The guilt in Nathan’s stomach now bloomed to dread. He couldn’t look at either of the Duchesses or Rosalie.Do the honorable thing.There was no mistaking what that meant. But he had no intention of marrying Rosalie. She deserved better than him.
He looked up. Violet was staring at him, and he thought he saw her attempt to smile at him, but Iris was glaring daggers at him. Finally, he forced himself to look at Rosalie. Her expression was shocked and fearful, and it was like a knife to the heart.
She doesn’t want to marry me either. I’m a stranger, and worse than a stranger, I am a man with a reputation almost as bad as her father’s.
He opened his mouth to speak, and she drew back. “Miss Rosalie, will you—” but he couldn’t get the words out. This was not how he had imagined proposing to his future wife, and from the arrested look on her face, it wasn’t what she had envisioned,either. “Will you please excuse me?” he finished, and while he thought he saw Rosalie’s shoulders slump in relief, Iris was now looking daggers at him. “Before I cause you any more trouble,” he finished dully.
He knew it was the right thing to do, sparing Rosalie from himself, but as he left the library, Nathan couldn’t help but feel that he had taken the coward’s route.
Chapter Three
“You are going to marry Rosalie, I presume?”
Nathan had been brooding over a glass of whiskey when James’ voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up from the wingback chair where he had been contemplating everything that had gone wrong in the last twenty-four hours and saw his cousin standing over him, a severe look on his face.
“Not so much as a hello?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or has my reputation already fallen so low that I am not even accorded that customary greeting?”
“Your reputation is admittedly low,” James said as he seated himself across from Nathan and motioned for a waiter to bring him a drink as well. “But I will confess that it has grown even lower in my estimation since I discovered what it is you have done.”
“What I have done?” Nathan looked up sharply at his cousin. “You don’t believe I actually did anything to dishonor Miss Crampton, do you?”
James gave him a steely look. “No, I don’t think that. But I must admit, I wasn’t as shocked as I should have been when Violet told me what happened.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nathan asked furiously. Of all the people he would have expected to presume his innocence, his cousin was the one he was sure he could count on.
James, however, didn’t look apologetic as he stared at him from across the coffee table. They were at White’s, the one place where Nathan had always been able to go for peace, quiet, and neutral place to think; now, even this one sanctuary was being taken from him, thanks to his cousin’s suspicions.
“It means that you have not been yourself for these past two years. You know it; I know it; everyone in thetonknows it. Your character has altered so much since Ethan’s death that I hardly know you anymore. Perhaps the Nathan you are nowiscapable of what it is you’re accused of.”
“What are you talking about?” Nathan set his glass down hard on the table in front of him. “I haven’t changed!”
“You have,” James snapped. “You have become cold, distant, and cruel over these past two years. While I don’t believe half the rumors I read in the gossip sheets, I also cannot deny that you seem capable of things now that I never would have dreamedof before. And you seem to thrive on playing up thisBeast of Carramerenonsense! If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you enjoyed this new reputation!”
“You know I don’t enjoy it. It was my father’s nickname. It sickens me that the same epithet is now applied to me.”
“And yet, you do not act as if it sickens you.”
“I don’t desire a lecture right now,” Nathan snarled, turning away. There was too much truth to what his cousin was saying for his comfort. He knew he had changed over the last two years, but he hated to be reminded of it, especially by someone who knew him as well as James knew him. “Anyway, you are in no position to lecture me. Until very recently, you yourself were considered a devilish villain.”
“I hung up that title a long time ago,” James said dismissively. “But I am ready to resurrect it if you need encouragement to do the right thing.”
It took Nathan a moment to realize what James was saying. Then his face flushed, and anger seized him.
“Are you threatening me?” he murmured.
James gave him a long, cool stare. “Miss Crampton is my wife’s sister. Her cousin is far too lily-livered to call you out which leaves me, and if I have to duel you in order to protect my sister-in-law’s honor then I will. Mind you, I’ll take no pleasure init, and I’ll most certainly be felled—you were always the better marksman—but I will do what I must to defend my family.”
“I’myour family,” Nathan said incredulously. “Don’t I deserve your protection as well?”
“Be reasonable, Nathan,” James said. The waiter brought his glass of whiskey, and he paused for a moment to take a sip before speaking again. “You know that I have no choice in the matter. This was my wife’s sister that you dishonored.”
“I didn’t dishonor her!”
“Well, it was my wife’s sister whom you put in a position that was dishonorable. I don’t have a choice.”
“I can’t believe you would call me out,” Nathan said. His mouth was very dry, and his heart was hammering. “You are my closest friend in the world. You’re more than a cousin to me—you’re a brother. And now you’re threatening to call me out? To kill me?”
Something flickered in James’s eyes, and Nathan realized that his cousin was trying very hard to keep his emotions in check. The cold veneer that he had on the outside was masking turbulent emotions on the inside.
