Her lips disappeared in a thin straight line. “That is not an answer.”
“But if I give you an answer in the negative, that leaves you without a scapegrace. If I give you an answer in the positive, what will you do about it?”
“You were the one pushing for me to ask the question. Nowanswerit.”
“Tell me, when would I have been able to murder the last two?”
She looked at the scattered papers. “You could have sneaked out to murder Anastasia Rasen while I was asleep.”
“So stealthy, am I?”
“Yes, you are incredibly stealthy. Your upbringing explains that completely.”
“The lowly servant that I am.”
She gripped the table. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I see. You may want to rethink that in the future, Marietta. I think it is exactly what was meant.”
“By my words, I meant that you have the stealth of someone who is used to getting around with no sound. Not bothering others.”
“We can never bother our betters.”
Frustration bent her brows. He felt little sympathy at the moment. The bile was there, choking him so that all he could do was spew it forth.
“Is that how you see me? As someone who thinks herself better?”
“Do you not? You think yourself better than Mark. Better than hapless Kenny. Better than your parents. Better than the others of your acquaintance who make mistakes. Tarred by your own tongue as judgmental and harsh.”
The scathing words came so easily. The look on her face making him feel something other than his own pain. He ruthlessly shoved away everything that said he was hurting her. She was of the upper class. She had hurt him. She had pretended to care.
Why he had believed it was the question. Why had he bought into the thinking that she might have cared for him?He didn’t deserve it. He was tainted.
“Nothing to say, Marietta?”
She lifted her chin. “You are right, of course. I am judgmental. And at times harsh. But I’m not a liar.”
“Never?”
“I prefer frankness, even in my tactless,harshmanner.”
“How refreshing,” he deadpanned.
“How did you get me here? How did you convince Rockwood to send me your way?”
The unsettling sensation of something just beyond his reach fell over him.
“I didn’t,” he said succinctly. “You chose to come to me of your own free will. Unless that too you will lay at my feet. Have I overcome your will?” He leaned forward, lowering his eyes and cocking his head. “Made you do anything you didn’t want to do?”
Her eyes hardened. “You use your sexuality well, Gabriel. I noticed it right away. It is hard to escape. Hard to avoid. You are good. Too good. Your teachers taught you well.”
Anger, fear, something worse, coiled in his gut. It looked like he wasn’t the only one willing to get dirty in this game.
“Didn’t you know?” she asked. “You look surprised. Sick, even.” Her eyes were narrowed, something like grim satisfaction in the short smile. “You didn’t honestly think that you weren’t using all the tactics they taught you? Using them and hating yourself evenmorefor it.”
He was frozen to the spot.
“You didn’t.” Her voice held surprise. “Did you just expect that your self-loathing, your obvious hatred of the responses you get, was motivated by—what?” The grim satisfaction in her voice turned to pity and then hardened once more. “Well, Gabriel?”
