A Lady Never Tells(36)
“Don’t worry your head over marrying us off, either one of you,” she announced. “My sisters and I will leave your house tomorrow, and you won’t have any ‘problem’ to deal with.”
Chapter 8
For a moment, the three men sat stunned, gaping at her. Oliver recovered first. He rose to his feet, all dignity even in his shirtsleeves and with his cravat loosened, a glass of liquor in his hand.
“Don’t be absurd. I told you I accepted you and your sisters as my responsibility. There is no need—”
“We were looking for our family,” Mary cut in, her words like acid. “Not someone to take on a ‘responsibility.’”
Her eyes burned through him. She pivoted, sending that same red-hot gaze searing into Royce. “We certainly were not asking anyone to sacrifice himself in marriage.”
Mary whirled and strode out of the room, leaving the men staring after her. Fury drove her, hot and consuming. Clearly, it was true that one never heard good about oneself by eavesdropping. Mary’s cheeks burned with humiliation. The way Royce had rejected her! The words he had used to describe her! It was too much to bear.
“Mary!” Sir Royce’s voice echoed down the hallway, and there was the sound of running footsteps. “Mary, wait!”
Mary walked faster. She was at the foot of the stairs when he caught up with her.
“Mary! Blast it, stop!” Royce grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. “Don’t run off like this. Listen to me.”
“I have heard enough from you. I don’t need to hear any more.”
“You mustn’t act hastily,” he told her, his handsome face so earnest it hurt her to look at him. “Oliver is not a hard man or unkind. I am sure he doesn’t think of you as ‘problems.’ He was simply blindsided. He doesn’t know what to do with young girls.”
“Don’t you mean he doesn’t know what to do with ‘half-civilized hoydens of questionable origins’?”
Royce flushed, and his jaw tightened. He dropped his hand from her arm. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to speak so harshly. I—it’s just Oliver. He’s bloody infuriating, the way he tries to control everyone around him. Always playing the big brother. I was irritated at Oliver, and I didn’t mean—I wouldn’t want you to think—”
Mary crossed her arms over her chest as he fumbled to a halt. She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What? What would you not want me to think? The truth?”
“No! It wasn’t the truth! I don’t believe that.”
“Don’t you? What exactly did you say that you didn’t mean? Do you not think I am a hoyden?”
“No, not a hoyden,” he demurred, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips. “Perhaps more of a romp.”
Mary let out an inelegant snort. “Perhaps it’s the ‘half-civilized’ part you didn’t mean. Is that it?”
“Mary …” He shifted uncomfortably.
“Then maybe it’s the part about not wanting to marry one of us that you didn’t mean. You do intend to ask for my hand. Is that it?”#p#分页标题#e#
“No,” he snapped back. “I bloody well don’t.”
“That’s fortunate, since I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth!”
Mary whipped around and ran up the stairs. Sir Royce started after her, but stopped on the second stair. His jaw clenched as he stood there for a long moment, scowling. He stepped back down into the hall and glanced toward the dining room, where Oliver and Fitz stood in the doorway, watching him. With a grimace, Royce turned and stormed out the front door.
“Well.” Fitz turned toward his half brother. “That certainly went well.”
The earl sighed. “I hope this is not an indication of what my future evenings will be like.”
“From what I have seen, I fear that your life of quiet order is finished—unless, of course, you can find someone on whom you can foist our American cousins.”
“Would that I could.” Oliver walked back to his seat. “But who? None of the aunts would take them, and even if they would, I couldn’t be so cruel to those poor girls—or even to Aunt Euphronia—as to throw them together.”
“Mmm. I fear there might be murder done.”
“Probably mine,” the earl retorted dryly.
“Of course, Miss Bascombe could do as she threatened and walk out of here with her sisters. Then all your problems would be solved.” Fitz dropped into his seat, stretching his long legs out in front of him.
Oliver grimaced. “I suspect a cooler head will prevail on the morrow. She must know the prospects that await her if they leave my protection. If she does not, I will point them out. I cannot allow our cousins to roam the streets of London, penniless.”