“Well, if the doctor is done with you, I know a way to put all the unpleasantness of the day from your thoughts,” she murmured into his ear.
Jasper reached up and pulled her hands away. He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Surely, that’s not a deep wound,” she said, sliding her hands back around him. “Don’t worry, I’ll do all the work. It’s the least you deserve for being so brave.”
Jasper removed her hands again. He turned to look down at her. “Rather, I won’t, Clementine.”
Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean, ‘won’t’?”
Jasper caught her fingers in his. “You will always be one of my dearest friends, but I’ve met someone. I want to pursue a life with her. It wouldn’t be right to keep company with you while I court her.”
A frown marred Clementine’s beauty. “And after you’re done courting her?”
“Hopefully, she will agree to be my wife, and I shall devote myself to her.”
Clementine chuckled, a brittle edge to the sound. “You’ll soon grow weary of that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe I will.”
She snatched her hands from his. “You will, but don’t expect me to be waiting for you when you do, Jasper Mclintock. I am no man’s second choice.”
“No man’s second choice,” he repeated, confused by the anger in her voice. “But, you were my first choice. You broke off our engagement, not me.” He couldn’t keep layers of anger and hurt from his voice as he added, “You didn’t want me once I no longer held a duke’s favor.”
Her eyes widened. “Is that what you think?”
“Why else would you throw me over not a month after he died?”
She pursed her full lips. “Why indeed?”
He frowned, the room still spinning slightly, feeling as if he’d missed something. “Then why?”
“You never asked before.”
“I’m asking now.”
Clementine shrugged. “I’d recently come into something in the nature of a fortune. I took it into my head that I couldn’t trust you with it.”
“How could you think that?” She’d left him, crushed his heart, because she thought he would take her money?
“You had recently lost your allowance from your father. How was I to know he’d bequeathed you everything that wasn’t entailed? That he’d left you even richer than your brother?”
She’d cast aside his heart over money? “And once you realized I am still wealthy?” he asked, voice tight.
She shrugged. “I could see I’d already lost you and that it would take time to win you back. What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the last two years?”
Jasper looked away, swallowing down pain. Years. It had all happened years ago. Why did her rejection still hurt? “Yes, well, even if you made a mistake then, you cannot expect me not to love another.”
“Love?” she scoffed. “Lust, more likely. As I said, once you bed the girl, you’ll weary of her.” She reached up to cup his chin. “You’re mine, Jasper Mclintock. Even when I broke your heart, you came back to me. Someone else claiming it won’t keep you away.”
He pulled his face away. “You had to know that, eventually, I would wish to wed and have a family.”
She studied him for a long moment. A slow sigh left her lips. Anger drained from her. “Yes, of course, I knew.” She smiled. “It’s just a surprise. You’re only six and twenty. I thought we’d have more fun first. Really, this is wonderful news, and I am happy for you.”
Tension left Jasper. He didn’t believe Clementine had given up, but at least the worst was over. “Thank you.” He grimaced, suddenly struck by how ludicrous his words about a family and children were. Did Madelina even wish for those things? She was Little Hook. “It’s not a set thing, of course. The lady must agree.”
“The lady?” Clementine raised her eyebrows. “Ah, Greydrake’s sister. I should have known that even the prospect of a sizable donation wouldn’t spur you to dance in a room full of people who look down on you.”
Jasper bristled.
