However… her request seemed real. He wasn’t sensing any feigned emotion or practiced panic. Everything seemed genuine. After finally closing the entry door, he went into the area at the rear of the cottage where meals were eaten and brought out two chairs. He put them in front of the dark hearth as he set the taper on the mantel.
“Here,” he said. “Sit down. Explain why you cannot marry me.”
Ophelia sat down, watching him anxiously as he took the other chair a couple of feet away. He simply looked at her, a silent invitation to continue.
She took the hint.
“In order to explain this, I must start from the beginning,” she said, her voice trembling. “This is something my grandfather would never tell you. I was told not to tell you either. However, after meeting you today, I find that I cannot let him cheat you out of a happy and noble life. That is what he is trying to do, just so he can have an heir for his earldom.”
“How is he trying to cheat me? I do not understand.”
She took a deep breath. “Two months ago, I was to be married to the man I loved,” she said. “He was from a good family and I had been planning our life together for years. I’d known him for as long. But the day of our wedding, he failed to show up at the church. Instead, his father came to tell me that his son had fled to an abbey. He was to become a priest and there would be no marriage.”
Creston nodded in understanding. “Ah,” he said. “I am sorry for you. Something like that is never easy.”
“It was not,” Ophelia said. “I loved Cecil. He was the only man I wanted to marry.”
“And now you are going to break our betrothal and commit yourself to a nunnery because you do not wish to marry me?” he said. “Because I am the second choice?”
She sighed, heavily, running a shaking hand across her forehead. “It has nothing to do with that,” she said. “My lord, there is no easy way to say this, so I will come out with it. I am pregnant with Cecil’s child and my grandfather is panicking. Cecil walked out on me and my grandfather was desperate to find me a suitable husband, and somehow, he found you. Now he is trying to trick you into believing this child I carry is yours. As I said, I was willing to obey him until I met you, and now…now, I cannot let him do it. He wants to lie to you about my condition and I refuse to go along with it any longer. Now that you know, I was hoping you would escort me to the nunnery. Once I commit myself, our betrothal is broken. You will be set free.”
Creston was dumbfounded. “You’repregnant?”
“I am.”
He hissed as the information was confirmed. He wasn’t a man easily shocked, but at the moment, he was. “My brother must not know about the pregnancy,” he said. “He would never have agreed to this.”
Ophelia shook her head. “He did not know,” she said. “But I told you once I am an honest woman. I cannot, in good conscience, let you assume this terrible circumstance. I would rather spend my life in a nunnery than see a good man shamed.”
Creston stood up. He had to. He had to get some air. He walked away from Ophelia, his mind whirling with what she had told him. The predominant emotion, at the moment, was disappointment.Greatdisappointment, if he were to admit it. That beautiful woman had given herself over to another and now, she was compromised.
Pregnant!
The entire marriage offer had been a ruse.
Ming Tang had been right to a certain extent—hehadbeen manipulated, but not by Ophelia.
By her grandfather.
“I do not have to take you to the nunnery to break the betrothal,” he said after a moment. “You have given me a legal reason for breaking it. All I have to do is tell him that I know you are pregnant with another man’s child, and there is no magistrate in England that will force me to honor the contract.”
“I realize that,” she said. “But I do not have the same choice. My grandfather will find a man to marry me who is willing tooverlook the pregnancy with the promise of an earldom, and that kind of man would not be someone I would wish to be married to.”
“Nay,” Creston said as he thought of such an opportunist. “That would not be a good situation for you.”
“Will you help me, then?”
He looked at her.Reallylooked at her. He found his gaze drifting over that pale face, those lovely eyes, and thinking that this entire situation was something horrific.
Horrific and sad.
“You do not look pregnant,” he said. “I would have never known.”
His observation brought her to tears. They poured down her face faster than she could wipe them away. “That is because my grandfather has been starving me for the past two months,” she whispered tightly. “He thought if I looked thin and frail enough, the pregnancy would not be noticeable. He’s hardly fed me at all.”
Creston scowled. “God’s Bones,” he spat. “Are you serious?”
She nodded. Then she stood up and removed the cloak, throwing it over the chair before pulling back the neckline of her garment to reveal prominent collarbones. Then she rolled up her sleeves so he could see how thin her arms were.
