Page 65 of A Troublesome Circumstance

He gently turned her towards him, his hands trembling. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Well, I’m afraid you have,” she said, staring at the lapels of his coat. “You must have been laughing at me this entire time.”

“I never laughed at you.”

“How could you not?” she demanded. “I mistook you for a gamekeeper. You—an heir to a dukedom.”

“Josie… look at me.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

A sniff. “I don’t want you to see me cry.”

“I have seen you cry before.”

“That was different,” she insisted. “That was when I thought you were my friend.”

He leaned closer, his voice rough. “We are still friends.”

“Friends do not lie to one another,” she said. Her eyes lifted to his, glimmering with pain. “I was such a fool.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It was I who was the fool. I should have told you the truth.”

“But you didn’t.”

He flinched. “Josie, please. You must listen.”

“So you can lie to me some more?” she snapped. “Make me believe you are someone you’re not?”

His jaw clenched. “What would your brother have done had he known it wasn’t a gamekeeper who saved you? Would he have forced you into marriage with me?”

“I would not have allowed it.”

“How could you have stopped it?” he asked.

She lifted her chin with that familiar stubborn fire. “I wouldn’t have let you suffer for my actions. I care for you far too much to do that.”

Her admission hit him like a blow. He sucked in a breath. “I care for you, too.”

She let out a brittle laugh. “I don’t believe you. Quite frankly, I won’t believe anything you say—ever again.”

And before he could speak—before he could breathe—she turned and strode back into the ballroom, head high, every inch the proud, wounded lady he had never deserved.

Jude ripped off his mask, the silk twisting in his fist, and stalked to the railing. He gripped the cold iron and leaned forward, chest heaving.

Blast it.

He should have told her the truth. Should have been honest from the moment he had brought her into his cottage.

But he hadn’t been brave enough.

And now he’d done the one thing he swore he wouldn’t.

He’d hurt Josephine.

He lowered his head in shame.