“I have nothing more to say to you.” Jane dug her fingernails into her arms, hoping the pain would distract her.
“Good. Because I have a lot to say to you.” Blake took another step towards her.
“Why should I listen to anything you have to say?” Jane shot back.
“I cannot give you a good reason, but I can give you an honest one.” Blake sighed. “There is something I must tell you, something I must explain that will make you understand everything I have done.”
“You are a rake and a liar.” Jane shook her head.
“I am less of both of those things than you think I am.” Blake took yet another step towards her, almost closing the distance between them, his blue eyes full of pain. “You know how the ton likes to blow things out of proportion—most of my reputation is rumor and nothing more.”
“Who would cultivate such a reputation?” Jane scoffed.
“Someone who was afraid of letting people get too close to him,” Blake said, and his honesty took her by surprise. “Please, Jane, all I ask is for you to hear me out.”
Jane looked at him, his blue eyes meeting her own and drawing her in. Every part of her wanted to yell at him. To tell him to leave her, to go away and never return. Every part of her but one.
“You have five minutes.” Jane turned to him. “That is it.”
“Then that is all I will need.”
ChapterThirty-Two
The Truth At Last
“Ithink we will give you two a few minutes alone.” Emily grabbed her mother’s hand and began to move towards the door.
Blake looked at her in surprise, then back at Jane. He had no idea if Lady Cotswalts would leave, and he had been prepared to say his piece with them in the room, though he would rather have the privacy.
“But Emily, we cannot possibly leave them alone in a room!” Lady Cotswalts insisted.
“It will only be five minutes, Mother,” Jane replied, glancing at the grandfather clock. “And you may wait outside.”
Lady Cotswalts opened her mouth to say something, and for a moment, Blake thought she would insist on remaining with them. Instead, she nodded, shot Blake a warning look, and left with Emily.
There was a beat of silence as Jane surveyed him. Blake swallowed, the tension and anger from moments ago still thick between them. He had been trying to think of what to say, of how to explain everything. But now that he was standing before her, his throat was suddenly dry.
“Well?” Jane asked. “Or do you plan to use these five minutes to simply gawp at me?”
“I need a moment to think,” Blake said.
“Take all the time you need, you will not get a minute more of mine.”
“I want to marry you,” Blake blurted out.
There was a beat, and then Jane scoffed, her eyes narrowed. “You are lying.”
“I am not.”
“I heard what you said to Lord Glastonbury. You would not marry me.” Jane shook her head, and Blake could see the hurt and accusation in her eyes.
“I meant it at the time. I did not think I could marry at all.” Blake felt his throat tighten, and he swallowed. “But that does not mean I do not want to.”
“You are only saying that because you feel honor-bound to do so.” Jane looked away from him.
Blake was desperate to reach out and turn her face to his, but he held back. “You told me that rakes have no sense of honor, and after all, I am a rake, so why would I propose to you for honor’s sake?”
“Pity then.” Jane took a step away from him, shaking her head.
