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“Earlier you gave me reason to believe the announcement of your engagement to be a lie. You took me in your arms.”
“You kissed me without consent or invitation. I was caught unawares,” Edward said.
Eleanor laughed. “Oh, I wonder how many times a man has used such an excuse after being caught out in what he thought would be a secret dalliance?”
“There was no dalliance,” Edward said, growing angry.
“That is not how it felt to me. But then, perhaps you were merely trying to complete the set. First Harriet, then me?”
Edward rounded on her and she took a step back, licking her lips.
“And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?” Edward almost whispered, holding onto his temper by a fingernail.
“I saw your dalliance with my cousin. Your seduction of her. Is that how you intended to treat me? Is that why you came here?”
Edward was ready to deny all, but his pride demanded that he not stoop to lie before this creature. This scheming so-called seductress.
That would reduce me to her level and I will not allow that.
“You refer to the night of the ball at Wrexham?” he asked.
“Yes, more accurately the time after the ball when you and Harriet shared unspeakable intimacy on the floor of your library,” Eleanor said.
Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes wide. Edward could see that her breathing was coming hard and fast, not from desire but fear. She was daring much in being so frank and she knew it.
“I will not deny that Harriet and I are close. I categorically refute that I have any intention of seducing you,” Edward said bluntly.
Fear was replaced in Eleanor’s eyes by anger, bright and hot.
“You prefer Harriet to me?” she asked incredulously.
Edward chuckled, unable to stop himself.
The conceit of the woman. She genuinely cannot conceive how any woman could be seen as more attractive than her. A wife like that would be my idea of sheer hell. However, I must behave like a gentleman.
“Miss Worthingham, I would not deign to compare two ladies in such a way. That would be ungentlemanly.”
“Then I will give you another chance to avoid making a terrible mistake. I am more beautiful and more suitable to be the wife of a great man than my cousin. She has openly said that she would be more comfortable at a village dance than a society ball. Is that the sort of woman who would do honor to the Bolton name?”
“Miss Worthingham. Take care lest you overstep the bounds of propriety and I say something un-gallant,” Edward said harshly. “Now, you have alluded to having witnessed a private moment that should not have been witnessed. Do you have more to say on this?”
Eleanor stared at him for a moment, chin lifted and proud. Edward had to admire her courage. It was bare-faced and verging on insolence given what she was insinuating, but courageous, nonetheless.
“No,” she said finally.
Edward smiled mirthlessly and bowed his head before turning on his heel and hurrying away down the passageway. As he reached the stairs, he thought he heard Eleanor say.
“…not at this time.”
CHAPTER 40
Edward steeled himself for a further confrontation as he was directed to find Simon in his study. A knock at the door produced a peremptory command to enter. Edward marched in. Simon had been sitting at a desk covered in ledgers and papers. He came to his feet as though launched and began covering many of the letters, books, and other paperwork. Edward raised a hand.
“Erdington, desist. I have no desire to pry into your personal affairs and am blind to whatever you have there. I think a doctor should be sent for. Harriet is unsteady on her feet and that bump should be checked.”
“I have already dispatched a servant to the house of Doctor Summers, a mile away. He will come presently.”
Edward nodded, satisfied that Simon had acted promptly despite his anger.
