Page 90 of The Duke's Unclaimed Bride
She grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her. His muscles flexed under her grip.
“Don’t you dare turn your back on me right now, Laurence!” she hissed.
“Let me go.”
“No!” she shouted. “You don’t get to turn your back on me right now!”
“She should never have been dragged into this world,” Laurence growled softly.
“So, the workhouse was better?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It was what you implied,” Edith snapped.
“I do not wish to argue with you.”
“What else could you possibly want at this moment? You shouted at Tilly, made her cry, and you don’t think that will affect me?”
“I knew it would affect you,” he replied. “But I do not want to argue about it. I want us to talk, like civilized adults.”
His tone put her teeth on edge. He had been cold before, but he was rarely condescending.
“Fine, let us talk,” she said, releasing her hold on him.
“Yes.” He pulled his arm away from her. “I caused you quite a problem tonight.”
“That was Lord Hargrove’s fault,” Edith said. “And it doesn’t explain?—”
“I lost my temper with him, and then with Tilly. She came into my study, refused to leave, and I became angry with her,” he spoke over her.
“Tilly should not have been the focus of your ire,” Edith said.
“If she will not listen to me?—”
“You aren’t angry at Tilly,” she interrupted him.
“What?”
“You’re angry at yourself that you lost control in the midst of an important event.”
Laurence scowled at her.
“But you can’t take that out on a child?—”
His bitter laugh interrupted her. “You’re wrong.”
“What?”
“Iamangry at her,” he said.
Edith looked at him, eyes wide with confusion and shock. She swallowed hard, taking in his features, trying to understand what he was saying.
“Why?”
“She came into my study,” he replied. “I told her to leave. She ignored me.”
“Laurence—”
