Page 79 of In Want of a Wife
“This is a damn horrible idea because we are less than two minutes out from me having to introduce you to my brother, and I don’t wish to leave you.”
“Then don’t. We can tell your brother. I can be honest. There is time. We don’t have to go through with this. I don’t wish to go through with this. Rafe, I don’t want to marry Henry.”
“It’s too late.”
That sounded far too final, and far too easy of an answer for that to be true. “What will he do?”
“What will he do if you tell him you won’t marry him?”
First frustration, then anger, and now it was something much deeper within her that emerged. Some sacred feminine rage. Women were never allowed the opportunity to show anger, but she was about to throw her entire life away as she sat across from a man who possessed her heart. And he had no clue.
“Yes, what will he do? Is he so much a villain that he will force me to marry him? I doubt he will want me after?—”
“Don’t.” Rafe held out his hand in warning.
The carriage rattled to a stop in front of a lumbering Jacobean structure. Patches of ivy clung to the orange-red brick. Small, leaded panes of glass dotted the front of the house. It was not the most welcoming home she had ever seen, but the setting was beautiful.
“We are not done discussing this,” she said, peeking over her shoulder at him before turning once more to study Cliffstone.
“We have to be. This is goodbye, Lily. But first, I must tell?—”
One of the two towering oak doors opened, revealing a giant of a man. He glared down his long Roman nose at the carriage, dark eyes burning full of fire. His dark hair was brushed back. He crossed his arms, filling up the doorway as if he were dragging Lily through the gates of hell.
This man was to be her husband?
“Bloody hell.” Rafe reached around Lily and opened the carriage door. “He’s not half so bad. Don’t let the menacing death stare deter you.”
“That is hardly reassuring.” She ignored his outstretched hand as she stepped out of the carriage. If this was truly goodbye, if he was truly meaning to leave her alone with Hades, if he did not care enough… then he did not deserve her touch.
No matter how badly she needed him at that moment.
“You must tell me what?” she whispered to him.
Instead of answering, something flashed in his eyes before Rafe walked around her. “Good afternoon, Brother.” He climbed up the side of the carriage and helped the driver, even as a young man raced out of the house to help with the luggage.
“Where have you been now, Rafe?”
Lily swallowed, remaining still in the drive with her hands clasped in front of her.
Rafe snapped at the young man, grabbing back a bag and stumbling a step. “I’ve come with good news. Don’t fret.”
Henry did not waver. Lily thought he hadn’t so much as blinked.
“I have arrived with your wife.”
At that, Henry did move. He dropped his hands and clenched them at his side. “Explain.”
“Let me introduce to you, Miss Lily Abrams, lately of Cumbria.”
Lily glanced at Rafe, then moved forward and curtsied, “My lord. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Rage filled the unbreakable features of Henry’s face as he turned toward his brother. “I am not in need of a wife. We have discussed this, and I was led to believe this foolishness was behind us.”
Lily suddenly felt sick. She attempted to keep her composure as the pea stone beneath her slippers rocked. She was arriving with the expectation that Henry knew of this plan.
But he did not.
And Rafe had lied to her. First, he had compromised her, then played off her request to call off the wedding to Henry.
