Page 55 of Madcap with a Marquess
“You.” His voice was low. Soft. Silk. “Were going to leave me.” Silk that could strangle.
Whoops.Hadn’t meant to admit that.Her stomach dropped straight through the floor to the level below, possibly even farther.Shite.
He pivoted and threw open their adjoining door.
Oh, no, he didn’t.
Franny ran after him, and the minute his boot hit the threshold of his chamber, she launched herself at him. She collided with his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and chest, latching onto any part of him she could gain purchase. He was so deliciously hard.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he bit out.
Right. Focus, Franny.
“You are not running from me, Rupert. This conversation is not over.” Not when such a big realization had been made.
He shook like a giant wet dog, but she only gripped him tighter, trying to scale him with her legs, hold on to him with any part of her. Every part of her. She’d always been skilled at climbing trees.
“Let me go, Franny. I swear to God, now isnotthe time. Get your leechlike fingers off me.”
Leech? Well,thatwasn’t flattering. She growled. And bit where his neck met his shoulder. Digging in with her teeth. Leeches drew blood, did they not?
“Arghhh!” He spun around and strode back into her room. He stormed to her bed and promptly fell backward, crushing her into the mattress. She let go, and he twisted around on top of her, pinning her to the bed.
They stared hard at each other, ragged breaths filling the room, his exhales puffing over her lips. He smelled like clean sweat and smoky scotch and cherry tarts.
The muffled sound of splashing water registered to her ears, drifting over from her bathing chamber. He had ordered a bath for her? Her heart melted and softened as she searched his darkening gaze. His grip on her upper arms loosened, and his face dropped infinitesimally closer to hers.Please kiss me.
“You were going to leave me.”
The pain in his voice sliced through her. Sliced easily through her softened heart. She looked away, no longer able to bear his gaze. She stared blindly into the four-poster bed’s ivory curtains. “You know it would be for the best,” she said in a small voice. “You can’t stand me. It’ll be one less burden in your life, me gone.”
His fingers landed softly on her chin, and he drew her gaze back to his. Tried to. But she couldn’t. She stared at his throat, the muscles constricting with each swallow.
“You may say you care, but we both know you’d be happy I left,” she said to his Adam’s apple. “I’m a bastard anyway.”
His entire body stilled atop hers.
She pushed at his chest, and he immediately rolled off her. She stood and shrugged out of her coat, throwing it in her trunk.
“I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of it sooner,” she said, pulling her lawn shirt from her breeches. Probably because, as Rupert had said correctly, she didn’t think. She was rash, impulsive, and thoughtless. “This is your answer. I’m a bastard. You have been deceived. We can get an annulment, and you’ll…be free of me. And me of you. There will be scandal, but you and yourperfectreputation will recover, I’m sure.”
She turned back. He sat on the edge of her bed, his jaw flexing. She set her hands on her hips and lifted her chin.Come on, Rupert. Reject me. You have your out.And it wouldn’t mean a thing to her at all. Her fingers dug into her hips. This is what she wanted. See, she was really bloody good at pretending.
“You think I want an annulment?” he asked quietly.
She shivered at his tone. Nails on slate.
“You think I give a fig that you are a bastard?”
She frowned. “Well, of course you do. You’re Pretentious Perty. God forbid he marries a bastard. Let us not fool ourselves. We both know you would’ve burned up that betrothal contract the minute you found out. Probably alongside a bottle of champagne.”
That much should be obvious.
His hand sliced through the air, but he said nothing. He stormed to the door to his chambers, his feet thundering so loud she was sure they could hear it in the servants’ quarters.
He paused. One hand gripped the door frame, his knuckles bloodless, his breath coming too fast, too uneven.
“Mrs. Higgens will be up shortly to look over you, get you anything you need. A bath should be ready for you shortly,” he said emotionlessly.
