She swiped at her wet cheeks with shaking hands. “You look terrible.”
“Your beau has a fist like a brick.”
“Does it hurt?”
Like the very devil. “It’s not too bad.”
She cast him a skeptical glance but to his relief, didn’t pursue the subject. When he ventured a step closer, she stiffened against the wall. Damn it, she looked as likely to take to her heels, as give him a minute of her time.
“Giles, I’d really rather be by myself.”
He gave a dramatic shiver. “By yourself and freezing.”
She didn’t smile. “Please go away.”
“I can’t leave you here crying, Serena.” Ignoring her unwelcoming manner, he crossed the tiled floor and sat beside her. “Paul told me you’d refused him.”
She gave a horrified gasp. “He didn’t try to hit you again?”
“No. We both acted like civilized men, instead of savage brutes.”
“Thank goodness.” She started to torture her soggy handkerchief. “Was he very angry with me?”
Giles settled his back against the cold stone wall behind him. While he itched to touch her, her brittle air warned him to keep his distance. He needed to tread carefully. All his future happiness depended on the next few minutes. “I think he was hurt.”
She flinched. “He was so confident I’d say yes.” She stared down into her lap. “He doesn’t love me.”
“Are you sure?” Giles frowned. “He’s always been fond of you, and he came down here all fired up to propose.”
Why the devil was he defending his rival? Except that his rival had been extraordinarily gracious in defeat.
Without meeting his eyes, Serena shook her head. “Oh, he likes me, and he was convinced I’d make a good wife. But love is more than friendship and affection, however sincere.”
“So you refused him because he doesn’t love you?”
She sucked in an unsteady breath, and the hands clutching the handkerchief tightened until her knuckles shone white. When she spoke, her voice was so low, he had to lean closer to hear. “No, I refused him because I realized I didn’t love him.”
There was no real reason for Giles’s heart to start turning cartwheels. Not loving Paul was no guarantee that she loved him instead. “Oh.”
After a pause, Serena glanced at him. She still looked unhappy. And uncertain. “Is that all you’ve got to say?”
He frowned thoughtfully. “Well, what I have to say rather depends on who you do love, if you love anyone at all.”
Her gray eyes, pink-rimmed from weeping, searched his face. “I’ve made a complete fool of myself over Paul.”
“Mmm,” he said noncommittally.
“Very tactful.” To his surprise, grim amusement lightened her expression. “Everyone within fifty miles seems to know I set my cap at him.”
“Including Paul.”
“Including Paul.”
He sighed. “I’d have wagered my last shilling that you’d accept him.”
She went back to twisting her handkerchief between her hands. “Is that why you were leaving?”
“Yes,” he said, knowing it was a declaration of sorts. “And also because I blotted my copybook last night.”