“I see,” his mother said. “You’re angry because she didn’t tell you.”
“Yes! I have a right to be angry.”
His mother regarded him steadily. “Why? Because if you marry her, you’ll gain everything you wanted and needed? Which she took her time about revealing?”
The way she put it, he sounded selfish. “She should have told me sooner.”
Mother nodded. “She should have, yes. But she wasn’t sure of you.Kitty told me that Cass was courted by a fellow in Bath when she was younger, a gentleman she fancied . . . until she overheard him telling his friends he only wanted her for her fortune. So you can hardly blame her for being skittish. After all, when you first met her, you were bent on marrying Kitty.”
Heywood stared at his mother, laid low by her revelation. Now every word he’d said to Cass seemed cruel. “That was only because . . . I mean, I truly thought . . .”
“I am not telling you what you should do, Son. But I think you should consider matters fromherpoint of view. She is wary of fortune hunters, and rightfully so. How can you blame her for that?”
He hated it when his mother made sense. “I’m not a fortune hunter.”
“I imagine you made that perfectly clear when you rejected the woman you love.”
He winced. He had indeed. So he had a choice. Either he could set everything straight between them, or he could figure out what to do without her in his life.
The latter sounded very unappealing. So it was time for him to figure out how to make amends.
Chapter 9
Cass had barely kept from collapsing into tears as she’d fled Kitty’s—no, Thorn’s—bedchamber. Heywood had dealt her a terrible blow, and it had left her reeling.
She’d gambled at love and lost. She wanted to be angry athimfor it, but how could she? The truth was, she hadn’t trusted in his character. She hadn’t believed in his affection for her. And now she’d spoiled everything.
Sick at heart, she went to her borrowed bedchamber, intending to try to sleep, but that was impossible. She lay there replaying their argument, wondering what else she could have said to prevent his manly pride from being damaged.
Normally, she would have confided in Kitty about these feelings. But Kitty was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Now the sun was coming up over the horizon, and it seemed pointless to lie in bed going over what she should have said or done.
So she got up, called for the maid, and then let the young woman help her get dressed in a lovely forest-green gown that she hoped made her look pretty. It was Christmas morn, after all. She should at leastpretendto be joyful.
She headed downstairs, not surprised to find that no one else was awake. Peeking out the window, she noticed that a great deal of the snow had melted. There were only patches here and there now. She could do with a walk. So she found a cloak in the coat closet and headed out to the garden she’d seen from her window.
The weather wasn’t as cold as it had been, and there were a few blooms that had survived the snow—Christmas roses, for one. As she wandered the garden, she heard a coach approaching. She ignored it. Doubtless it was some friend of the Wolfes’ from town, come to make sure all was well with the duchess and her family after the snowstorm. So Cass continued to roam about, trying not to think about Heywood while taking note of what grew and what had perished in the snow.
After a while, a voice arrested her. “Well, well, I see you’re not exactly suffering from being abducted by a scoundrel.”
Mr. Malet? Her stomach roiled. Good Lord, he’d found them. Or rather, he’d foundher.
Forcing herself to appear calm, she faced him. “Not suffering at all, to be honest. The Wolfe family has been very kind to us.”
Standing at the entrance to the garden, Malet looked as polished and despicable as ever. “And where is your lovely cousin?”
“Out of your reach, sir. She’s found herself a husband who actually wants her for herself and not her fortune.”
He dropped all pretense of politeness. “I should have known that bloody arse would marry her to get back at me. But the colonel will come to regret that, I swear, because—”
“Not the colonel, actually. It was Mr. Adams.” She smiled. “She eloped with him yesterday. I’m afraid you’re too late.”
That seemed to surprise him. “Sothatwas who she was talking to at the ball. I didn’t get a look at him, so I assumed it was the colonel once I heard he’d taken Miss Nickman. That Adams fellow told me he would come this way to find Miss Nickman for me while I headed to Gretna Green. Damned schemer. That’s what I get for trusting a solicitor.”
“A solicitor with more character in one finger than you have in your whole body.”
That clearly angered him, for she could see him ball one hand into a fist. “You’ll be wishing you’d gone off with that solicitor yourself when I’m done with you, Miss Isles. I know precisely who turned Miss Nickman against me.”
Her heart stilled. “I can’t imagine who you mean.”
