“What are you implying?”
Beatrice couldn’t help herself. She fixed him with a look. “Only that even a woman of limited understanding knows that any business conducted at night cannot be savory.”
“You’re suspicious.”
“For obvious reason.”
Edward stared at her for a few moments as though he truly couldn’t believe she’d uttered such a thing. Such a reaction almost had her believing he was innocent.
“Is that what you believe? That I’ve given you cause for suspicion?”
“Haven’t you?” She set her book firmly on top of the sketchbook. “The unexplained absences, the vague excuses, returning with your clothing askew—”
“My clothing is askew because of the rain and wind,” he interrupted, gesturing toward the window where the storm continued unabated. “The ‘unexplained absences’ are time spent at my solicitor’s office, dealing with matters that I deemed too tedious to burden you with.” He ran a hand through his damp hair. “God forbid I should wish to spare you the mundane details of property management.”
Beatrice felt a flicker of doubt but she pushed it down. She’d seen how her father made her mother doubt herself.
She wouldn’t let it happen to her.
“How considerate of you to protect me from such tedium. And yet, I find it curious that these matters can only be addressed in the afternoons and evenings, never the mornings.”
Edward’s jaw tightened as he moved closer. “Whatever I do, whatever I say, you’re determined to find fault.”
“So I am wrong to find fault in your distance?”
“You’re the one who established that distance,” Edward countered, taking another step toward her. “From the moment we exchanged vows, you made it clear that your independencewas paramount. That my presence in your life was a necessity to be tolerated, not a partnership to be embraced.”
The accusation stung with its kernel of truth. She hadn’t meant for it to be that way but she couldn’t let him fully in. She’d seen what it did to her mother.
“How convenient to blame me for the failures of our marriage,” she said instead, rising to her feet. “As if your behavior has been beyond reproach.”
“And what exactly is it about my behavior that so offends you?” Edward demanded, his frustration evident in the tightness around his mouth. “That I leave you in peace during the day, knowing how you value your solitude? That I don’t press you for confidences you clearly have no wish to share? That I respect the boundaries you’ve established with such determination?”
“That you treat me like a stranger,” Beatrice burst out, the words escaping before she could contain them. “That you vanish, with no explanation, that you—” She stopped herself before it went too far and she inhaled. “That you do not even know me.”
“I’ve tried to know you, Beatrice. God knows, I have.”
“And now you have given up.”
And likely gone off to get to know someone else. Just the thought made her eyes sting.
“What do you want from me?” Edward asked, now so close she would scarcely need to stretch out her hand to touch him.
His gaze traveled over her face, lingering too low and making her breath catch.
“Nothing at all.”
“I do not believe you. I think you want something more.”
“What is there to be had?”
“Something else perhaps.” His gaze dropped down to her lips again. “Something better. If we would but take the risk.”
“Risk is for those who have nothing to lose,” she replied.
“And what do you stand to lose, Beatrice?” he asked, his voice low and intense.
His proximity was overwhelming, his scent enveloping her, his gaze holding hers with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. Beatrice felt her defenses wavering, slowly crumbling to dust.
