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‘How do you know it will be a room full of prejudice when you have never taken a moment to know the character of a single soul in that room? But heaven forbid you should take into account their offers to help during and after the fire. The friendly daily calls to check on us since. If you could have seen Archie with them you would know they are not the enemy.’
‘They barricaded the road and laid siege to my house with placards!’ At her behest and under her leadership. But still!
‘Because you tried to sell the ground from under them! If you had engaged with them, been upfront and honest as any decent sort would, rather than cagey and underhand, then all of that could have been avoided and they would have worked with you to reach a solution rather than against you. But you never gave them the chance to understand.’
He would go back and change that if he could as it wasn’t his finest hour. However, he still would have shielded Archie. ‘People are people wherever you go, Sophie, and I have met enough of them to know how they will react.’
‘The irony of such prejudice coming from the lips of a man who claims to abhor it beggars belief.’ He went to speak then clamped his jaws shut because he could not grope for a suitable enough answer. Sophie saw that chink in his armour and sighed. ‘Bring Archie to the assembly tomorrow night. Meet them. Watch them. Give them the chance to prove to you that you might have misjudged them. And if you haven’t...’ Her hand gripped his as she sighed. ‘What do you have to lose, Rafe, when you are leaving here anyway? At least give them a chance.’
‘No. Hell would have to freeze over before I toss him to the wolves.’
‘Wolves! Wolves! Have you gone quite mad?’ She shook off his hand and instantly turned into Harpy Sophie again. ‘You are holding him back, Rafe, because you—you!—’ she prodded his chest with an accusatory finger ‘—are scared of the world not Archie. From where I stand it is not the other way around. That is also why you prefer to complain about the clutter in this dusty mausoleum than clear it away to find the beauty of this house too! You are a coward, Captain Peel, and I cannot bear to look at you!’ She tossed back her hair and flounced towards the door, and all attempt at keeping a lid on his emotions flounced away with her.
‘To be accused of fearing the world from the master of avoiding it is so rich it is laughable. At least I use my past to shape my future. You use yours to prevent having one, Miss Gilbert! For heaven forbid you should ever get past the sainted Michael when all the alluring promise of spinsterhood lies before you!’ Her head whipped around, her fists clenched, her dark eyes incandescent and her expressive brows so knitted they merged together as one. ‘And do not direct your eyebrows at me in that tone of voice, madam, when it is I who have been wronged here tonight!’
‘How dare you bring Michael into this!’
‘Oh, I dare, madam! I dare! For you hide your heart behind his memory like a coward and keep the rest of mankind at arm’s length because you are scared that there is one of us here in the land of the living who might just have the gall to measure up!’
Her eyebrows exploded up her forehead like a firework, then the door slammed behind her with a decisive thud.
A split second later, Socrates revealed himself from his hiding place behind the sofa to hiss at Rafe and block him from following.
Not that he wanted to when he was in danger of laying his whole heart bare.
As he stalked out of the opposite door, cursing himself for already saying too much, he could not decide which vicious, belligerent cat he wanted to strangle first.
