They both blinked at each other. Alaric opened his mouth to speak again, but snapped it shut when Catherine beat him to it. “Why are you apologizing?”
“For touching you. I was not thinking. It will not happen again.” His chest tightened as he said it, the fingers of his hand flexing unconsciously behind his back. “I swear it.”
“Oh, that.” Catherine’s hand ran along her arm, where Alaric knew his hand had touched her. “You do not need to apologize for that.”
“You asked me to respect your rules, Catherine, and that is twice now I have broken my word to you.” Alaric clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I ask that you forgive this transgression.”
I cannot let this happen again. I do not want to lose her.Several emotions flitted across Catherine’s face too quickly for Alaric to name. Her eyes narrowed, and she blinked at him slowly, as though seeing him for the first time. And then to his surprise, she laughed.
“Alaric, you just defended me to my mother. You literally put yourself between us and said things that I do not think anyone has ever thought about me, much less put into words.” She tooka step toward him and shook her head. “Though you did not have to lie like that. I suspect she would have left regardless.”
“What lies do you think I told?” Alaric felt the skin of his scar stretch as his frown deepened.
“Those things you said about me.” Catherine swallowed, her cheeks turning red. “I know you were trying to show her that we are a united front, but– "
“I did not lie to her; what I said is simply fact. Your mother might be blind to it, but I am not.” He stayed where he was, even as every muscle in his body begged him to move closer to her.
Control yourself. She does not want you. You are a man, not a dog like your father.
The smell of stale whiskey rose in his mind, and he pushed it violently away. The pounding in his head ebbed away as he met Catherine’s piercing blue eyes.
“I... I do not know what to say.” Catherine bit her lip, and Alaric had to force himself not to stare at it.
“You need not say anything.” Alaric rubbed his neck and shrugged.
“I do.” Catherine took a step toward him. “What you did just now... No one has ever stood up for me like that before, and well, thank you.”
“I have already told you, you need not thank me,” Alaric said with a smile. “You may not have chosen me, but I am still your husband. I was doing what a husband should do.”
The clock chimed behind them, and Alaric looked away from Catherine. “I should check on Oliver; he was unsettled by the shouting.”
He left without waiting for Catherine’s response, not trusting himself to stay with her a moment longer.
He had agreed to her rules; he would follow them, even if it killed him.
CHAPTER 17
“Is there anything else you wish to know, your Grace?” The woman in front of Catherine smiled.
It had been two days since Catherine’s mother had barged into her home, and Alaric had come to her defense. Catherine was sitting in Mrs. Danvers’s office with the housekeeper, interviewing the last of the candidates for the governess position.
‘Your mistake has only made my life better.’Catherine pushed Alaric’s words from her mind, forcing herself to focus on the woman sitting in front of her.
Mrs. Amelia Langley was a tall, slight woman with a sharp face. She was twelve years older than Catherine and carried herself with a quiet intensity that unsettled her. Though Mrs. Langley smiled easily, her eyes seemed to take in everything, as if she were a collector examining her prized possessions.
“You were with your last family for quite some time. Is there any reason you chose now to leave?” Catherine responded with her own smile—polished and perfectly polite.
“The Lord Aislington’s children were too old for a governess, Your Grace, and though I may have been tempted to stay with them— indeed, his Lordship wished dearly for me to remain— the family was moving to the Continent.” Mrs. Langley tucked her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear.
“And you did not wish to join them?” Catherine asked.
“No, Your Grace. I could not bear to depart from these shores. England is my home; this is where I belong.” Mrs. Langley’s smile broadened. “I cannot imagine being anywhere else.”
“You will not miss the family?” Mrs. Danvers leaned forward.
“I will. But it is the lot of the governess to eventually leave. I have done my part to support them; now it is time to tend to the next generation of nobility, to give them the knowledge they will need to take their rightful places.” For a moment, Catherine thought she saw hunger on Mrs. Langley’s face, but it must have been a trick of the light.
The woman’s smile remained just as broad, her green eyes fixed on her with calm intensity.
