Suddenly, he found himself studying her in a new light. “I cannot do it,” he said. “I will not spoil you.”
She laughed coldly. “But you will ruin my family?”
The words stung, but he wouldn’t be cowed. “I called your brother out, as you said, in a manner of honor. That was not me ruining the family. He already did that very well himself.”
She flinched. “Then you will leave me and my sister to our fate?”
“Why should I do anything else?” he queried calmly, knowing he was being hard. He needed to see her level of commitment to her course. For, if she truly wished this road, she would simply choose another man if he told her no. A man who might not be so careful as he.
“You are no concern of mine,” he added simply.
She blew out a harsh breath. “When you drove my brother away, you made me a concern of yours.”
He stilled.
Had he? Yes, he had in a way.
And as he sat in his cooling bath and looked at the flames, he knew she was right. He had set a course of events in place, and he could not outrun them now.
Slowly he gazed back at her, taking in her fierce stance, her wild eyes, and her cocked chin, which indicated a daring air.
And suddenly, he knew he did not wish to outrun her. He was going to embrace this, and he was going to listen to her.
He owed her that at least.
Chapter 3
She had tried to gain admittance to his house, but the butler had turned her away without any sign of giving in to her demands. It had been most off-putting.
It had taken a great deal of courage to come to his house in the middle of the night. And then to be turned away?
She could not bear such a thing, and she had refused to give up. After all, she also had nowhere to stay in London. There were no servants to open up the London house. She did not have money to stay at an inn. No, it had been a last-ditch effort to take the coin that she had, come to London, arrive at the Duke of Blackwood’s house, and gain admittance.
She had been soundly rebuked by his butler.No young lady should be attempting to visit a gentleman at night,he had intoned with a raise of his silvery eyebrows.
And he had refused to believe that it was some sort of emergency.
Unable to face defeat, and with no other recourse, she had slipped around the back of the house, entered by way of the servant’s stairs, and managed to sneak in through an open window.
The whole affair was likely only possible because no one thought anyone would attempt to break into a duke’s house in the summer.
The punishment, if caught, would be a dance at Tyburn.
She’d been quite proud of herself, gaining entry in the dead of night to pursue her cause. Her heart had beat wildly the entire time, and her palms had sweated profusely.
As she had managed to trace her way through the dark house at the late hour of the night, she had all but held her breath as she searched the duke out.
The servants had all gone to bed, save the butler, who was no doubt making his own way up the servant stairs in some unseen part of the house.
It had taken several minutes, probably closer to half an hour, to slowly make her way up through the halls, and through the shadowy rooms, until she had found the great ducal chamber.
And it had been he who had discovered her in the end.
She had tried so very hard not to make noise, but the floorboard had shifted underneath her foot as she had tried to hide behind the curtain.
She did not know why she had tried to hide behind the curtain. After all, she had found him, and she had not come to conceal herself but to confront him! Yet approaching him whilst he was in his bath had seemed rather, well, not well thought out. And not without risk.
He had stripped himself naked and she had stood, quite mortified, in the shadows. She’d not been able to tear her gaze away from his perfect form. Her mouth had gone all dry, and she had studied with him a desire that had shocked her.