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He spoke lightly, since he didn’t want to embarrass her. But only an idiot would think Ainsley had spent the last four months pining for him.
Too bad his stupid heart was hoping, in fact, that she had.
Ainsley put down her glass and took his hand, threading her fingers through his. Everything inside him came to life at her touch, like a parched garden reviving with a spring shower. He wrapped that little hand up in both of his.
“Royal, surely you know I’m exceedingly fond of you,” she said earnestly. “What we felt for each other in London, when we first met, well . . . I didn’t fake that, despite what appearances might have suggested.”
“I know,” he said gruffly.
“I care for you very much—more than any man, in fact. So, please don’t think I’m taking any of this lightly or trying to take advantage of your kind feelings for me.”
He smiled at her tepid description of his emotions. “You can take advantage of me as much as you want, lass.”
Amusement gleamed in her eyes for a moment before she sobered. “I’ve changed my mind because I’m in serious trouble. Marrying you would be the best solution to my problem.”
“Which is?”
She withdrew her hand and curled it tensely in her lap. “It’s twofold, but the most pressing one is that Cringlewood has threatened to expose me if I do not agree to marry him by the end of the month. He will let it be known that I slept with him and then refused his offer to marry.”
“God,” Royal muttered, disgusted. “He really is a complete bastard.”
“I assure you he would take great delight in humiliating me if I refused.”
“Why don’t you just call him a liar to his face? It’s his word against yours. It’s not like you and your family aren’t wealthy and well regarded, too.”
“Royal, you do understand how the world works, do you not? Womenalwaystake the blame in these sorts of situations. Always.”
“I understand that such isusuallythe case. But you’ve never chased after men or acted in any way to damage your reputation. The opposite, in fact.”
“You mean I have no bones about humiliating men if they annoy me?” She sighed. “That is unfortunately true, and it means I have more than my share of detractors. Cringlewood will be clever about it too. He won’t come right out with it. Instead, he’ll start a whisper campaign, putting out nasty little rumors that will slowly but thoroughly destroy my reputation.”
He grimaced at the ugly but all-too-real scenario. “Yes, I see, and it’s appalling. Yet, though I don’t mean to make light of it, surely the damage would only be temporary. Tira is safe with me, and your parents won’t throw you out in the street. The scandal would eventually fade and you could once again return to your old life.”
He didn’t want to lose her again, but he needed to make sure, for all their sakes, that she truly wanted this marriage.
“Royal, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said tartly. “My family and I would be utterly humiliated. I would be forced to retire permanently to some out-of-the-way village. My friends would shun me and my family would hate me. I didnotgo through all the trouble of concealing my pregnancy to spend the rest of my life in exile because of what that vile man did to me.Hewas the one who wrongedme.”
By the time she finished, fury shimmered in the air around her. Her sense of frustrated rage filled Royal with a deep foreboding.
He took her hands again. They were shaking, so he gently squeezed them. “Ainsley, please tell me the truth. Did he force himself on you?”
When she flinched, and her gaze slid away, his stomach twisted into a thousand knots.
“Love, I would never judge you,” he said. “But I need to know what happened. I need to know how to . . . to manage this.”
And how to manage her. Because it now seemed clear that Ainsley had been grievously wounded.
When she finally returned his gaze, it was both defiant and vulnerable. “Yes, he forced me.”
Royal closed his eyes against the blinding rush of dark emotion. For her sake, he’d wanted to believe that such had not been the case, that Cringlewood hadn’t physically harmed her. But now her stark admission ripped through his heart like an exploding shell.
He opened his eyes. “I am going to London, and I’m going to beat the living shite out of him.”
“No, you are not,” she said firmly.
“He hurt you, and he needs to be punished.” Royal should have trusted his bloody instincts and done that long ago. Instead, he’d allowed the bastard to get away with the worst act a man could perpetrate against a woman.
“Believe me, that wouldn’t improve the situation.”
