Page 18 of Charming Sir Charles
“Not a bit of it.” He frowned. “Do you want to marry me?”
“No. You’re too old for me.”
Despite everything, a huff of amusement escaped him. “Well, that puts me in my place.”
“I beg your pardon.” Meg’s blush was visible, even in the candlelight. “That was rude.”
“But true.” Then the full significance of what Meg had told him deflated all humor. “Sallythinks I want to marry you?”
Damn, damn, damn.
Hurt, frustration, and confusion crashed into one another and left him reeling. Don’t say he and Sally had been at cross purposes from the beginning. Was this why she didn’t respond to his overtures, because she’d consigned him to her charming, but completely incompatible niece?
The idea beggared belief. Surely she knew him better than this. But when he looked at Meg’s face, he saw no hint of teasing. Furious disappointment rammed his gut and left him winded.
Meg nodded. “She thinks that’s why you’ve been so attentive.”
“Dash it, I’ve been so attentive because –” He stopped, unsure how much he wanted to reveal to this self-assured chit.
“Because you’re in love with Aunt Sally.”
“Meg…”
She sent him a sharp look. “Are you going to deny it?”
“Not at all.” Feeling as if he’d entered a world where nothing made sense, he crossed to slump into one of the gilt armchairs set opposite the Caravaggio.
“Good.” Meg followed him and took the chair beside his.
He hardly knew how to respond. As he examined the unpalatable truth, his stomach churned with angry disbelief. “So that’s why she’s been so nice to me.”
“Don’t be a blockhead, Sir Charles. She likes you.”
“As a husband for her niece.” His voice emerged as a growl. He raised his head and studied Meg. “She doesn’t see me as her suitor at all, does she?”
Meg’s expression made her look much wiser than her eighteen years warranted. “Don’t be angry with her.”
“I’m not.” Which was a blatant lie. At the moment, he burned to corner Sally and insist that she came to her senses.
“Yes, you are, and I don’t blame you. But it’s not her fault. I want you to see that.”
“How the devil can I see that?”
Meg sighed. “Because I’m going to break a few confidences and tell you things you couldn’t know.”
He frowned, as curiosity set a brake on his rising temper. “Are you sure?”
“Do you really love her?”
“With every beat of my heart.”
“And you want to marry her?”
Despite the moment’s seriousness, his lips twisted into a wry smile. “Do you have the right to ask me that?”
Meg shrugged. “She has nobody else to look after her.”
“What about your father?”
