Page 34 of Earl for the Summer
“To everyone.”
Cassian bowed his head. “Yes, but the way I wronged you matters to me most.”
“Why did you do it?” she repeated.
“The simplest explanation is that I did it for my brother.” That conversation at Julian’s bedside played in Cassian’s mind, and it now seemed such a flimsy justification for what he’d done.
“Why would your brother want you to lie?”
“Because he thought he’d lose his chance at winning Lady Selina. He’s back in Berkshire, letting a broken leg mend. He knew she’d be vied for.”
“And now he’s lost her anyway.”
“Yes.” Some part of him wanted to ask if he’d lost any chance withher. But it was nonsense. He was a broken man and had exiled himself for good reasons.
“What’s the complicated answer?” she asked quietly, so softly that it almost slipped past his defenses. Her gentleness made him want to tell her all his secrets.
But no. He could not subject her to the ugliness of his past. Not when he would never see her again after he returned to Scotland.
“I have never let my brother down.” He could admit that much, though it made him sound far more admirable than he was. “I’ve always considered him mine to protect.”
Her forehead pinched in a frown. “But he’s older, is he not? If only by minutes.”
“Does birth order always determine nature, Daphne?” He dared to address her familiarly because it was the last time he’d ever have the chance. “Is your oldest sister the strongest and your youngest the gentlest?”
“Fair point.” Her smile made his pulse kick up. “Marigold is the youngest and she’s almost as fierce as Ivy. My parents always thought I was the sweet, gentle one. Mild-mannered and soft-hearted, my aunt used to call me.”
Cassian couldn’t hold back a chuckle at that description.
“Do you disagree,Cassian?”
Hearing her speak his name made his mouth dry and shot a flare of desire through him. He’d thought too many times of bringing her to pleasure and hearing her cry his name.
What if he confessedthatto the sweetest, gentlest Bridewell sister?
“You do seem gentle,” he told her in a low voice. He leaned forward on the settee, forearms resting on his knees, needing to get just a couple of inches closer. “But do I think you’re soft? Yes, if one is referring to your skin, your hair, your lips”—he studied each as he spoke of them—“but there’s nothing mild about you, Daphne Bridewell.”
“No?” Her breath had quickened, bringing a flush to her cheeks, making her chest rise and fall against the hold of her corset.
“You’re the most vivid woman I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t require compliments, and they won’t make me forgive you.”
Cassian felt a smile tugging at his lips. Only she made him smile like a fool. “You’re worthy of all the compliments. You’re curious, loyal, and perhaps a little impulsive. I’d call it boldness.” His smile widened when she narrowed an eye at that. “I promise you only the truth now.”
She scoffed. “And how can I believe you?”
“You can’t. I don’t deserve your trust, but I’ve wanted it from the moment we met.”
“As you lied to me.”
“Yes.”
She turned away from him, examining the wallpaper behind his head, as if she could no longer bear looking at him. As if she loathed him that much.
“You could have told me the truth.” She edged forward on the settee too, her poise discarded as anger caused her eyes to flash.“Nothing could break my loyalty to my sisters, and I would have understood the willingness to do anything for those you love.”
“I see that now.” Cassian nodded. “I was wrong. I should have told you.” He reached out a hand and then pulled it back. He had no right to touch her. “But you are loyal to Selina too.”
