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“That is none of your concern. You have made your opinion of me perfectly clear.” Her speech was fast, her manner hard. “Use this, Guy. Stop being honorable and think like a criminal instead. Practice beingunscrupulous, if you can.”
Suddenly, belatedly, he understood. “There are discrepancies in Ursula’s trust but the accountants couldn’t see where the items had gone. He’s likely funneling Ursula’s wealth to Freddie, so that his son might take it all.”
His brain raced. The archbishop’s office would have a record of this license. Tomorrow, he would write to his solicitors, or directly to the Vice Chancellor.
“That’s why you invited Sir Walter and his family here: to seek proof,” he said. “I accused you of using them as bait to lure me. Why didn’t you correct me?”
“You seemed so pleased with yourself, I hated to disillusion you.”
She never did defend herself, he realized. Every accusation he made, she accepted the charge, even if it wasn’t true. That pride of hers would be her undoing.
“Please accept my apologies. I should have listened to you.” He thumped the balustrade. “Damn it. I’m meant to protect Freddie and I got it wrong.”
Her tone was unusually gentle as she said, “You did not see your sister as a piece of property to be passed around or used as a pawn in marriage. That does you credit. It is nothing to regret.” After a pause, she added, “But perhaps next time, you will listen to me.”
“Listen? You were trying to get me to marry you.”
“I never wanted to marry you.”
“Ever since you were a child—”
“I boasted, yes. When I was nine, Miranda Olivares Lightwell—Cassandra DeWitt’s half sister, if you recall—she declared that I was too tall and skinny, so I retorted that at least I was going to be a marchioness one day, which was more than anyone could say for Miranda or anyone else. Then I kept saying it. Did you never make empty boasts when you were a child?”
“At the Prince Regent’s party. You said you wanted us to get married. You bribed the jesters and tied me to you. Then at my house—”
“You never heard a word I said, did you?”
“Well, if you would stop speaking nonsense.”
She stared at him, her eyes burning. He thought again of the broken fan, that little snap. For all her restraint, Arabella was not without feeling, but she had learned to bury her emotions so deeply they erupted with fury whenever they had a chance.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“Engaged, you blockhead!” she snapped. “I asked you to tell my father youmeantto marry me. I never said anything about actually doing it. An engagement could have benefited us both. If you had listened, I would have explained that I meant a temporary arrangement so I could avoid marrying Sculthorpe and you could demonstrate to the court your ability to provide a stable home for your sisters. But never mind, Sculthorpe is gone and you never needed me to stand in for a bride.”
Guy tried to remember what she had said, but he only recalled what he had heard. Until this moment, he had believed those to be the same.
“But…” He struggled to pull the pieces together. “Why did you come to me that night in London?”
She shook her head and said nothing.
He tried another tack. “An engagement generally precedes a wedding.”
“But a wedding need not follow an engagement. An engagement indicates a commitment, but it can be broken relatively easily, and it is socially acceptable for a lady to do so. Once or twice, anyway. My connections, reputation, and wealth are such that I could weather a more ferocious scandal than most.”
“What is the point of feigning an engagement?”
She consulted the sky, giving him the angle of her jaw, the length of her throat, the curls around her ear.
“Because after you announced you would not marry me, after I spent years avoiding marrying Papa’s other choices by insisting I wait for you, he threatened to cut me off if I did not wed immediately, and he refused to wait until I presented a man of whom we both approve.”
“You exaggerate. Your father would never disinherit you.”
“It’s already done,” she said softly. When she turned back to him, her expression was unreadable. “Almost. His new will has only to be signed and notarized. And as for my famous dowry, which has fortune hunters across the world drooling… Well.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Do you think I am leaving tomorrow because my grandmother wants company? I am being cast out. I stand here only because Papa wanted me to face my shame at mybetrothalball. Pride goeth and all that.”
Guy steadied himself with a hand on the balustrade, the stone cold through his glove. He stared at the gardens until the lights from the hanging lanterns blurred.
Arabella’s position had seemed as stable and enduring as this stately family home in which they stood. She claimed her place in the world with such self-assurance that he had never even considered it might be precarious.
