“I’m not the one who ended our courtship. She did.” He’d not beg any woman.
“She’s in pain. She’s been hurt.”
“Her pain? What of mine?”
Lady Isolda threw up her hands in disgust. “That’s it then. I am doomed to remain on this earth because ofblind, prideful, foolishmen.” She emphasized each of her derogatory terms with a poke in his chest. The force of which James felt as if he were being skewered by an icicle.
James looked over to where Diana stood. She’d been watching him but quickly looked away so as not to be caught.
“Pride?”
“Yes pride,” Lady Isolda stated. “You could have explained the incorrect assumption by now, but her rejection stung, thus pride has been the one and only motivating factor in all decisions you have made since. Such an attitude will see you become a bitter old man.”
“What of Diana?”
“Her stubbornness is born from pain. She loved you but she is too afraid to risk again. I do not envy trying to win her back, but you must. If not for yourself, then for me.”
“She should have trusted me.” That is what hurt the most.
“Did it ever occur to you that in the pain she decided that she could not trust her heart? That if she asked, you’d not offer the assurance she needed. Nobody wishes to compound their pain.”
“While anger could be a welcomed friend,” he concluded. Anger was usually the best to mask the more vulnerable emotions. He should know. He’d been carrying anger like a mantle since that day.
“Therein you are not incorrect,” Lady Isolda agreed. “My question is, what do you intend to do about it?”
James didn’t wish to become bitter and even though he’d vowed to remain a bachelor for the next twelve years, those years no longer looked as promising and free as he’d once viewed them. In fact, they looked incredibly lonely.
* * *
Diana triedto look anywhere but where Somerton stood, yet she could feel him watching her.
Why did it have to be him?
“Miss Vail, might I have a moment of your time.”
She glanced up to find Somerton standing before her.
“Why?”
Why was he so handsome? Why did he have to kiss so wonderfully? Why did he have to pretend to care for her? Why had he gone toher mother’sbed?
“It’s been suggested that because of pride, I might not have behaved as I should in London.”
She snorted.
Somerton took a deep breath. “I enjoyed what we shared. Your anger took me aback the night of the Hearne ball. Further, I should have explained, and could have if you would have afforded me the opportunity.”
Diana studied him. Why did he wish to make amends now, and could she trust him?
“We should at least discuss what you overheard, and any other issues that you might have with my person.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps simply so these three pesky ghosts might give us peace.”
There was humor in his brown eyes. Was this only a game to him, just as it had been in London?
“Please, Diana.”
