sense.”
“Perhaps you were afraid I wouldn’t wed you if I knew he’d murdered my stepfather.” When she bristled at that, he went on hastily, “But I stole your innocence, so I will marry you, as I promised.”
That inflamed her. “So marriage to me would be like taking your medicine. How flattering.”
He winced. “That’s not what I meant.”
“You must have a really low opinion of my character if you think I’d lie about my brother’s alibi just to make sure you wed me.” She planted her hands on her hips. “But I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Your aunt tried to trap you into marriage, and your mother gave you away to your uncle who seems to have treated you badly. You’re cynical about families in general. You think they all want something from you. And perhaps some do. But some are just muddling through. Like your mother. She did her best, yet you blame her.”
“What do you know about it?” he growled.
“I talked to her at length yesterday. She wishes she could have handled matters differently, but she was trapped by your father’s will. Your resentment of her wounds her deeply.”
His face closed up. “I don’t want to talk about my mother.”
“You don’t want to talk about anything—your feelings about being sent away . . . what happened between you and your uncle. How can you even think to marry me when you keep everything important to you hidden from me?”
Aware of Joshua watching through the window, she lowered her voice. “For that matter, how can you marry me when you believe I’d lie about my brother to secure you? How would you feel if I accused you of covering up some crime of Sheridan’s? You certainly didn’t like it when my brother accused your mother of murder. But then, only dukes are honorable and just, right? The rest of us are merely trying to get what we can.”
“I was only saying—”
“That you don’t trust my judgment or my character.” Her breath caught in her throat. “Well, I can’t wed a man who won’t trust me. Who clearly doesn’t know me at all.”
“Now see here, are you refusing my offer of marriage?” he asked, clearly unable to take that in.
“I know you think that’s unfathomable, but yes, I am.” She held her head high. “Good day, Your Grace.”
Then turning on her heel, she stalked back into the house, her heart breaking a little more with each step.
“Bloody arse,” she mumbled under her breath as she entered. “Insolent devil thinks he’s God’s gift to women. I’ll show him and his brother they can’t mess with us. I will damned well—”
“That’s quite a mouth for a duke’s granddaughter,” Joshua drawled. “He certainly got on your bad side.”
She glowered at him. “Shut up. Because of you, I turned down an offer of marriage from the man I love. So I am not in the mood for your nonsense.”
And leaving him gaping after her, she hurried up the stairs. She wasn’t going to shed a single tear for that arse. She was not.
But as she reached the top, she felt the tears burning her throat and knew that once again Grey was going to make her cry.
Damn his soul to hell.
Grey stood staring after her, feeling as if he’d been bludgeoned. What the devil? She’d refused him? It was the first time in his life he’d ever proposed to a woman, and she’d turned him down.
He’d ruined her, for God’s sake! She couldn’t refuse him. It was madness.
Wolfe appeared in the doorway only long enough to slam the door shut. And that was that.
The hell it was. Grey scowled. Her every word had pierced him, especially the ones about his not trusting her. The woman certainly knew how to give a man what for. Even when he didn’t deserve it. He’d done the honorable thing, behaved like a gentleman.
So marriage to me would be like taking your medicine. How flattering.
All right, so perhaps not quite like a gentleman. Still, he was a duke! She’d be daft to turn him down.
Then again, Beatrice was a little daft. She preferred long walks in the woods to dancing a minuet. Like him, come to think of it. She disliked pretension and lies. Like him. She was perfect for him in every way. And all she asked was that he let her look inside his very soul.
He should let her. It meant nothing, right?
It meant everything. It meant sharing his secrets with her, taking hers on faith, trusting