“I’m sure she’s pleased.” James took a sip of brandy as he watched his cousin. Despite his cheerful words, Graeme was frowning slightly, his gaze on his hand as he turned his glass around aimlessly. James waited a moment, then said, “For pity’s sake, Graeme, out with it.”
“What?” Graeme turned toward him, feigning confusion. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re the one who suggested we have a drink away from the party, and I doubt you were intent on complimenting my mother’s party. You’ve something on your mind. Say it and have done with it. I promised Laura another waltz.”
“Well, um, actually, it’s about Laura.”
“What about Laura?” James frowned.
“Nothing, really.” Graeme set down his drink. “It’s just . . . I wanted to ask you to . . . please be careful.”
James’s eyebrows soared. “What the devil are you on about? What do you mean, be careful? Of what? Who?”
“I would hate for Laura to be hurt.”
That brought James upright from his casual pose. His tone as icy as his eyes, he said, “I beg your pardon. Are you suggesting that I would harm Laura?”
“No, of course not,” Graeme replied hastily. “I know you would never try to hurt her.”
“So it’s just that I am likely to do so without trying? Is that it? That I am so unfeeling, so boorish, I will mangle her and never even notice?”
Graeme stared. “No, of course not. Good Lord, James. Calm down.”
“I am perfectly calm. Dead calm. Despite what you and others might think, I don’t delight in kicking puppies and pulling the wings off flies. I have no interest in making Laura unhappy. I cannot change the fact that we are married. I didn’t set out to tie her to me irrevocably, to force her to spend her life with me. But—”
“Bloody hell, would you stop putting words in my mouth?” Graeme snapped back. “I never said any of that. I know you married her with the best of intentions.”
“It is just the result that makes her unhappy.” The rush of anger drained out of James as quickly as it had come, leaving him empty and faintly sick. He set his mouth grimly. “Did she come to cry on your shoulder? What is it Laura wants? She could have told me herself.”
“No! Good Lord, James, why would you assume that? You misunderstand. Laura has said nothing to me. She’s not unhappy about your marriage. Not at all. It’s just the opposite; she seems very happy. Giddy, almost.”
Relief flooded James. “Then what the devil are you talking about?”
Graeme sighed. “James, you know I want the best of everything for you. I’m glad you married Laura. My sincerest hope is that you find the same sort of happiness Abby and I have. But I worry a bit because Laura is the sort of woman who puts her whole heart into everything she does. I hope you won’t, um . . .”
“Break her heart,” James said flatly.
“Exactly.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“You’re right. But I’m fond of Laura.”
“I am rather fond of her myself, as it happens,” James said drily.
“It’s obvious you are. But I know how you feel, what you think about love. And I know the . . . the sort of relationships to which you are accustomed.”
“You think I’m going to treat her like a mistress? That I’ll toss her aside one day with a note and a bauble?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not at all. Laura is my wife—and, I must point out, not yours.”
“James!” Graeme’s face flooded with red.
“I don’t need you telling me Laura’s too good for me. I already know that. I realize she will never have what she wants, what she deserves, in a husband.” James swung away. “And sooner or later she will realize it, too. But I can hardly stop her from doing that.”
He downed the rest of his drink and slapped the glass onto his desk. When he turned back, his temper more firmly in control, he found Graeme staring at him, stunned.
“You love her, don’t you?” Graeme said in awe.
“Don’t be absurd,” James scoffed.
“I’m not. You have fallen utterly, madly in love with Laura.” His cousin began to grin.
“Come, Graeme, you know me better than that.”
“I do know you. And I have never seen you act like this over any woman.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not acting any way.”
“No, not at all.” Graeme’s eyes danced. “You aren’t jealous or anxious or angry at me.”