Slowly, she turned to face him. So much heat radiated in her face she felt as if fire were spitting from every pore, a stark contrast to his deathly pale pallor.
“If youinsiston speaking,” she schooled her tone to a calm she was far from feeling, “then you may list the reasons why you didn’t tell me yourbeloved VivwasAnderson’s daughter.”
He opened his mouth, then quickly clamped it shut again. “She’snot my Viv.”
“Forgive me.” She puckered her brow as if confused. “But I don’t think I heard you list a reason.”
He clenched his teeth, dug his thumb beneath his cravat’s knot, then yanked. After the tie loosened, he took a deep breath.
“Very well, then. I’ll give you a reason. Because I feared you would react exactly as you are reacting right now.Badly.I knew you would be upset when you learned the truth.”
“I’m not reacting to the truth, but to the fact you purposefullyconcealedthe truth.”
“At first, I didn’t think her history here was relevant.”
“You. Didn’t. Think. Her. History. Here. Was. Relevant,” she slowly and carefully parroted each of his words.
“No,” he insisted. “I didn’t.”
“You didn’t think Vivianne having been born on the estate—havinglivedin Harbury Hall—relevant?”
“No.” He paused. “Not at first.”
Which meant at some point, he’d become aware of how this slice of information from the past significantly shaded the present.
“I don’t know what is worse,” she said. “Your initial obliviousness or your continued insistence on withholding the truth even after you realized how much I would be hurt.”
He jerked back as if struck. “You knew about Viv. Our marriage was to be one of convenience.”
“I am well aware of the agreement we made.”
“Then what would you want me to have done? I can’t change the past.”
“I justtoldyou I’m not angry about the past.” Her eyes locked on his. “I’m angry because you must have known thatanyone, at any time, might have revealed the truth. I was only spared even greater humiliation because the Wexfords, who had no malicious intent, happened to be the ones to enlighten me and seemed to believeVivianne was someone currently insignificant to you.”
His breath deepened, but he did not attempt to give her any additional excuses. Because no proper excuse existed for withholding such crucial, painful information.
“If,” she continued, “you and I had maintained a polite distance as we originally intended, I might have understood.” She paused, struggling to keep her voice from cracking. “But you know we didn’t.”
He’d made love to her. Sweetly. Passionately. He’d laughed with her.Heldher. Made her feel as if her feelings mattered.
Whenhad he realized she would be harmed when she eventually discovered the truth?
Good heavens. She remembered the odd exchange that led to the revelation Anderson had a daughter in the first place. She placed her hand on her forehead. “Until Mrs. Townsend mentioned Vivianne on the day you came to escort me home, youdidn’tfully understand how the truth would affect me, did you? She was surprised I didn’t know Anderson had a daughter. At the time, I couldn’t grasp whyyoulooked so stricken.”
Cassie knew she’d guessed correctly by the way he sucked in his lips.
She recalled the inexplicable look the tenant and her husband had exchanged just before Mrs. Townsend quickly changed the subject. Mrs. Townsend, who had also been falsely informed she and Harbury did not have a real marriage.
Cassie snorted in disbelief. “She must have thought me such a goose! My heavens, Harbury, you’ve made me a laughingstock.”
“No!”
He reached out, but she wedged herself into the carriage’s corner to avoid his touch.
“Mrs. Townsend hadn’t thought anything of bringing up Vivianne, not until I professed ignorance of her existence.” She inhaled through her teeth. “She said Anderson’s daughter had a spaniel. Harbury—could Mercy be Vivianne’s dog?”
“I don’t know.” He winced. “Possibly.”
