“It was the destination you steered toward while keeping me ignorant of the road.”
“I never intended to compromise you,” he said. “Nor for you to remain unaware of anything.”
“But you did.”
“Last night was a miscalculation.”
“It was inevitable.”
“I required the courtship,” he said, his restraint thinning. “Your family required it. Visibility secures legitimacy. Without it, rumor breeds worse conclusions. I have already told you all of this. It went too far, I know, but it was not deliberate.”
“You say that as though it absolves you of any wrongdoing.”
“I do not intend to absolve myself. I speak of reality and nothing more.”
“And that reality now corners me.”
“Scandal spreads by the hour,” he sighed. “I am trying to control the damage, and you understand the consequences if nothing is done.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“Then there is only one course that shields you.”
She did not look surprised. She looked furious.
“I will marry you,” he said. “If you will have me.”
The words fell into the room with finality. Her expression hardened further.
“How generous,” she replied.
“This is not generosity. It is an obligation.”
It was the wrong thing to say, and he had not meant to say it, but she seemed to listen to it at least. There was no denying, however, that she was hurt by it. He felt heat rise in his chest.
“I never sought to trap you,” he continued.
“You have placed me where refusal destroys me. That is a trap.”
That, he could not deny.
“You knew my family’s position,” she continued. “You knew what your name meant in this house. You let that weight do its work.”
“I offered security.”
“You offered it while withholding the truth.”
He held her gaze.
“There are matters that require discretion.”
“From the woman you intended to marry?”
“Yes.”
The admission did not soften anything.
“I will not enter a life governed by silence,” she said. “I will not exchange scandal for secrecy.”
