Page 42 of Snowbound with the Scoundrel
Chapter19
Clarissa studied Rupert in the dappled light of the orangery.Everything was starting to make sense, except for one thing.
What had made Rupert believe she didn’t want to marry him?
Her heart was racing.Because it was true—she hadn’t been thrilled about her proposed union with the man everyone said was an idiot.
But now that she’d met Rupert, she saw that she had been overly hasty.
There was more to Rupert Dupree than met the eye.
He’d looked nervous for much of their conversation, but his eyes turned tremendously kind as he prepared to answer her.“I arrived in Boroughbridge to meet you a couple of days ahead of schedule.I was sitting in the Crown Hotel, eating a chop, when a young lady came in to collect her family’s post.”
Clarissa’s heart dropped to the level of her stomach.Because she had always been the one most eager for new letters, and, therefore, she had usually been the one to collect the family’s mail.
She had obviously saidsomething, but what was it?She honestly couldn’t remember.
“It was me?”she asked in a tiny voice.
Rupert inclined his head.“The barmaid, Becky, was teasing you about your impending nuptials.”
This Clarissa could imagine easily enough.Everyonehad been teasing her about her betrothal.Something about the combination of the bluestocking and the dunce, the innocent spinster and the legendary Lothario, had made people feel compelled to comment.
Rupert cleared his throat.“Let’s just say you made it clear that you didn’t want there to be any nuptials.”
She could almost remember it.“What, exactly, did I say?”
He shook his head.“Look, I don’t want you to feel bad—”
“Tell me.”
He sighed.“She’d made a comment about how you were scowling now, but from what she’d heard, your future husband knew how to put a smile on your face.You said I wasn’t your future husband, not if you had any say in the matter, and that you wished Lady Milthorpe hadn’t involved you in her ‘ridiculous scheme.’And then…”
He trailed off.Clarissa’s cheeks were aflame, but she was determined to hear the worst of it.“What did I say next?Please, do not sugarcoat it.Tell me as exactly as you can remember.”
He kept his eyes fixed on the floor as he added, “Your exact words were, ‘He’s supposed to be a blithering idiot, from everything I hear.What could Lady Milthorpe have been thinking?I would never consider such a man for my husband, not if he were the last man on earth.’”
A pregnant silence descended over the orangery.Clarissa remembered it now.Becky had always had a saucy sense of humor, and working at an inn, she’d been as worldly as Clarissa was sheltered.
She remembered how humiliating it had been, feeling as if everyone was laughing at her behind her back.And even worse, the topic of the teasing had been one she was entirely unequipped to discuss—her wedding night.Her wedding night with astranger, who was apparently some sort of libertine.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Becky had brought it up in the middle of a crowded tavern.She remembered feeling like every eye in the room must’ve been fixed on her, that everyone would be whispering about what she would be doing in the most private moment of her life.
But it was still no excuse for her to have insulted Rupert.
Something about the words niggled around in her mind.She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she had a distinct sense that there was something else about those words that she was failing to grasp…
She shook herself.This was no time to worry about that.Right now, the important thing was making amends.
Clarissa lifted her chin but couldn’t quite bring herself to look at him.“I would like to apologize.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It is,” she insisted, keeping her eyes fixed on the orangery’s wall of windows.“I was embarrassed by Becky’s remarks, especially as they regarded such an intimate topic.I was extremely innocent.I had never even been kissed…”
Clarissa trailed off, wishing she hadn’t phrased it that way.Shestillhadn’t been kissed, but it was too humiliating to admit as much at the age of five and twenty, so all she could do was soldier on.“What I really wanted was for Becky to stop discussing a very private matter in a very public setting.My true aim was to shut her up, but I went about it in the wrong way.I should have taken her to task for her inappropriate remarks and left you out of it, and I am sincerely sorry that I disparaged you.”
“It’s all right, Claire.”
