Page 27 of Always the Lyon Tamer

“Whydidyou come here? Plan this?”

His curiosity got the better of him, and John wondered whether he had crossed some invisible line, offending her.

But he had to ask; he had to know.

“’Tis none of your business,” Rebecca said shortly, dropping her gaze.

John’s defensiveness sparked. “I think it is!”

She was now focused on attempting to tie the myriads of ribbons down the sides of her bodice, but her fingers scrabbled against them and did not manage to tie a single one.

“I…I had heard. You must have heard, too, about the Lyon’s Den,” was what she murmured.

She felt betrayed by him. Had he not reacted with the right amount of enthusiasm when she had revealed herself to him?Was he supposed to have jumped for joy?

John swallowed.Perhaps he should have done.If he were brave, he would have admitted, right there and then, that he had fallen in love with her over a year ago and had never known how to…

Now, with that opportunity before him, with Rebecca Darby naked in a bed with him…

He had panicked.Was that so wrong?

“Mrs. Dove-Lyon said she would help me,” said Rebecca quietly, her hands now falling to her sides.

John nodded mutely, still not trusting his voice. This entire evening, then—the invitation, the game, Rebecca Darby—it was all created by her to win him, to gain his promise to marry her.

Marry her.He smiled. Marriage to Rebecca Darby was going to be far more exciting than he ever thought.Perhaps they could play that game again; perhaps next time—

“And so here I am,” Rebecca said bitterly. “And you did not know me at all.”

John opened his mouth but then closed it again.What was he supposed to say? Yes, I did not recognize you when you were masked, dressed in a gown more suitable to a whore than a lady, and then I was blindfolded?

All those letters she had sent him, full of nonsense, not asking anything in particular, hinting at a wish to see him but nothing more.

It was difficult to believe the hand which had penned such messages was the same hand to touch him as he sat blindfolded on the chair.

Only now did he see she had wanted him to propose to her. Wanted it, wantedhimso much that she had invited him to the Lyon’s Den.

“My God, those letters—you wished to marry me,” John said aloud without a second thought. “Why did you not say something before?”

Chapter Nine

“My God, thoseletters—you wished to marry me. Why did you not say something before?”

The words echoed around the room as Rebecca’s mouth fell open.Did he say…did John say what she thought she said?

And he was laughing.Her personal agonies over the last year, the feelings of rejection, the terror he may marry another, the pain when she saw him flirting with other ladies, the knowledge she would never be happy unless she was with him…none of that mattered to him.

John was not the gentleman she had thought he was. Rebecca could not help but stare as he laughed at her predicament and distress.

But she was not just Miss Darby, not anymore. She was Titania here. The place seeped bravery into her pores just when she needed it, though in a way, it had always been there, deep inside her. She had just never realized it.

She was going to say the things she had always wanted to say. She was going to speak the truth.

“You do not understand, do you?” Her voice was quiet, controlled, and it wiped the smile from John’s face immediately.

“Understand?” he repeated. “I think I understand far better than I did before, at any rate. You love me, you wished to marry me, and that is why we are here. What I can’t understand is why you never said anything before today! Why, there were so many times we—”

“So that is a no, you do not understand,” cut in Rebecca with a wry smile. “Well, at least you tried, I suppose.”