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‘If Miss Weston is distressed, it is entirely her own fault. Cassandra, put on some clothes and wait downstairs. I will come and take you home in a minute.’
‘No! I won’t leave Guy. You’ll challenge him to a duel or something dreadful and one of you will be killed.’
‘Probably me,’ Guy muttered, sotto voce.
‘Undoubtedly you,’ Nicholas remarked. ‘Cassandra, will you do what you’re told?’
‘I think perhaps the time has come to tell him the truth.’ Guy got off the bed and moved with studied casualness to a position nearer the dressing room door.
‘How can you suggest that?’ Cassandra said reproachfully. ‘You know why I can’t.’
‘One of you had better tell me, or I will have to extract the information some other way.’ Nicholas leaned one shoulder against a massive armoire. ‘And my patience is not unlimited.’
Cassandra felt herself go pale. She couldn’t let Nicholas fight Guy, yet nor could she betray whatever hopes there were of him honourably marrying Lucy.
Guy, however, had other ideas. ‘No, really, mon ami. You cannot be considering fisticuffs? This evening suit has suffered enough, what with being wept down…’
Nicholas grinned. ‘You have my sympathy.’
‘Oh, stop it! Stop it, both of you!’ Cassandra could stand it no longer. ‘This isn’t a joke. Nicholas, Guy was only trying to help. I came away with him so you would be free. Free to marry Lucy.’ There was a surprising lack of response from Nicholas, but she stumbled on. ‘How could you hurt her by jilting her when you love her so? I saw you together kissing. How could you make her cry like that?’
Nicholas straightened up slowly, his eyes on her face. She had all his attention now, and the tolerant amusement had vanished. ‘What is this about Lucy Hartley? I can make neither head nor tail of it. What has she to do with any of this? You can’t have run away because the girl kissed me on the cheek, for heaven’s sake! Why should I have to marry her?’
He seemed entirely sincere. Cassandra shook her head in confusion. ‘But I overheard you in the retiring room. You were making a declaration, you made her promise not to tell anyone yet. And then you proposed to me out of some misplaced fear you have compromised me, and say Lucy will understand. No wonder she was in tears on the terrace.’
There was a long silence while Nicholas digested this outburst, then Guy said wearily, ‘I confess I do not understand how you English manage to make simple matters of the heart into such dramas. It is a wonder any of you marry at all. And if you would stop regarding me with that sinister look in your eye, I will assure you that not one word of Miss Weston’s escapades in Paris or here will ever cross my lips.’
Nicholas glanced at him. ‘I will take your word for it. But why you felt it necessary to interfere, and why you had to descend on us with that minx Mariette in tow…’
‘You’ve spoken to her?’ Guy waved a hand. ‘But surely you see, one word from her and Cassandra’s reputation would be ashes.’
‘Ah, but she now knows I can spoil her chances here in Vienna, just as effectively as she could damage Cassandra’s good name. She will keep her mouth shut.’
Nicholas looked at Cassandra. There was an expression in his eyes she had never seen before, and when he spoke, it was as though he had forgotten Guy. ‘Is this all true? That you fled because you thought I was proposing to you only out of a sense of duty, and for no other reason?’
She nodded dumbly.
Nicholas turned to Guy. ‘You are decidedly de trop, my friend. Might I suggest you leave us?’
‘With pleasure, Nicholas.’ He slipped from the room, closing the door silently behind him.
‘Now, let us be clear. On seeing Guy and Mariette, I am supposed to have decided to jilt Lucy, and offer for you, to save your reputation?’
Cassandra nodded. ‘Well, didn’t you?’
‘No. What you overheard was me telling Lucy of my intention to propose, not to her, but to you, Cassandra. I wanted to propose to you tomorrow, when everything was quiet and we could be alone. Then, when I saw Guy and Mariette, I felt I had to establish your position at once, beyond any doubt. But I handled it badly, my love. I am not surprised you misunderstood.
‘As for Lucy, knowing how close you had become over the last few weeks, I thought she might give me some clue as to how you would receive me. Lucy is a friendly soul, I’ve known her for years. People keep suggesting we should marry,’ he added ironically, ‘and perhaps we would have done. But neither of us truly loved each other that way, and mercifully, we are friends enough to admit it. What you saw was Lucy giving me her approval with a kiss. Then when I told her how coldly you had rejected me, she was upset: hence the tears.’
Cassandra stood staring at the man she loved, wondering at how this tangle had come about, then the import of what he had said dawned on her. ‘You were going to propose to me, anyway? Before you saw Guy? But why?’
He moved slowly towards her, the tension easing slowly from his face to be replaced by a wry smile. ‘Can’t you guess, brat?’
‘But you don’t love me,’ she said shakily. This couldn’t be happening.
‘Don’t I?’ He was very close to her now, but still he did not touch her. ‘Oh, but I do, Miss Weston. I think I’ve loved you ever since you braved Aunt Augusta with that pile of shirts. I just didn’t realise it.’
‘But why not?’ she whispered, looking up into the green eyes, too afraid to believe this could be true, and not a cruel joke.
