Christine Merrill – The Brooding Duke Of Danforth (страница 11)

‘Nowhere nearly as interesting as this,’ she said, smiling. ‘I have spoken to Miss Prescott.’

He passed an exasperated hand over his face. ‘Did she speak to you in return?’

‘A little,’ Lenore said, obviously quite pleased with herself. ‘She is consumed with jealousy over our relationship.’

‘We do not have a relationship,’ he reminded her.

‘That is what I told her. When you offered for her, you should have told her the same,’ Lenore said, shaking her head.

‘Polite young ladies should not be listening to gossip, much less believing it.’ It sounded like the sort of judgmental nonsense her parents would have told her, had she objected to the match. ‘I meant to explain,’ he said. ‘But I thought there would be more time.’ Instead, he had lied to himself and said nothing at all to her.

‘After her reaction to me last night, it should have been clear to you that some action was necessary,’ she said, obviously exasperated.

‘I spoke to her about it,’ he admitted, wishing that the conversation could end there so that he did not have to admit what a fool he had been.

But now Lenore was staring at him as if she was surprised that he had not told her every last detail of the exchange immediately after it had happened. ‘I offered her the use of my carriage to depart and she declined. I reminded her that you are an honoured guest here and cautioned her to refrain from further ill-mannered behaviour towards you, then we parted company.’

‘After three months of silence, that was all you could manage?’ Lenore’s mouth gaped with an incredulous smile. ‘To tell her she was rude and that you wished her to go away?’

‘I was angry.’ He had told himself that, because he was not shouting, he was in complete control of his temper. But a half day later, his suggestion that she go sounded both cruel and petulant.

‘That would be a surprise to her. She still thinks you care nothing at all about her,’ Lenore said, rolling her eyes.

‘I am not very good at being angry,’ he admitted. It made him feel even more foolish than the attempt had been.

‘Considering the lessons you had from your father, you should be a master of invective,’ she replied. ‘Did you at least learn why she broke from you?’

‘It was clear from our conversation that she had expected a level of intimacy in our early associations that I would not have been comfortable with.’

Lenore laughed. ‘Even if you have become a monk without telling me, I doubt you have forgotten your previous sins. What could a young lady of good character possibly desire that you have not already experienced and enjoyed?’

‘And you are clearly no nun, that your mind immediately turns towards such ideas,’ he replied. ‘She complained that I did not talk to her. She feared that the lack of communication between us during our betrothal was proof that the impending union would fail.’

‘She noticed that it would be easier to pull your teeth than to get conversation out of you?’ Lenore replied.

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