He seized her against him, protecting her from other couples colliding with them. His face had gone hard. “Ignore it,” he said. “That one’s a right piece of work.”
She shook her head and forced a smile, all while her body began to shake. “I do not find that such things bother me,” she insisted. “How can the truth hurt if one acknowledges it to be true?”
He scowled. “It is not true.”
“It is,” she repeated, her own voice hard now. “I am plain, and if you lie to me, we shall not be friends.”
“Oh, Lady Victoria,” he whispered, gazing down at her. “I see that the ton has still got its hooks into you. Hopefully we shall be able to get them out, even if we have to do it one by one.”
“My lord,” she gritted. “I am not a fool, and you cannot trick me into believing something that is not true. Chase never would have married me if it wasn’t for that bet that my father lost.”
“Perhaps not,” Brookhaven agreed gently. “But I’m glad that he did.”
As was she, if she admitted it to herself.
But in her heart of hearts, she hated the fact that he never would have noticed her for her own merits.
No, he’d only noticed her to rescue her from her father, not for herself, and that suddenly hurt more than she’d ever thought possible.
A cut deeper than she’d thought she could feel.
He hadn’t done it on purpose. It wasn’t his fault. It was simply the way of things, but that seemed to hurt even more, the inevitability of it.
“Your brain is ticking away,” Brookhaven warned. “I advise you to cease and desist at once, lest it implode.”
“Alas, sir, my brain ticks at quite a pace,” she quipped, though she felt little amusement. “I will not be able to stop it.”
“You should. Brains are most tricky affairs,” he asserted, taking her hands into his. “They can convince one to believe things that are not true.”
“You keep using this word truth, my lord.” She tried to pull her hands away, though she knew he only wished to be of assistance. “I do not think you know truth at all.”
“Ah, now I must disagree with you. I have seen far more than you ever have, my dear, and though you study the annals of history, I study people.” He looked over her head, his gaze wide. “I have seen the wilds, and I have seen the things people do to one another. I have seen love, and I have seen hate, and well, I’ve seen the way my friend looks at you.”
“He doesn’t love me,” she stated before he could declare it. “We are friends.”
“Friends,” he said. “Call it what you will, but I know what I see.”
And then Brookhaven swept her back in time to the music and whirled her about the room again, lifting her up off the floor. When finally the music came to a stop, he gave her the deepest of bows and she gave him a deep curtsy.
“Come with me, then,” he said, “into the garden. I promise not to lead you astray.”
She stared at him skeptically but followed him out of the ballroom. “Sir, I do not think you are capable of such a promise, for you do nothing but go astray.”