“You don’t understand—”
“Then help me understand! Talk to me, Cassandra!”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not I love you! I don’t have any choices anymore!”
“You need someone wealthy.” Palms open, he thrust his arms wide. “Give me one week and I can be that! I’m asking you to wait one week for me. Marryme.”
“I can’t.” Cassandra crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes closed. “Even if you could save me from this, you aren’t a gentleman, andnow—”
“Why does a title matter?”
“It matters for Caroline!”
“No.” He advanced and placed a hand on either side of her on the door. “Don’t hide behind Caroline or your obligations or your two favorite words, ‘should’and ‘don’t.’What doyou want, Cassandra?”
She slapped his arms away.
“I want you to stop boxing me in!” She glared at him, eyes blazing, chest heaving. “I need space tothink!”
Recoiling from her, he took four paces back. “Is this enough space? Should I go to my bedchamber? Or London? Or America?” He sat on the windowsill and asked, “How far is far enough for you to have the space to think about whatyouwant for once?”
Cassandra didn’t have to think about what she wanted. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and trust that he would take care of everything. But she wasn’t a child anymore, and Captain Reeves couldn’t save her from the future that awaited her. Whatever plan he tried to devise would come too late, and he would keep trying unless she put a stop to it.
“I want you to stop calling me by my name. To stop pressuring me—”
“Pressuringyou?!”
“And interrupting me!” she snapped. “You asked me what I want, I’m telling you, and you’re talking over me! I want you to stop!” His face reddened and his mouth opened, and then closed. He inhaled a deep breath through his clenched jaw.
“I want you to stop kissing me, touching me, and making me question myself! I want you to stop toying with me, and I want you to leave mealone!”
The last piece of her heart broke as his face fell.
“Alone,” he repeated.
Mr. Reeves stood.
“That answers the space question. But not the important one.” Her heart hammered against her chest with an icy sting. Tears clung to her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall.
“No, Mr. Reeves.” Cassandra cast down her gaze, unable to face the pain she would find in his eyes, and she lied, “I don’t love you.”
He schooled his expression, shielding himself completely. With hardened eyes, he gathered his folio in his hands and she moved away from the door. If he spared a glance for her, she wouldn’t have noticed with her eyes trained on the floor.
“You truly are aterribleliar, Miss Cooper.”
Mr. Reeves left. The lingering scent of rosemary was the only evidence that he had been there at all. Cassandra slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, holding herself tight as her walls collapsed and crushed her.
Brick by brick.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“We can talk later. I’m meeting with the Earl any minute.” Matthew tapped his foot in the hallway in front of Lord Bolderwood’s study.
“I need you to tell meeverythingabout Colonel Bishop.”
“This is what you want to talk about?Right now?”
“He wishes to enter into an arrangement with me, Matthew. If I’m to agree, I need to know the truth.”
