Page 77 of A Marquess to Save Her
Louise felt defeated.Could Catherine possibly be telling the truth?"That is a lie," Louise insisted, "I do not believe you."
"Oh, poor Louise," Catherine said, "I am surprised that you had no idea. Did you really think that Callum, who is from a reputable family would ever court a lady like you?"
"You are simply lying, Catherine," Louise insisted, "I do not know who told you this lie but they are just as dishonest as you are."
She told herself that there was no way Catherine was being truthful.
"Is that so?" Catherine asked, "Well, you might be interested to know that it was Callum himself that told me about his deal with Felington to court you."How dare Callum?
All the anger that Louise had been feeling all evening rose to the surface as she came to the realization that everything she thought she had with Callum was nothing but a sham.
While she could overlook the fact that she could never be married to Callum because he had sworn off marriage, she could never forgive the fact that Callum had only gotten close to her as a deal to his friend. And yet, he had deceived her into believing that he cared about her.
Louise could not believe that she had fallen for it. She could imagine Felington and Callum laughing behind her whenever Callum gave him report of their escapades and the thought of it aggravated her to no end.
"Emily took the Earl from you and now, I will be taking Lord Langton from you," Catherine continued to rub it in, "oh wait, Lord Langton was never yours to begin with anyway."
She cackled annoyingly. Louise shook her head at Catherine's incredulousness. "Catherine, whatever have I done to you to make you hate me so?" Louise asked.
"Hmm, let me think about it," Catherine said, patting her finger on her chin as though he were in deep thought, "maybe because you always act like you are better than everyone else when you really are not," Catherine continued, "and I am just happy that you are going to remain an old unmarried lady forever."
Louise felt the anger rise in her yet again and she itched to hurt Catherine just as much as her words hurt her. She, however, took several breaths to stabilize herself.
She knew that Catherine was simply trying to goad her into acting out of character and she did not want to give her that satisfaction.
"Have you ever wondered if the reason you feel like I act like I am better than everyone else is because you think so lowly of yourself?" Louise asked, "Anyway, my anger is not directed at your tonight."
With that, she turned on her heels and walked away.
"Walk away, you coward," Catherine called behind her.
Without even sparing a glance behind her, Louise walked out of the ballroom, in search of Callum.
When she finally got to his study, she did not bother knocking as she opened the door, angrily.
There Callum was on his chair, looking like the magnificent specimen of a man that he was.
This time, however, Louise was not fazed by his exquisite looks or his deliciously arrogant demeanor.
"I was wondering when I would see you as I have been waiting for quite some time," Callum said.
Louise approached him, not saying a word.
"Oh, you do not look happy, Louise. What is the matter?" He asked.
"Why don't you tell me, Callum?" Louise asked, she said standing close to his chair and looking down at him with a murderous look on his face.
Callum chuckled. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Louise," he said.
"Let me remind you, then. Why did you not tell me that your pretending to court me was, in fact, a sham?" she asked.
"What!" Callum looked genuinely surprised, "But we both agreed that I would pretend to court you in order for you to appear attractive to suitors. Have you forgotten?"
"Of course, I am not talking about that," Louise said, in frustration.
"Then what are you talking about?" Callum asked.
"The fact that you only got close to me because Felington had asked you to court me in order to distract me from disrupting his engagement with Emily. I suppose you understand what I am talking about now," she said.
