Page 28 of Marry in Secret
She bit her lip. “I don’t understand.”
He hardened his voice. “I can give you none of what that duke could. You’d be better off with him.”
“She would be—infinitely better off!” Lady Salter interjected. “As long as the duke can be brought to reconsider her after such a scandal.”
“If he were in any way worthy of Rose, he’d be here now, begging her to take him back,” Thomas snapped. “He’d never have let her go in the first place.”
The old lady looked taken aback. Ashendon raised his brows.
Rose shook her head. “But Thomas, I’ve already decided. I said—”
“You said everything that was honorable, but it’s a mistake. I’m not the man I was. Not the man you married.” Bile stung his throat. What was he doing? Throwing it all away in a stupid fit of... gallantry? Insanity?
But the words kept coming. “These past four years havebeen... difficult. I’ve changed. Not just outwardly.” He swallowed. “When a man is pushed to the brink...”
“Thomas, what are you saying?”
“You were just a girl. You made an impulsive promise based on a false premise, and now you believe you have no choice but to keep it. But it’s not true. You can do a lot better than me now.”
There, he’d done it, overturned all his plans in a stupid fit of... stupidity.
“Oh, splendid young man,” Lady Dorothea murmured.
Behind him, Ashendon growled, “Changed your tune, haven’t you, Beresford? Whatever happened to ‘fight tooth and nail to keep her’?”
Without turning his head, Thomas responded. “I was prepared to fight you, Ashendon, prepared to fight any other members of Rose’s family, but...” He lifted his hand in a futile gesture. There were no words to explain what he’d just done.
“Well!” Lady Salter raised her lorgnette and subjected him to a thorough scrutiny. “Well!”
“Thank you, Mr. Beresford,” Lady Ashendon said at last. “It’s a very gallant—and unexpected—offer.”
“Don’t youwantto stay married to me?” Rose asked abruptly. Her face was white and tense.
“Of course,” he assured her, managing to make it sound like a meaningless gallantry. “But I rushed you into marriage once. Your brother claims he can have it annulled. I don’t know if that’s possible, but if it is, if you have a chance to start again fresh and leave an impulsive youthful mistake behind you...” He spread his hands in awhy not?gesture.
Her brow furrowed. “You think our marriage was a mistake?”
He looked away and didn’t answer. He’d burned his boats. No use trying to mend them now. It was the very opposite of what he’d intended.
It was one thing to claim that which was his by right. It was quite another to have a trembling young woman offer him all she was and all she owned, simply because of apromise she’d made when she was sixteen. He’d sunk low in the last four years, but not that low.
The door opened and two footmen entered carrying tea trays and more food. Tea was poured, and cakes, sandwiches and little pastries handed around. The tense atmosphere eased slightly with the clatter of crockery and the tinkling of teaspoons.
“Have one of these excellent cream cakes, Mr. Beresford. I’ve eaten far too many already today, but they’re so delicious.” Lady Dorothea offered him a plate. And a warm, dimpled smile. It was a clear welcome.
“Thank you, no.” He was too tense to eat a thing. Besides, his stomach wasn’t yet ready for rich food like cream. But Lady Dorothea kept fretting that he was too thin and wasn’t eating, so to please her he took a cucumber sandwich.
“Well then, Mr. Beresford.” Lady Salter addressed him peremptorily. “Who are your people?”
His people? Good question. Four years ago his understanding of who he was and who his people were had turned to bitter ashes. “I’m an orphan. I have no family.”
Ashendon’s look was sharp. “You mentioned an uncle before. You said he’d raised you.”
Thomas nodded. “He washed his hands of me some years ago.”
Ashendon’s gaze sharpened. “Why was that?”
Thomas lifted an indifferent shoulder. “I cannot say.” And wasn’t that the truth? It had shocked him to the backbone at the time. Four years later, the hurt and shock had burned away. Bitterness and cold rage sustained him these days.
