Page 31 of The Gentleman Was Right
She still could not believe she’d kissed him so freely. “Edward made that offer on a whim. We have no reason to trust he has my best interests at heart.”
“Pish.” Isabelle flicked her wrist. “We have no reasonnotto trust him either. He seemed earnest. He barely reacted to the fact that we were squatting on his brother’s property and pretending to be a relation. And he offered to help us without asking for anything in return.”
“He’d get everything in return. A wife. A house. A fortune.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. “As far as he knows, the only thing he’d acquire is a wife with a sister.”
She’d told him enough that he could guess. “He’s an intelligent man. Surely he reasoned that Basil is after our wealth.”
“Edward is the brother to an earl. More handsome than a god. And you think he wants to marry a stranger on the off chance she is wealthy?”
“Why else?”
“Maybe he likes you.”
Violet scoffed. “He hardly knows me.”
“And yet, when I offered myself as a marital prospect, he was uninterested.”
“We kissed,” Violet blurted and then immediately winced at the way Isabelle’s mouth dropped open.
“He kissed you?”
“I kissed him.” It was an important distinction.
Isabelle’s eyes reflected her amusement. “During your walk?”
“No. At the assembly.”
“When you disappeared?”
“I didn’t disappear.”
“You did so. But when you reappeared, you seemed so calm that I assumed nothing happened.”
“I was not as serene as I seemed. I was confused and aroused.” She winced again. She hadn’t meant to admit the last part to her sister. “Our kiss was…more than pleasant.” What a paltry description for the most distracting and delightful kiss of her life. “It scared me. I can’t risk another emotional entanglement. You know how foolish I can get.”
Isabelle’s eyes narrowed, the delight in them fading. “You kissed Edward, and you liked it, so we fled like thieves in the night for the second time? I’m not quite following your logic.”
“Not like thieves,” Violet argued.
“Exactly like thieves.” Isabelle groaned. “I am very much starting to think you should not be in charge of our endeavors. Twice you decreed that we had no other option than to disappear, and you’ve been wrong both times.”
“I am not wrong about Basil. And Edward—I nearly agreed to marry the man the day after I met him.”
“You…what?” She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You were honestly considering saying yes? That means…you’ve been wildly out of sorts since our first encounter with Edward. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were infatuated—” Isabelle sucked in a breath. “Youlikehim. Youreallylike him. More than you liked Basil.”
“I loved Basil,” she snapped.
“But did you like him?” Isabelle tipped her head to the side. “You were distracted by his good looks and,oh my goodness, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. He’s—you think Edward is like Basil, don’t you? That is why kissing him frightened you away. You’re afraid he’s playing you false. Or that you’re making the wrong assumption about his motives.”
Violet shrugged helplessly.
She’d been the recipient of such attention once before, and it had been fabricated. If Basil could pretend so thoroughly and manipulate her emotions so easily, why couldn’t Edward do the same? After all, he had offered to marry her without consideration, and even days later, she was unable to fathom his motivation. His interest in her was unguarded and almost palpable. She could feel it in the way he looked at her and in the way he touched her, and it terrified her.
How could she trust herself enough to trust him?
ChapterTen
