Page 26 of The Pleasures of Passion
“And what did you tell them?”
She arched one eyebrow. “You first.”
“Your aunt wanted to know the usual—how we met, what I felt for you, that sort of thing. I gave her exactly the answers that we agreed upon. Then you gave her nearly the same answers—thank you, by the way—so with any luck, she’ll be satisfied.”
“I doubt it.” She glanced at her aunt. “She’s scowling at us.”
“Not at us. Atme. I don’t think she approves, despite my explanation about our arrangement. She says you’re too romantic to marry for practical reasons.” He eyed her closely. “Is that true?”
She looked away. “I suppose it was true once. But life has taught me that romance is foolish.”
“Was it reallylifethat taught you that? Or your marriage? What happened—was it not a love match?” He couldn’t keep the snide tone from his voice.
And judging from the way she tipped up her chin, she made note of it. “Why would you assume that?”
“Because you now think romance is foolish.”
“It has nothing to do with . . . I don’t think . . .” She scowled at him. “I don’t want to talk about my marriage withyou, that’s all. It’s private.”
Only with an effort did Niall hide his chagrin. It shouldn’t bother him that she wouldn’t tell him the details. What did it matter if she’d married Trevor for love? Or if she didn’t want to talk about why the marriage had soured?Ifit had soured.
He was past all that with her, damn it.
Yet he couldn’t stop himself from prodding, especially when something awful occurred to him. “He wasn’t cruel, was he?”
“Don’t be absurd,” she said, so dismissively that he had to believe her. “Reynold and I got along perfectly well. He never raised his hand—or voice—to me. He was a good man.”
The kind of man she could fall in love with? “Is that why you don’t wish to marry again? Because you were madly in love with him and no other man compares? Or did he make you skeptical about marriage by proving to be a disappointment?”
“Why do you care?”
A good question, yet he couldn’t stop. “I don’t understand why you’re no longer interested in spending your life with a man you love. That’s what most women prefer.”
“And you know exactly what most women prefer, being a man.” She stared hard at him. “For your information, even if one marries the man one loves, a lifetime with him is not guaranteed. I’m a widow at twenty-four—hardly a ringing endorsement for the longevity of marriages. And given the usual man’s tendency to wander—”
“Ah, so Trevor was a philanderer.”
“I didn’t say that!”
“You didn’t have to.Somethingmade you cynical about marriage. And that’s a common enough reason.”
“I’m not cynical about marriage, and my husband was never a philanderer. We were perfectly content until he found out about—” She glared at him. “I told you I didn’t wish to discuss it. Besides, I wasn’t thinking of him. I was thinking of you.”
“Me!” The comment put him on his guard. He swept her into a turn. “I’ll admit I was a bit of a rogue. But only until I met you.”
She flashed him an arch smile. “Of course.”
“You don’t believe me?”
A veil came down over her face. “It doesn’t matter what I believe. That was all long ago, and we’re different people now.”
He would have probed further, but the waltz ended then, and they weren’t allowed to dance the next set together. With a certain glee, his friends all lined up to demand dances of her. And Clarissa insisted thathestand up with all of hers.
God rot them for conspiring against him in the usual fashion of friends teasing a new couple. He wondered what they’d think if they knew the truth.
And whatwasthe truth? She’d certainly been evasive about that. He still didn’t know why she’d married that damned Trevor. Why she’d never bothered to tell him of it personally.
Thankfully, the evening didn’t go on much longer for him. Clarissa drew him aside to ask that he take home their mother, who was tiring.
