“Apparently, not enough to do as she asked,” Alden retorted.
“Your great-aunt did not ask me to help you,” Elinor countered.
Alden lifted his brow skeptically. “That is your defense?” he asked.
Elinor reached out and touched his sleeve. “Alden, I’m sorry. I was wrong?—”
He pulled his arm away, watching as her hand fell. “You were wrong, and so was I,” he said. “I thought we could havea real marriage between us, but I was just fooling myself. Everything was a lie.”
“I love you—” she started to say.
“No!” he exclaimed, the word echoing in the space between them. “Enough of your lies.”
Alden saw tears brimming in her eyes, cascading down her cheeks. Her pain was almost palpable, but he forced himself to stay firm.
“I am not lying,” Elinor responded. “I didn’t want to fall in love with you, but I did. You must believe me.”
“Believe you?” he huffed. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
Another tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. “Alden, please…”
He put up his hand, cutting her off. “You got what you wanted. You can have the horse farm and I will leave Scotland.”
Her eyes grew wide. “That is not what I want.”
“Well, I don’t quite care what you want right now,” Alden said coldly before storming out of the dining room.
Alden headed up to his bedchamber, throwing open the door and startling his valet. “What is wrong, sir?” Hastings asked.
“Pack my trunks,” he ordered. “We are leaving at once.”
Hastings remained rooted in his spot. “May I ask what happened?”
“No, you may not,” he snapped. “Just for once, do as you are told.”
As his valet went about packing up his clothes, Alden walked over to the window and stared out over the fields. He didn’t want a marriage of convenience with Elinor, but that is what it was shaping up to be. He would go his way and she would go hers. He had once told Elinor that he valued honesty above all else, and he meant it.
How could she have just lied to his face so easily, especiallywith everything that they had gone through? He had trusted her, but she had been plotting for him to fail this whole time.
The door was abruptly opened, and Mrs. Hardy stepped into the room with a stern look on her face. “We need to talk, young man.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Alden said, turning to face her.
Mrs. Hardy gave his valet a pointed look. “Leave us.”
“He doesn’t answer to you—” Alden started, but his valet swiftly departed from the room, closing the door behind him.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why is my niece crying in the dining room?” she demanded.
“This is none of your business,” he said.
“You made it my business when you upset my niece,” Mrs. Hardy said. “I suspect this has to do with her lying to you.”
Alden’s eyes narrowed. “You knew?”
She tossed her hands in the air, exasperated. “Of course I knew. I even encouraged her to do so.”
“Why would you do that?”
