Page 115 of Wicked Highland Heroes

“I told my father, actually, but yes, I did imply that I had compromised you in the worst way.”

“You are no better than Grace,” Eve said. “You lied to get what you want.”

“I might as well have done what I said I did, for I compromised you beyond all redemption—and you allowed it,” he said. “More than once, I might add. So pray, do not waste your time comparing me to your sister.”

She didn’t need to compare him to her sister. Eve remembered all too well that Blane also had lied in an attempt to get what he wanted. “You are not the first man to lie about me.”

“You refer to Lord Blane, I presume.”

“Gossipmonger,” she muttered.

“He lied about you?”

“I was not pregnant with his child.”

“But the rest was true?”

Eve gave him a cold smile. “As a man, you probably think that by giving him my virtue, I gave him the right to lie about me.”

“Did he have reason to believe you were pregnant?”

“No.”

Lord Rushton shrugged. “Then he was wrong.”

“Yet your lie is justified?”

“Tell me you would rather marry Somerset and I will step aside. Heaven forbid I should stand in the way of true love. Do you love him?”

“Love has little to do with marriage when one is forced to choose a husband,” she muttered.

“Does that mean you choose him over me?”

“I shouldn’t have to choose.”

“If you can convince your father of that, then I’ll not insist you marry me.”

“I imagine not,” she retorted. “You have made it perfectly clear you have no wish to marry me.”

“No, I made it perfectly clear I have no wish to marry your sister.”

She snorted. “You have no wish to marry anyone.”

“Will your father let you remain unmarried?” he demanded.

“You know he will not.”

“Then it is Somerset or me. I am willing to be the jilted lover. It’s no less than I deserve and no one will be surprised.”

“Better the jilted lover than to be saddled with a wife.” And that, she realized, had been his plan all along. “I see now,” she said with feeling. “Very clever of you, my lord.” Eve swallowed. “You didn’t sign that marriage contract in order to save my reputation. You signed the contract hoping I would refuse your offer, then you wouldn’t be obligated to marry Grace, either.”

“So you believe that if you absolutely refuse me that our fathers will let me go my merry way?”

“You are the one who told me to hold fast and we would be free of one another,” she countered.

“That was before we ended up in Gretna Green.”

Eve snorted. “They cannot insist you marry Grace after you signed a contract for marriage to me.”