She stood still, utterly and completely still save for the rise and fall of her chest. Her hands were fists at her sides, and her face was growing redder and redder.
“Don’t you ever,” she finally said, her voice low and clipped and terribly controlled, “speak to me in that tone of voice again. And don’t you ever presume to know my mind.”
“Don’t worry, it’s a claim I’m seldom likely to make.”
Hyacinth swallowed-her only show of nerves before saying, “I want you to leave.”
“Not until I have your promise.”
“I don’t owe you anything, Mr. St. Clair. And you certainly are not in a position to make demands.”
“Your promise,” he repeated.
Hyacinth just stared at him. How dare he come in here and try to make this about her? She was the injured party. He was the one who-He-
Good God, she couldn’t even think in full sentences.
“I want you to leave,” she said again.
His reply came practically on top of her last syllable. “And I want your promise.”
She clamped her mouth shut. It would have been an easy promise to make; she certainly didn’t plan on any more middle-of-the-night jaunts. But a promise would have been akin to an apology, and she would not give him that satisfaction.
Call her foolish, call her juvenile, but she would not do it. Not after what he’d done to her.
“Good God,” he muttered, “you’re stubborn.”
She gave him a sickly smile. “It is going to be a joy to be married to me.”
“Hyacinth,” he said, or rather, half sighed. “In the name of all that is-” He raked his hand through his hair, and he seemed to look all around the room before finally turning back to her. “I understand that you’re angry…”
“Do not speak to me as if I were a child.”
“I wasn’t.”
She looked at him coolly. “You were.”
He gritted his teeth together and continued. “What my father said about Mary Winthrop…”
Her mouth fell open. “Is that what you think this is about?”
He stared at her, blinking twice before saying, “Isn’t it?”
“Of course not,” she sputtered. “Good heavens, do you take me for a fool?”
“I…er…no?”
“I hope I know you well enough to know that you would not offer marriage to two women. At least not purposefully.”
“Right,” he said, looking a little confused. “Then what-”
“Do you know why you asked me to marry you?” she demanded.
“What the devil are you talking about?”
“Do you know?” she repeated. She’d asked him once before, and he had not answered.
“Of course I know. It’s because-” But he cut himself off, and he obviously didn’t know what to say.
She shook her head, blinking back tears. “I don’t want to see you right now.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“There is nothing wrong with me,” she cried out, as loudly as she dared. “I at least know why I accepted your proposal. But you-You have no idea why you rendered it.”
“Then tell me,” he burst out. “Tell me what it is you think is so damned important. You always seem to know what is best for everything and everyone, and now you clearly know everyone’s mind as well. So tell me. Tell me, Hyacinth-”
She flinched from the venom in his voice.
“-tell me.”
She swallowed. She would not back down. She might be shaking, she might be as close to tears as she had ever been in her life, but she would not back down. “You did this,” she said, her voice low, to keep the tremors at bay, “you asked me…because of him.”
He just stared at her, making a please elaborate motion with his head.
“Your father.” She would have yelled it, if it hadn’t been the middle of the night.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” he swore. “Is that what you think? This has nothing to do with him.”
Hyacinth gave him a pitying look.
“I don’t do anything because of him,” Gareth hissed, furious that she would even suggest it. “He means nothing to me.”
She shook her head. “You are deluding yourself, Gareth. Everything you do, you do because of him. I didn’t realize it until he said it, but it’s true.”
“You’d take his word over mine?”
“This isn’t about someone’s word,” she said, sounding tired, and frustrated, and maybe just a little bit bleak. “It’s just about the way things are. And you…you asked me to marry you because you wanted to show him you could. It had nothing to do with me.”
Gareth held himself very still. “That is not true.”
“Isn’t it?” She smiled, but her face looked sad, almost resigned. “I know that you wouldn’t ask me to marry you if you believed yourself promised to another woman, but I also know that you would do anything to show up your father. Including marrying me.”
Gareth gave his head a slow shake. “You have it all wrong,” he said, but inside, his certitude was beginning to slip. He had thought, more than once and with an unbecoming gleefulness, that his father must be livid over Gareth’s marital success. And he’d enjoyed it. He’d enjoyed knowing that in the chess game that was his relationship with Lord St. Clair, he had finally delivered the killing move.
Checkmate.
It had been exquisite.
But it wasn’t why he had asked Hyacinth to marry him. He’d asked her because-Well, there had been a hundred different reasons. It had been complicated.
He liked her. Wasn’t that important? He even liked her family. And she liked his grandmother. He couldn’t possibly marry a woman who couldn’t deal well with Lady Danbury.
And he’d wanted her. He’d wanted her with an intensity that had taken his breath away.
It had made sense to marry Hyacinth. It still made sense.
That was it. That was what he needed to articulate. He just needed to make her understand. And she would. She was no foolish girl. She was Hyacinth.
It was why he liked her so well.
He opened his mouth, motioning with his hand before any words actually emerged. He had to get this right. Or if not right, then at least not completely wrong. “If you look at this sensibly,” he began.
“I am looking at it sensibly,” she shot back, cutting him off before he could complete the thought. “Good heavens, if I weren’t so bloody sensible, I would have cried off.” Her jaw went rigid, and she swallowed.
And he thought to himself-My God, she’s going to cry.
“I knew what I was doing earlier this evening,” she said, her voice painfully quiet. “I knew what it meant, and I knew that it was irrevocable.” Her lower lip quivered, and she looked away as she said, “I just never expected to regret it.”
It was like a punch to the gut. He’d hurt her. He’d really hurt her. He hadn’t meant to, and he wasn’t certain that she wasn’t overreacting, but he’d hurt her.
And he was stunned to realize how much that hurt him.
For a moment they did nothing, just stood there, warily watching the other.
Gareth wanted to say something, thought perhaps that he should say something, but he had no idea. The words just weren’t there.
“Do you know how it feels to be someone’s pawn?” Hyacinth asked.
“Yes,” he whispered.
The corners of her mouth tightened. She didn’t look angry, just…sad. “Then you will understand why I’m asking you to leave.”
There was something primal within him that cried out to stay, something primitive that wanted to grab her and make her understand. He could use his words or he could use his body. It didn’t really matter. He just wanted to make her understand.