Why did she have to look so damn fetching? Why did she have to have her hair falling across her shoulders just the way he liked it? And why did she have to look so frightened? Did she think he might seek retribution for the slap?
He cleared his head of those troubling thoughts and tried to remember the reason he was there. “I bet it is.”
“Well, you are an admitted gambler so I’m sure ‘bet’ is an appropriate word for you to use. I suppose today you came to give me a lesson in sarcasm.”
He noticed that she didn’t meet his eyes when she talked. “Not sarcasm—but, yes, I think a lesson is in order.”
“Well, you will be happy to know I need no further lessons from you. You have shown me all you have to offer. And if you came to see Gwen, I’m afraid you’ve missed her. She and Mrs. Colthrust are at Mrs. Roland’s card party this afternoon and unavailable.”
If she wouldn’t come to him, he would go to her. He walked menacingly around the settee and stood in front of her, near the entrance to the room. His admiration inched up a notch when she stood firm and let him approach without fleeing.
“You know I didn’t come to see Gwen. And I’m not even close to having shown you all I have up my sleeves, but I will. I heard a few minutes ago that you have been to the Court of Chancery to see if you could have me removed as your and your sisters’ guardian.”
“You only heard today?” she asked. “I did that a couple of weeks ago. I can’t believe it took so long for you to find out.”
“Your petition finally made its way up to the Lord Chancellor, and he told me as soon as it was made known to him.”
“You look unsettled by this.”
“Maybe that’s because I am,” he said tightly, thinking what he really wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and kiss her, tell she would never be free of him, and not let her go until she begged him to marry her.
“Why? I told you the first day we met that I was going to Chancery Court to see about having our guardian changed to someone more appropriate for us.”
“You said a lot of things that first afternoon we met, Miss Prim, but I thought you were more intelligent than to actually go through with something like this.”
He watched her bristle. “I have to think about my sisters’ welfare. I needed to know what all my options are so I could make informed decisions as to what is best for them.”
“Options?” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t understand your relentless sense that you are responsible for your sisters’ well-being. You are not. I am.”
She stepped toward him. “I beg your pardon. In the past seven years, they have lost their parents and their brother. I’m all they have, and I will take care of them the best I can, and if that includes changing to a new guardian, I will see that it is done.”
“Are you implying I have not been taking adequate care of you and your sisters?”
“Not so far as the things they need.”
“Have any of my wild and reckless ways that you’re always so concerned about ever hurt or damaged any of you? Have I ever hurt them or frightened them?”
“Not yet.”
“Then why in the hell did you go?”
“Because I’ve known from the start you were not capable of being our guardian. You cringe every time you are around Bonnie and Sybil. You roughly handled Lillian when you took her out of the carriage. You seduced me one week, and the next week you are in the courtyard with Gwen, proving to me that I was not wrong to seek help to get away from you.”
“I admit I cringe at those high-pitched sounds, and I did forcibly take Lillian from the carriage, but I never hurt her. I would not hurt any of your sisters. I am not pursuing Gwen, and she is not interested in me.”
“So now you call her Gwen. Not Miss Gwen.”
“A brother doesn’t call his sister Miss.”
A ripple of surprise threaded through Louisa.
“Are you two arguing?”
Bray and Louisa jerked around and saw Bonnie standing in the doorway.
“No,” Bray said. “It probably sounded that way, but no, we were just having a discussion, isn’t that right, Miss Prim?”
She hesitated, and he knew Miss Prim and Proper was debating whether she ought to lie to her little sister and agree that they weren’t arguing.
