow her to respond, he simply continued. “We will marry, there is the truth of it. One of my duties as your future husband is to stand between you and anyone who would dare take advantage of your sweetness. Whether that’s a clod like Mickenshire or your parents or anyone else.”
She caught her breath. What Roderick was describing was a champion. Had she ever had one of those? Occasionally her cousin had stood up for her, though always playfully, more distracting than defending. But this man had already warned off a potential dragon. He said he would do the same for the rest of her life.
