She froze for a long moment, but then went on to pour her tea without meeting his eyes. “You consider getting lost in the garden a lapse in propriety, Lord Huntington?”
“No, of course not. I refer to your lingering in the garden with Lord Wrexley. You did so for far longer than was proper, and it was your second lapse that day.”
Miss Somerset went on preparing her tea, but once she was finished she seemed to forget about it, and left it untouched on the tray. “My second lapse?”
Something unpleasant crawled up Finn’s spine at her tone—something he would identify later as foreboding—but he pressed on. “Yes. You lingered there with me earlier, if you recall.”
“Surely there’s nothing so wicked in that? Youaremy betrothed, Lord Huntington.”
A small smile drifted across her lips, but Finn found it far from reassuring. “Nothing so wicked, no, but there was that other matter.”
“Other matter?” she asked, in a tone that could have frozen the tea in her teacup.
Finn squirmed on the settee, but resisted the urge to slide a finger under his cravat. This conversation wasn’t going at all as he’d planned. “It’s not a lady’s place to initiate a kiss, Miss Somerset. You need to take better care, especially with a man of dubious honor, like Lord Wrexley, who—”
“Are you implying, Lord Huntington, I engaged in some improper activity with Lord Wrexley in the garden yesterday?”
Finn stared at her, baffled. Had it sounded as if he were accusing her? “No! Of course not. It’s notyourbehavior I question, but his. I only mean to warn you of the risk of encouraging such a man—”
Miss Somerset’s teacup hit her saucer with a sharp crack. “Encouraging him! You seem to be saying because I invited my betrothed to kiss me, I must have engaged in similar behavior with Lord Wrexley when I came upon him in the garden later that day. Do you think I go about kissing every gentleman who happens to cross my path, Lord Huntington?”
“No. I didn’t mean to suggest any such thing.” Damn it, why had he brought up that kiss at all? The less said about that disaster, the better. “It’s your safety that concerns me, Miss Somerset. That’s all.”
But her face had gone dark with anger, and she was no longer listening to him. “Yes, well, I have some concerns of my own. There’s something private I wish to discuss with you, my lord.”
He blinked at the abrupt change in topic, but God knew he was making a muck of this. Perhaps it was wiser to remain quiet and let her speak. “Yes, of course.”
There was a brief, charged silence, then she drew in a breath. When she spoke she sounded rehearsed, as if she’d practiced her speech in front of the glass a dozen times. Her words emerged with smooth precision, but they nevertheless landed with the force of a fist to his jaw, sending him reeling.
“It pains me to say this, but I must. While I’m sensible of the honor you’ve done me with the offer of your hand, I’m afraid I must end our betrothal.”
Finn stared at her, speechless. End their betrothal? She wasjiltinghim?
Christ, hemusthave misunderstood her. Either that, or she’d gone mad. He was fully prepared to beg her pardon for offending her just now, but a few misspoken words hardly warranted a jilting.
In his case, very few things did. Hewasthe Marquess of Huntington, after all.
“You must end it,” he repeated.
“Yes.” Her voice was steady enough, but she looked at the teapot, then down at her hands clenched in her lap—everywhere but at his face. “I’m sorry for it, my lord, but I must.”
Finn waited, but when the silence continued to stretch between them without another word from her, he placed his teacup on the table at his side and leaned forward, his tight fists resting on his knees. “That’s it?You must?May I remind you, Miss Somerset, you’ve spent the entire season encouraging my courtship?”
Faint color rose in her cheeks. “I’m aware of that.”
“Are you? Then you’re also aware not more than a week ago you accepted my suit, and today, for no apparent reason, you’ve changed your mind?”
He’d be damned if he’d allow her to dismiss him without an explanation. If she was bold enough to jilt him, then she should be bold enough to tell him why.
She flinched at his raised voice. “There’s no need to be uncivilized. I realize this is unexpected, but…well, we just don’t suit, Lord Huntington. It’s as simple as that.”
A short bark of laughter burst from Finn’s chest. “We don’t suit. Forgive me, Miss Somerset, but those three words are not sufficient to explain your sudden disinclination. I believe it’s customary for a lady to give a gentleman a bit more of an explanation than ‘We don’t suit’ when she jilts him.”
Her chin rose at the wordjilt. “I’m not jilting you. That is, Iam, but it’s hardly a jilting at all, really. We’ve only been betrothed for a short time. We haven’t even called the banns yet.”
“Yet it feels very much like a jilting, nonetheless.” He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed her with a cool stare.
She heard the sarcasm in his voice and bit her lip. “I realize this isn’t an ideal situation, but it could be far worse.”
