“That is not what she told me,” Dorian said with a shrug. “But of course, she doesn’t bring a very large dowry with her, does she?”
“Your Grace!” Lady Leah hissed, her expression livid. “I would beg you not to speak of a young lady so callously! Or to make such unkind implications about Lord Trembley, who is a guest in my brother’s house.”
“Of course,” Dorian said, bowing to her. He knew he was being an utter ass. He knew. But he couldn’t stop himself and didn’t entirely want to try. Not that Lady Leah would be very sympathetic to that excuse.
She turned to Lord Trembley and said, more urgently, “Shall we take a walk in the garden? I know that I could use some fresh air.”
But Lord Trembley looked deeply uncomfortable now, and Dorian didn’t blame him.
“I think I should go and say hello to our host,” he said, smiling at her tightly. “Will you excuse me, Lady Leah?”
He bowed curtly to both of them, then hurried away--at an even faster pace than Mr. Harding had left.
There was a beat, during which neither Dorian nor Lady Leah said anything. Then she rounded on him, her face red with anger, her eyes little slits of anger, and her jaw clenched.
“Garden,” she hissed. “Now!”
Dorian didn’t argue. She was entitled to her anger--until she heard his reasoning. He followed her out of the drawing room and down the hallway to the French doors that led out to the garden. Only once they were outside, and free of prying eyes, did she turn to him with clenched fists and begin to whisper-shout.
“What are you doing? You just sabotaged my one chance to find a husband before Lord Dubois forces me to marry him!”
“Lord Trembley was not your one chance,” Dorian said dismissively. “There will be others--others who are actually worthy of you.”
“You do not get to decide who is worthy of me or not!” she shouted, not even pretending to whisper any longer. “You are not my father, you are not my brother, and you have no right to get in the way of my happiness like this!”
Dorian felt himself growing more indignant. “I just saved you!” he snapped. “Do you really want to be married to a man who cannot pay his debts or to a lord who abandoned the girl he was all but engaged to the moment you became the hottest new thing?”
“What are you talking about?” Lady Leah snapped.
“Lord Trembley and Lady Clarie Watson! I did some digging into him over the last few days, and it turns out he was all set to marry her--they only had to become formally engaged--until it became clear that you were suddenly the ton’s favorite. And of course, you come with more wealth and connections.”
“Well then I am very sorry for Lady Claire, but she is not my responsibility!” Lady Leah shouted. “I am trying to save myself from a man who revolts me. I’m not asking for someone perfect. I just need someone good enough!”
“You should not have to settle just because Lord Dubois is threatening you,” Dorian said, putting his hands on his hips. “And I cannot bear to see you married to someone who would jilt another woman simply because you are a more enticing prospect.”
Lady Leah narrowed her eyes. “I understand that you feel responsible for me because you are the one who has helped make me into a desirable match. But you said you would not interfere again. You gave me your word!”
“I know, but--” Dorian knew he didn’t have any leg to stand on. He had promised her that he wouldn’t interfere. But after he’d gone home that night, he’d thought more about what it would feel like to watch Lady Leah marry a cad simply to escape a letch. She didn’t realize the terrible things the men of the ton could say about ladies behind their backs. She didn’t know that half of them were nearly as bad as Lord Dubois.
She was still staring at him, waiting for his explanation, and he swallowed. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. “I don’t want these men to take advantage of you simply because you’re desperate,” he said at last. “You are in need of protection, and I am the person to provide it.”
This last line had come across very pompously, even he had heard it. But he couldn’t take it back now, so he drew himself up, deciding it was better to dig down on his position rather than admit he might be behaving like an arrogant ass.
He thought that Lady Leah’s face would soften, as it had the other day. But it didn’t. In fact, her expression grew even more irate, and every line in her face seemed to harden.
“I did not ask for your protection,” she said. “Nor do I want it. What I want is to find a husband before I am locked into the worst possible fate I could imagine. Maybe this is impossible for you to imagine, because wealthy, powerful dukes are never forced into marriages they don’t want to have. They are free to choose who they marry. But young ladies don’t always have that choice. So let me spell it out for you: I will protect myself. I will make my own fate. And I will decide who I want to marry. Not you, not Lucien, and certainly not Lord Dubois.”
She took a threatening step toward him, and he felt himself instinctively wanting to step back. However, he stood his ground.
“You act all self-righteous,” he snarled, “but you were the one who made this my problem. I would have been very happy tohave nothing to do with it, to let you marry Lord Dubois! But you made this my problem by kissing me, by entrapping me, so that Iwouldbe forced to marry a woman I didn’t want to unless I helped you find someone else. So I do, in fact, have an idea of what it is you are facing.”
All the color drained from her face.
“I tried to apologize,” she whispered. “You said you weren’t angry–”
“My point,” Dorian continued doggedly, “Is that you were the one that embroiled me in all this, and now, if I am getting protective of you, then that is something you will have to accept as a byproduct of your actions.”
Her jaw tightened again, and he knew that he had taken it too far. When she spoke again, she didn’t sound angry, but deeply disappointed. Somehow that was worse.
