“I don’t want to marry him!” she shouted, snatching her hands away from her sister and standing up. She glared at both Iris and Violet, who was watching all of this unfold with a frustratingly calm expression. “I don’t even know him! I don’t want to marry a stranger—and worse, a stranger with a reputation for cruelty!”
She moved restlessly to the window and looked out of it. The day was as gray and cold as the pavement outside, and she felt an overwhelming sense of despair fill her up.
“Is this all I deserve?” she asked without turning. “A man known far and wide as a beast? Is it my punishment for falling for Mr. Cain when he was only trying to manipulate and use me?”
“Of course not!” Iris began, but Rosalie cut her off.
“Then tell me what else I have done wrong to deserve such a terrible choice for a husband!”
“Ahem.” The sound of someone clearing their throat made Rosalie gasp in surprise and shock, and she whipped around. Her sisters also turned at the sound of the intruder, and their expressions seemed to mirror her own as the three of them took in the Duke of Carramere, standing in the doorway, a bouquet of flowers in his hands.
Rosalie felt herself go red at once.How much of that did he hear?She was mortified at the idea of him having heard her cruel words—which, admittedly, made her look worse than him.
Violet was the first to recover. “Your Grace,” she said, standing, smoothing her skirts, and crossing to him. He kissed her hand and bowed over it although his movements seemed a bit stiff. Once he’d released her hand, he looked at Rosalie.
“I came to speak with Miss Rosalie,” he said, his tone rigid and cold. “But if the prospect of speaking to me is too beastly… well then, I understand.”
Ahh. Rosalie’s heart sank.So, he heard everything.
“Your Grace, I’m sorry you overheard that,” she began quickly. “I didn’t me?—”
“Never mind now,” he said, and to her shock, he tossed the bouquet onto an end table with more force than she would have expected. The petals ripped off several and floated miserably to the ground. “Miss Rosalie, may I speak with you?”
His expression was dark and foreboding, and she felt the dread build inside her.Well, any chance I had for a proposal is gone now.
“Surely anything you can say to our sister you can say in front of us!” Iris began indignantly, but Violet gave her sister a warning look.
“Of course, Your Grace,” she said. “We will just be in the next room.”
She stood, and after a moment, Iris reluctantly followed. As she disappeared through the door, Violet glanced back and gave Rosalie a small smile that she knew was meant to be encouraging. But as the door closed, Rosalie didn’t feel encouraged; she felt as if her sisters were closing the door of her cage.
“I am sorry about what I said,” Rosalie said into the silence before the Duke could say anything else. “It’s not like me to believe rumors about someone.”
The Duke gave her a skeptical look. “I have never not seen you without your nose in a book, Miss Crampton, which makes me doubt that you are not also an avid reader of the gossip columns.”
Rosalie flushed. She was both annoyed and a little touched that he could make such an astute observation about her. Shewasan avid reader of the scandal sheets.
“Well, I still shouldn’t have said it,” Rosalie said. “It was unkind.” Then her eyes narrowed. “But you also are being unkind, not to offer for me. You are condemning me to ruination.”
“Both our reputations are on the line,” the Duke snapped then hesitated. “Although I admit, it is harder for a woman to recover her reputation. And mine is already clouded by scandal.”
She didn’t say anything to this. To disagree would just be lying.
“However,” he continued more slowly, “as I understand it, you do not wish for me to offer for you.” His amber eyes met hers, and she was shocked by how much they still glinted the color of flames, even without fire nearby. “You do not wish to marry me.”
Again, she could not disagree with this without lying, so she said nothing.
The Duke laughed softly as he took in her reticent silence then crossed to the sideboard near the pianoforte. He opened it and took out a bottle of brandy. Uncorking it, he sniffed at it, smiled appreciatively, and then poured himself a glass which he drank down in one large gulp.
“Ahhh,” he approved as he set the glass back on the counter. “James did always have excellent taste in brandy.”
He turned back to look at her, and Rosalie felt, once more, the strange sensation of fear that she’d felt yesterday: her heart began to beat faster, and she felt her palms and the back of her neck begin to sweat. At the same time, her stomach lurched uncomfortably.
There’s nothing to be afraid of, she reminded herself.He may be the Beast of Carramere, but Violet and Iris are right next door.
His eyes glittered as they took her in, and she became aware, again, of just how large he was: tall and athletic, broad-shouldered, and exuding a dark masculine energy with his hulking presence and roguish long black hair, not at all like the lithe, dandyish men of theton.
“You do not wish to marry me,” he repeated. “However, it is the only realistic way forward.”
