Page 42 of Cinderella's Charade With the Duke
He watched her face, then his gaze drifted to her hand, noting her obvious unease. She set the saucer on her lap. His face softened. ‘You can tell me. It does not matter now. You need not shelter me from it. I have lost everything already.’ His voice trailed off into a whisper and he sat back, ready to accept whatever she told him.
Blast.
Where were Mr Simmons’s and Mrs Chisholm’s timely interruptions when she needed them?
Clarity is kindness, Hat.
Trudy’s words echoed in her mind. Her friend said such all the time. Most of the time Hattie agreed with her, but at this moment she wasn’t so certain.
His gaze was unflinching and she squirmed under his assessment of her. Heat flushed her cheeks and she shifted againon the sofa and placed her tea and saucer back on the table. He waited patiently for her to begin.
‘I can only tell you what you told me.’
‘That shall be enough,’ he replied with a soft nod.
‘Your first wife, Cecily, the Marchioness, was beautiful and quite popular with theton…and enjoyed the attentions of other gentleman…’ She paused, looking to the ceiling and trying to find some delicate way of indicating what the late Marchioness had done.
‘She was unfaithful?’ he asked, his voice deep with emotion.
Relieved, she nodded and met his gaze. ‘That is what you told me.’
‘And her death?’ he continued.
‘A carriage accident.’
‘Hmm. And that is all?’
She hesitated again and her pulse thrummed through her body.
‘Please. Just tell me.’
She held his gaze. ‘She was with another man in that carriage when she died. They were…together, if you take my meaning.’
His brow lifted and he cursed before he sank back into the cushion; his face blanched briefly before he regained his colour and composure.
‘And my daughter? How long has she not spoken?’
‘Since the day your wife died,’ she replied.
He nodded and stood. He walked to the window and looked out. The quiet hung between them and Hattie sat frozen.Curses. She shouldn’t have told him. What man would want to know such about his late wife?
But lying would have been worse. He deserved the truth, yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him all of it…the truth about her. But she could right now while the wound was already fresh. She opened her mouth to begin.
‘Perhaps I should not have asked,’ he said aloud, followed by a small chuckle.
She closed her eyes and clamped her mouth shut.Saints be. Perhaps not. She felt horrible. This was the last thing she wished to do. ‘It was I who should not have told you. Too much has happened for you to be ready for such news.’
Or any additional truths for that matter.
He scrubbed a hand through his hair and turned to her. He stilled and studied her like a curiosity one sees in a shop window, his gaze uncertain. ‘And yet you chose me despite such a scandal and upheaval with my late wife? And the difficulties with my daughter?’
‘Yes,’ she said breathlessly. She shouldn’t have said it, because it wasn’t true, but the word tumbled out before she even knew it was a thought in her mind. For shewouldhave chosen him repeatedly if this was her real life and she could have made such a choice.
If this were something other than a ruse carrying on too long.
‘Why?’ He walked to her and sat next to her, the cushion sinking under his weight, taking her hands in his own. ‘Why would you choose me after all this?’ His words were desperate, his eyes wide and urgent. He needed to know and understand as if this were the most important thing in his world. She could feel his pulse through the tight pressure of his hold on her fingers.
She hesitated and swallowed hard. She could tell him everything right now. This could be the moment where she told the whole truth, not just the bits she wished to. They could start new and fresh with no deceit between them and she could return to being the governess to Millie she was hired to be. Her heartbeat faltered and increased.
