He shook his head. “You incorrectly assume, madam. It means nothing.” Jasper made to step around her.
She matched his movement. “Then why did you keep it?” she challenged. “Why if…?” Her question ended on a gasp as he pulled her close.
Jasper lowered his head, so their noses brushed. “It means nothing. Do you hear me, Katherine? Nothing.”
Most ladies would have recoiled at his icy fury. Katherine tossed her head back like a Spartan princess. “If it meant nothing you’d have returned it to me, Jasper. Or you would have left it that day at the—”
“I didn’t find your bloody reticule. Guilford did,” he cursed, and released her with such alacrity she stumbled back a step.
Katherine righted herself. Red color slapped her cheeks. “Oh.” Her gaze slid away for a moment.
And Jasper despised himself for the uncertainty he detected in her usually spirited, warm brown eyes. Because the truth of it was Guilford had rescued the item, but Jasper had retained it for reasons he didn’t, couldn’t force himself to consider.
Her eyes, they returned to his. “You needn’t push me away, Jasper,” she said softly. “I love you.”
Jasper’s body jerked. Oh, God.
This he couldn’t stand. He could not crave her love. Could not want it. She would destroy him in ways Lydia hadn’t managed to.
Taking a steadying breath, Jasper squared his shoulders. “Katherine, ours is a marriage of convenience. I’ve told you before. I loved my wife and she is dead. I’ve nothing left to offer you, and I certainly don’t want your love.”#p#分页标题#e#
Katherine blanched and her whole body jerked as if he’d struck her a physical blow. The sight of her suffering struck him worse than a lash across the back.
Wind beat hard and cruel against the glass window panes, the spirits railing at him.
Katherine gave a jerky nod. “You needn’t leave your chambers, Jasper,” she said with a shocking strength to her words. She fetched a sheet and draped it about her slender frame. “I’ll l-leave.” This time her words broke, and his gut clenched.
Katherine marched back toward the door, more regal than any queen.
He wanted to reach for her. Halt her forward movement. Beg her forgiveness.
Katherine opened the door. It closed behind her with a soft, decisive click.
And he did none of those things.
He was a bloody bastard.
~28~
Katherine studied the familiar copy of Wordsworth’s latest works she and Jasper had sparred over. She fanned the now well-read pages, swallowing past the silly lump in her throat.
She didn’t have another drop to shed for Jasper. A knock sounded at the door, jerking Katherine from her reverie. “Enter,” she called quietly.
The door opened. Aldora hovered at the entrance. Her gaze went from Katherine, and then over to the small valise at the food of Katherine’s bed.
Katherine handed the book over to the maid Mary, who’d been so good as to serve as her de facto lady’s maid.
Mary placed it in the valise and looked around. “Is that all, Your…Lady Katherine?”
The unspoken question pertained to the mound of ivory and white satin gowns heaped upon the center of her bed. Katherine never wanted to see another white gown for the remainder of her days. “I do not require anything else, Mary. Please, do with them as you would.”
Mary nodded, and bobbed a curtsy.
Aldora advanced deeper into the room.
“That will be all, Mary,” Katherine said, dismissing the young servant.
The maid dropped her gaze to the wood floor and sketched another curtsy. She hurried from the room.
“Are you certain you want to leave?” Aldora asked when the door clicked shut. “He is your husband, Katherine.”
The gentle reminder brought tears to Katherine’s eyes. She swatted at them. “Bah, silly tears,” she muttered.
Aldora handed over a handkerchief.
Katherine accepted it and blew her nose noisily into the white fabric etched in Michael’s initials. She remembered the cruel words Jasper had hurled at her last evening, made all the more cruel for the truth to them. “Ours is a marriage of convenience, Aldora. I wed him to be free of Mr. Ekstrom and he wed me for…” For reasons she still didn’t fully understand. “I’m a bother to him. He’ll be grateful for my departure.” Her heart wrenched. She loved him. Would always love him.
Aldora took her hands. “I believe he must care for you in some way.” She gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “The duke does not strike me as a gentleman to do something because he doesn’t want to. He wed you for a reason.”