“Daisy, take Cassandra downstairs to play.” There was a tightness to his voice that his housemaid clearly recognized because she grabbed his sister and left the room at remarkable speed.
“For someone who’s not a lord, you certainly are acting like one.” Amelia’s dry sarcasm hit right under his skin, crawling up his neck, causing his teeth to clench.
“Why is my house full of people?”
“Ourhouse is full of staff hired to restore it and run it in a manner fit for its occupants.”
He ground his teeth. “It has been fit for its occupants for the past three decades.”
“Truly?” How she was able to load one word, two syllables, with scorn, derision, disbelief, and challenge, he was unsure.
She continued. “It’s fit for the grandson of a marquess and the daughter of an earl? Please don’t insult my intelligence.”
She turned back to the mirror in short dismissal and began to play with the loose strands of her hair.
Her brush-off was not unlike the first time they’d met, when she’d not even acknowledged his presence. Frustration, hurt, anger, and embarrassment all warred for pride of place inside.
“I wouldn’t give a damn if you were King George’s daughter. You are a useless pain in the ass. And I don’t recognize the marquess as family.”
That finally elicited an emotion from her. She slammed the ivory brush onto the dresser and spun to face him. “You may not, but what of your sister? For heaven’s sake, Benedict, she has the chance to make an excellent match. She’s a natural beauty, well-connected if you can look past your own ego to accept it, and with your wealth and my guidance, she could be a society diamond.”
The picture she was creating was Benedict’s worst nightmare.
“How well did being society’s diamond work out for you, princess?”
That shot landed. He saw it in the way she pressed her lips together, the way she sat back as if to put as much room between them as possible, the way she looked to the side at the faded curtain and threadbare rug and a barely perceptible shudder passed through her.
How he resented her.
“I will not have my sister joining that cesspool of human vice. And I will not have men whom I’ve grown up with suddenly fetching my meals and shining my shoes and bowing as if I’m above them because I married a damn aristocrat.” He spat the last word out.
“You. Are. A. Hypocrite.” She stood, her hands on her hips. “You talk about the importance of bringing security and income to the working class, yet what I offer them is exactly the same thing.”
“A life bending to your whims and serving others? I’m sorry if I don’t see the appeal of that.”
She countered, ticking off points on her fingers. “They’ll be paid well; they’ll develop skills working in a big house, prestige, and good references; they’ll have a career path in front of them. If you can’t see the appeal, it’s because you’re blinded by prejudice.”
She accusedhimof prejudice? She, who turned her nose up at anyone with pride enough to work. She, who took a week to remember three people’s names.
“You have the money to employ dozens of people,” she continued. “It’s selfish for you not to. Cruel, even. But by all means, you go out there and tell all those people they no longer have work because you’re a stubborn goat.”
He ran his hands through his hair. He hated being outmaneuvered. Of course he wasn’t about to walk out of that room and fire people.
“This wasn’t your decision to make. You should have spoken to me about it first.”
“Would you have agreed?”
“Of course not.”
She shrugged. “Then speaking to you about it would have served no purpose at all. I’m hardly going to ask permission when I know it won’t be granted.”
He paced the room. With every lap, it got smaller, the walls looming. “Amelia, you need to fix this.”
She gave him a pitiful look. “I just did. You can thank me for it when you’ve calmed down.”
He bristled at the gentleness of her tone—as though the fight was won, and she was consoling the defeated. Because this was a battle he had lost before he even knew it was being waged.
Unable to look at her, he walked out, almost running into a young girl from the village. She jumped. One look at the furious expression on his face and her eyes widened.
