Who Wants to Marry a Duke - Sabrina Jeffries Page 0,86
for years. Apparently pain was the other side to love.
She had once told him that science and hearts had nothing to do with each other. And now she knew how right she’d been. Because if they had, by now someone would surely have invented a cure for heartbreak.
Chapter Seventeen
With his stomach churning, Thorn watched Olivia walk away. She couldn’t mean it, not after the way they’d made love, the dangers they’d endured together. Didn’t any of that count?
Not if she thinks this has all been an elaborate ruse to humiliate her in revenge for how she humiliated you.
Surely she understood . . .
That you’re an arse? A coward? You had all those chances to tell her, to explain, but you were too afraid about this very thing happening, to do what you should have. Because you didn’t trust her to keep your secret. Because you didn’t trust her to understand.
He ordered his conscience to shut up, and his legs to follow her. But when he went into the hall, he didn’t see her anywhere.
Right, her room was upstairs. Taking the steps two at a time, he arrived on the next floor just in time to see her go into her mother’s room. Damn, this was bad. Very bad.
Sure enough, when he walked up to the door and knocked, he got no answer. So he knocked again. On the third knock, the door swung open and Lady Norley stood there with her arm around Olivia.
“I already told you, Your Grace,” Olivia said, her face a blank slate with no sign of caring for him etched upon it. “I cannot marry you.”
Lady Norley looked grim. “We’re leaving now, sir. Thank you for your hospitality, but I must ask you to have your servants bring my carriage around. We’ll send for our things later.”
“You can’t leave now,” he said, his throat raw. “Especially not in the dead of night, when thieves prowl the roads. We don’t know for sure that the villain who hired Elias isn’t prowling around himself, especially now that Elias hasn’t reported to him. You could be in danger.” He looked at Lady Norley. “You must convince her to wait until morning at least.” And that would surely give him a chance to change her mind.
His reminder of what Elias had tried to do apparently affected Lady Norley, even if it looked as if it had done nothing to shake Olivia’s resolve, for the baroness gazed at her daughter with earnest concern. “My dear, perhaps we should wait until dawn. The roads can be very dark at night.”
“You brought two of our footmen as usual, didn’t you, Mama?” Olivia said. “That should be sufficient.”
“Are they armed?” Thorn asked. “Because they won’t be much use if they’re not.”
Her gaze locked with his. “We’re leaving, and that’s final. It’s a full moon, and the route to London is one taken by the mail coaches, so there will be plenty of traffic even at night.”
He bit back a vile oath. “Very well. Then I will send two of my footmen with you, too, and they will be armed.” When Olivia looked as if she might protest, he added, “That isn’t open for discussion.”
“As usual,” she muttered.
Her mother was more gracious. “Thank you, Your Grace. That is very kind of you.”
The next hour was spent in making the arrangements for travel, but though he tried to speak to Olivia again, her mother kept him at bay. Lady Norley even said once, “Give her time.”
He wondered if Olivia had managed to tell her that she was Lady Grasping in the plays. Because somehow he didn’t think she’d be looking on him quite so kindly if she knew.
Bloody hell, what a mess. He knew how to put an end to this madness. Tell Olivia he loved her. But he’d be damned if he buckled under to her demands. He wasn’t in love, and he wasn’t going to claim otherwise. Why should he? He’d already begged her forgiveness.
That gave him pause. He had, hadn’t he?
Well, he knew for sure he’d said he was sorry. That was the same thing as begging her forgiveness.
It damned well is not.
“Shut up,” he said to his conscience.
“Are you talking to yourself again?”
He turned to find Gwyn now awake. “Always.”
Gwyn was draped in a wrapper that didn’t hide her pregnancy as well as her gowns had been doing. She had a decided bump in her belly area.
Seeing it had an odd effect on him, reminding him that without Olivia, he might never