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“I do not,” Daphne said. “Frankly, I do not wish to participate in the marriage mart.”
“Don’t you wish to marry?” Mr. Stewart asked, watching her closely.
“I do, but Anmore is my home. I have no desire to marry and be forced to live elsewhere.”
“Not every man would be so cold and unfeeling as to make you leave your home.”
“I’m afraid it is a risk that I am not willing to take. I could never leave my grandmother.”
“That is admirable of you.”
“It is the least I can do.” Daphne cocked her head. “May I ask if you are interested in matrimony?”
A pained look came to his expression. “I’m afraid I have sworn off marriage.”
“Why is that?”
Mr. Stewart shifted his gaze away from her as he revealed, “I was engaged once.”
“What happened?”
He huffed. “She did not approve of my profession.”
Daphne gave him a puzzled look. “Why would she not approve of you being a banker?”
“It was more than that,” he replied. “I met Caroline while I was at Cambridge. She was the daughter of one of my professors, and I fancied myself in love with her. But it all changed when my father died.”
“I am sorry to hear that.”
“Caroline also took issue with me being obsessed with finding my father’s killer,” he explained. “I’m afraid it consumed me, leaving room for little else.”
“I can understand your need for justice.”
“Very few can,” he said.
Her horse whinnied, drawing her attention for a moment. “Was your father’s murderer caught?”
“He was,” he replied, “and I watched him hang.”
“Did that bring you the closure that you were seeking?”
Mr. Stewart’s mouth set into a grim line. “It did not,” he said. “I thought his death would solve all my problems, but they were still waiting for me at the end of the day.”
“They generally are.”
“My father’s attacker took everything from me.”
“In what way?”
His eyes grew guarded, and she realized that she had pushed him too far with her questions. It was a long moment before he sadly replied, “A part of me wishes that I had been the one that had died that day.”
“But you weren’t,” she said. “There is a reason for that.”
“Not only did my fiancée leave me, but all of my friends at Cambridge abandoned me, as well,” he revealed.
“Then they weren’t very good friends to begin with,” she asserted.
“I must agree with you.”
