She stopped where she stood, but she didn’t turn back toward him.
“Madeleine.” He closed the distance between them, reached out, and took her hand.
She stiffened.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “I thought things were going so well between the two of us. We had a good time at Growerton, didn’t we?” He hesitated. “I did.”
“No, I did, too,” she said. “I had a lovely time. I don’t mean to make you think otherwise.”
“But I’m not imagining you’ve been avoiding me since then.”
She looked away from him.
“Be honest with me, Madeleine. You owe me that much. I’ll never demand anything else from you, but you have to be honest with me.”
She sighed and nodded. “All right,” she said. “Yes. I’ve been avoiding you.”
“Why? Did I do something to offend you?”
“No, of course you didn’t.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
She pulled free of him. “We shouldn’t be doing this, Thomas.”
“Is it because of the curse? I thought we had agreed that we weren’t going to allow that to stand in our way.”
“How can I possibly agree to that?” Madeleine asked. “How can I promise not to let a curse come between us when it’s a force so much bigger than I am? For all I know, it could be at work already. Do you know why my nightmares have worsened since I got here?”
“I didn’t know they had been worse.” That was alarming. Her nightmares had been plaguing her, he knew that, but he didn’t know it was anything out of the ordinary. And now he was worried. Had he done something to cause this?
“It’s because of you,” she said.
His heart sank.
Perhaps it showed on his face because she quickly corrected herself. “I don’t mean to say it’s your fault,” she said. “But it’s because I’ve allowed myself to care for you. I should never have done that. I promised myself I never would. Not with anyone. And then I got here, and you spoke to me, you charmed me—you persuaded me that we could have a different life. That I could have things I’d long since promised myself I would never try to have. I felt so hopeful for just a few moments. I haven’t felt hope like that in a very long time.”
“And does that have to be a bad thing?”
“It is a bad thing,” she said. “It’s dangerous. When you hope for things, you forget to be sensible and cautious, and that’s when people get hurt.”
“No one is going to get hurt, Madeleine. I told you what I think of the curse. It isn’t real.”
“You might be wrong.”
“And that’s a chance I’m willing to take.” He sighed. “Madeleine, don’t you understand what you mean to me?”
He moved in front of her so they were face to face and took her hands in his.
She closed her eyes.
“Look at me,” he insisted.
She opened her eyes again but trained her gaze firmly on the floor.
He cupped her chin and brought her face up so that she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “You need to stop doing this to yourself,” he said quietly. “I’ve made my choice, Madeleine. I want to be with you. I thought you had made your choice too.”
“I made a mistake,” she said quietly.
