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Those bastards had no idea of the wrath that was coming their way.
“Why did you watch us?”
Victoria started, her eyes blinking as Rafe’s words snapped her out of her reverie. She looked to him. “What?”
“Why did you stand, silently, watching my hand go up Lady Frantole’s skirt?” His stare had locked onto her, his eyes still cold, though his words weren’t as chilly as earlier. “You stood on the terrace and watched us in the shadows. Most would have backed away. Young chits because they would have been scandalized. Old maids because they’re blaséenough to leave private, private. You did not. You stayed. Silently. Watching. Why?”
She looked at him for a stunned moment, humiliation creeping under her skin. Her ears were already red from the chill, but she could feel the pink crawling along her brow. She couldn’t blame that on the cold.
Was there a good answer to his question? Probably not.
Truth would have to do.
Her shoulders lifted and she refused to look at him, keeping her gaze set on the road before them. “I watched because Lady Frantole looked and sounded so…overcome. Like satisfaction was pouring out of her soul. It was fascinating, whatever you were doing to her and how she reacted to it.”
“So you’re a peeper?”
Blood rushed up her neck, making her skin tingle. “No.”
“No? It seems that you have no trouble spying upon a scene that should send any unmarried chit scurrying back into the ballroom.”
“Yes, well, I’m not the usual unmarried chit. My uncle and my father have ensured that my experiences with men have been very limited. So I have to discover the things I need to discover in other ways.”
“Like peeping?”
She shrugged. Call it what he will.
“Their manipulation angers you?”
“I wouldn’t call it manipulation.” Her words bit out fast and hard. For all they drove her mad, she wasn’t about to let anyone disparage Reiner or her father on this matter. Disparaging them was her domain, and hers alone.
“Is there another word for it?” he asked. “Because it appears as though they have done everything in their power to make it appear as though you are eligible with your dowry, but then subsequently ensured no proper gentlemen will talk with you. That is called manipulation. Even in the Netherlands.”
Her mouth pulled back in a terse line. “They are worried about me—the both of them. That is all. They don’t want me compromised and shackled to a ne'er-do-well that will eat through my dowry and leave me to rot.”
“So, yes, it angers you, would be the answer.”
“Would I like to not be a complete ninny when it comes to the opposite sex? Of course.” Her left hand flew up from the reins, her glare landing on him. “I do what I need to. And I’ve managed to learn a lot about coupling at Wolfbridge. People are not as hidden as they like to think they are and the gardens are ripe for illicit tête-à-têtes. Just like you and Lady Frantole. Except most guests actually possess decorum and attempt to hide affairs better than you managed.”
His right eyebrow lifted. “I knew we weren’t hidden.”
He’d said it again. He’d been looking to get caught with a married woman. Surprising, and the exact opposite of gallant. “You weren’t lying about that, were you? I thought you were.”
“Lying about what?”
“About trying to get rid of Lady Frantole.”
“I was trying to excuse myself of her attentions.” His shoulders lifted in apathy. “It wasn’t the most subtle I’ve ever been, but that woman doesn’t do subtle. And the scene you witnessed did get rid of her.”
Victoria choked out a raw chuckle in spite of herself.
His look hadn’t veered off of her, his dark brown eyes not exactly cold, but still menacing. A predator circling for the kill. He didn’t even look like he was enjoying putting her through this humiliation when clearly it was sport to him. “It was a learning expedition for you, then?”
“Exactly.”
“Tell me, did you enjoy watching it?”
Her look whipped off of him, her stare at the crest of the hill they were approaching, her voice hissing. “I am not talking to you anymore about it. I stumbled upon you and I watched. We both know I did it, so can we please drop the matter?”
