“No, Matt, I will not be placated.”
“That isn’t it at all.”
“It isn’t? This does concern me. And I’m tired of being ‘protected.’ Even if there hadn’t been an attempt on my life, I’d be concerned because Hardesty is apparently determined to see you dead. I’m not ready to let go of you yet. Or perhaps I’m not the woman you want.” She sat back on the seat, keeping a distance from him. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“Willa, you are misinterpreting—”
The hack pulled up in front of the house. Instead of staying so they could talk, Willa opened the door and hopped right out. She strode into the house, where Marshall held open the door. Her movement was purposeful, her displeasure clear. Matt had to pay the driver before he could follow her as quickly as possible.
By the time he entered the house, she had already gone upstairs. She might be petite, but she could move fast.
“Excuse me, Your Grace,” Marshall said, approaching him. “The dowager is out; however, she instructed me to remind you of the Mallory dinner party this evening.”
“The Mallory dinner party?”
“Sir Bernard and Dame Sarah Mallory are hosting a dinner in honor of a visiting Italian singer.”
After what Matt had been through over the last evening and morning, there was no possible way that he was going to listen to Italian warbling while dancing attendance on his grandmother. “Tell her my wife and I must beg off. We desire this evening for ourselves.” Minerva would be annoyed, but Matt had other plans and they all centered on Willa. He took the stairs two at a time.
Their bedroom door was open. The bath had been cleaned up by the ever-efficient Annie. Willa was pulling stacks of clothes out of the wardrobe.
“What are you doing?” he asked from the doorway.
“I’m moving. I no longer wish to share a bedroom with you.” She began pulling out shoes. One of them was his. She threw it back into the wardrobe.
“We aren’t going to have separate bedrooms,” Matt said.
She looked up at him. “You don’t make all the rules, Your Grace.”
“My house.”
“My money.”
He didn’t like that comment. “What am I going to do? Pork you from afar?”
She had no answer. He decided to ask a question that would grab her attention. “Are you truly in love with me?”
That stopped her movements. She didn’t look at him.
Matt closed the door. “You told me you were.”
“I don’t remember saying that,” Willa said slowly.
“It was last night when you were angry with me over Letty.”
“When I feltbetrayedfinding you with Lady Bainhurst.”
He didn’t answer.
She folded the piece of clothing she held in her hand and then offered, “You have been kind to me. Kinder than I believe most husbands would be.”
“That isn’t what I’m asking, Willa. Do you love me?”
Willa rose to her feet. “If love means that I worry if you are danger? Yes. If it means that I want to be a helpmate to you, to be a partner in all things, then yes. If it means that I want to trust you, but wonder if you have a care for me, well, yes.”
“And when did you decide you were in love with me?”
“I don’t know.” Willa put her hand on the bedpost. “It wasn’t this burst of understanding like fireworks. Or my heart pounding in my chest every time I looked at you... although I do like to look at you, Matt—especially when you are sleeping. Your guard is down then.”
