Page 77 of Her Lion of a Duke
“Then the matter is settled. If you cannot do this for our marriage, then I wonder what sort of marriage we have.”
“Anarrangement,” she reminded him. “I will remind you that, had you told me of your investigation sooner, I would have told you the truth before this went too far. We did not have to marry, you know.”
“How many things should I have asked you beforehand? How could I have possibly known to ask you?”
“The same way you knew not to tell me about it,” she replied. “All you had to do was ask, but you did not. You kept something from me, as did I. We have both had our secrets, and yet you are willing to destroy our marriage because of mine.”
“You are doing it again! You are acting as though we made the same mistakes, but they could not be more different. I have visions, but they do not affect you. They are something for me to handle on my own, as I always have.”
“And my work is the same.”
“Was it only work?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Of course it was. I do not know what you are accusing me of, but I refuse to be spoken to this way.”
He gave her a knowing look, and she wondered what he knew that he had not yet told her.
“So, if I were to tell you that I was the one who discarded my brother’s belongings, you would not think anything of it?”
Cecilia immediately realized what he was referring to. She bristled, the hairs on her arm standing on end.
“You saw the letters,” she whispered.
“Indeed, I did. Would you care to tell me why you were corresponding with my brother?”
“Did I not have the right to?”
“You were my friend. Henry could have anyone he wanted, and you know that what I appreciated about you was that you liked me more.”
“Writing to him does not change that! I always liked you more than him.”
“Then why did you write to him in secret? I never opened the letters because I had not thought anything of them at the time, but now I am remembering that moment and wondering just what the two of you were discussing when you thought that I would never know.”
“You will not believe me, but it was nothing.”
“You are right. I do not believe you.”
“I can tell you more if you wish, but it is of no interest to you.”
“It most certainly is. My wife sending letters to my brother without either of them telling me is ofgreatinterest to me.”
“I was not your wife. I was Felix Gray.”
“I will not hear that.”
“But it is true. I never spoke to Henry as Cecilia, but I will not pretend that he did not vex me. He acted as though he were the most incredible man, when it was only because of his title that anyone thought anything of him. What you saw was a dispute between the two of us, written shortly before he died. I was not corresponding with him or anything of the sort. I wrote to him to warn him that if he continued as he was, he would find himself in danger.”
“A threat?”
“A warning. It was only a matter of time before he said the wrong thing to the wrong person, as was proven. I wanted to make sure that nothing bad happened to him, but he did not want to listen. I told him not to act the way he did, that he was not above anyone else, but he always thought that he was right. He believed in his actions until the day he died.”
“It was none of your business.”
“He was the brother of my friend. Not only that, but he was supposed to take a wife one day. I was not going to let him find a lady and mistreat her simply because he thought he could. You may not be willing to admit it, but you would have wanted the very same thing.”
“Wanting and doing are two very different things.”
“Alright, you wanted it, and I did it. It is no fault of mine that I take what I want, while you do not. You only have yourself to blame for your life, as it is a reflection of the choices you made. You may want me to apologize, but I cannot. I cannot honestly tell you that I am sorry for what happened, because I am proud of myself for it.”
