Gabriel relinquished her wrist and she hurried to put distance between them. “And you lied your way into my household?” For that, she’d robbed him of his freedom, the vow he’d taken long ago, and sealed his fate. A black curse escaped him.
Jane backed up a step, tripping over herself in her haste to be free of him. “It was just to be for two months.” Now it would be forever.
He stepped around the couch and stalked toward her. “And lied to me at every turn.”
“Not all lies,” she said futilely. She continued her retreat.
He was unrelenting, advancing forward. “And you risked my sister’s reputation?” That was by far the most egregious affront. For it was Chloe’s happiness and security he’d resolved to protect.
She compressed her lips into a flat line. There was no rebuttal to that accurate charge.
By God, how indignant she’d been when he’d questioned her suitability. Lies, all of it. Then the ugly truth slipped in. “Did you intend to trap me?” he asked, coming to a stop just a handbreadth away.
She opened and closed her mouth several times. “Trap you?” Jane shook her head hard. “Egads, no.” By the horrification etched in the delicate planes of her face, the lady appeared as eager to marry him as he did her. Then she widened her eyes. “You think that is why I am here?” He bristled at the horrified, mirthless laugh to escape her lips. Those lips he’d kissed not even thirty minutes ago, and longed to kiss, even despite her deception. What a weak fool he was. “Oh, no. No. No. Not at all, my lord.”
So, he was my lord again. Unknowing why her dismissive response should chafe, he folded his arms at his chest. “Madam?” he demanded pointedly.
“I am trying to assure you I have no designs upon your title.” She gave her head an emphatic shake. “I cannot wed you.”
There it was again. Cannot. An ugly, niggling of a possibility took root and grew in his imagination. “You are married,” he said, his voice garbled. Even as her marriage would have preserved his vow and freedom, the idea of her belonging to another twisted at his insides.
“Married?” she squawked. “Me? No!” She smoothed her palms over the front of her skirts. “I am…” She hugged her arms to herself. “That is to say, I am illegitimate.” There was a slight catch in her voice and she coughed into her hand.
He stared blankly at her. “Illegitimate?” he repeated, dumbly. That was the lady’s secret? The origins of her birth?
Jane nodded. “A bastard.”
Something in the matter-fact deliverance of that harsh term grated on his nerves. Gabriel scowled. “I know the meaning of the word illegitimate, Miss Munroe.”
“Oh.” She dropped her gaze to the Aubusson carpet and made a show of studying the pale threads interwoven upon the fabric. “Yes, of course.”
Gabriel took in the forlorn sight of her. Why, she’d taken his displeasure as a sign of disparagement. Annoyance built in his belly, coupled with some other odd tightening he didn’t care to evaluate, for it hinted at a weakness for this woman, a desire to erase the hurt that stemmed from years of likely rejection.
She clasped her hands before her. “So, as you see,” she said when the silence stretched on. “There really is no need for you to offer marriage.” To me. Those two unspoken words hung on that sentence. A viselike pressure squeezed at his heart. He tried to imagine Jane Munroe going through life as an object of ridicule and rejection for circumstances that had nothing to do with her, a stigma that had followed her and forever would.
He detested the idea of her, not many years older than Chloe, and the same age as Philippa dependent upon herself, serving as a companion and governess to spoiled, unkind English ladies. “What will you do?” A resourceful woman like Jane Munroe who’d served as companion and governess, had likely put thought into what she’d do after she left. His gut tightened. At the prospect of her gone from his life. At the prospect of her alone.
An unfettered smile turned her lips. How could she smile? “Oh, you see.” Once again, he didn’t see anything in this murky world she’d thrust him into. “My father settled funds upon me. When I reach my majority, I will attain the money and then I will no longer be…” She pressed her lips into a tight line. Dependent upon others.