Page 66 of His Runaway Duchess

“Daphne, what are you doing out here at this hour? Why aren’t you at breakfast?”

“This is my house, too, now,” she puffed. “I saw you, and I wanted to talk.”

He sighed. “And why did you want to talk to me, Daphne? If you wish to discuss the events of last night?—”

“And what else do you think I’d want to discuss?” she snapped. “I truly cannot make you out, Edward. One moment you act as if you cannot control yourself around me, the next you act as though you cannot stand me.”

He gave a huff of annoyance. “I do not ever act as though I cannot stand you. That is unfair, Daphne. Have I ever been cruel or given you real grounds to resent me? I have tried my best to oblige you where I can.”

She bit her lower lip. It was true, he hadn’t exactly beencruel, although it was rapidly getting tiresome to try and work out his true motivations. The desire she’d seen in his eyes had been real, but then it seemed to vanish as soon as she reached out to touch him back.

Am I doing something wrong?

Daphne felt a flicker of unease. She’d considered this before, of course. She’d never been intimate with a man, naturally, and there might be unspoken rules she was ignoring.

In short, there might be a number of things she was doing wrong while remaining blissfully unaware of her mistakes. Should she have insisted on Edward taking his pleasure, too? He hadn’t seemed inclined to do so—or so she’d thought. Surely he would know that she had no experience at all in such matters.

Stop it.If I am doing something wrong, then I cannot possibly think what it might be. It is up to him to tell me.

“You are not cruel,” she said.

Edward shot her a quick, sideways glance but said nothing. The path widened, and at least Daphne could walk alongside him, instead of scurrying behind.

“I’m sorry if I made you think so,” she added. “But really, you cannot blame me for being confused.”

He sighed. “No, I suppose I cannot.”

“Did you think any more about what I said? About…” She paused, swallowing and praying that she would not blush too intensely. “About last night.”

A muscle tensed in his jaw. “Regarding which aspect?”

“I want a connection, a proper marriage, at least in some respects. I wanted to renegotiate our rules.”

He didn’t look at her, and Daphne guessed that he could remember all too well. He trudged on for a moment in silence, his jaw set.

“No,” he said, at last.

Daphne waited for more, but that was it. That was all he had to say. Justno.

A flicker of anger surged up inside her. How dare he? How dare he dismiss her feelings and her carefully worded requests? She wasn’t being too demanding, nor was she suggesting they entirely scrap the previously agreed-upon rules. She would still not interfere in Alex’s upbringing and would keep her interference in Edward’s life to a minimum.

Why must he keep me at a distance? And, if he must stay away from me, why can’t he beconsistentabout it?

“Why not?” she burst out before she could stop herself.

Edward sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. For the first time, she noticed how tired he looked. He was pale, with circular purplish smudges under his eyes.

“I’m afraid it’s a question of practicality,” he said, shrugging. “It’s to keep you safe. I can’t alter my conditions—they’re there to protect you.”

“Ha!” Daphne burst out, louder than she’d intended.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, clearly annoyed. “What is so very amusing?”

She hurried ahead of him, turning so that she blocked his path, forcing him to look at her.

“I haven’t the faintest clue what you want from me,” she said, looking him dead in the eye. “And frankly, I don’t believe that you do, either. I am entirely fed up with you. You say theseconditionsare for my protection. Well, it’s quite apparent to me that these conditions are not for me, not one bit. They are there to protectyou.”

He blanched, opening his mouth to speak.

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