“I suppose.” The entire world wanted to put women into two categories: Married or Not Married. As if that was all there was to their lives! “I was engaged once.” Regrettably, she sounded unintentionally defiant.
He merely held her gaze, waiting for her to fill in the rest.
“But I cried off.”
He nodded. He very politely did not ask why. But Hattie didn’t want him to assume there was anything wrong with her, so she clarified, “He was perfectly fine, but my father is...particular.”
She could feel a blush of shame creeping into her cheeks. There were many words to describe her father, butparticularwas not the best one. He was unreasonable, tightfisted, surly, suspicious... She could think of any number of ways to describe him, but settled on the vague, “He’s inexplicable, really.”
The viscount steadily held her gaze, and Hattie’s heart skipped a beat or two. “I understand—my father was inexplicable, too.”
“I hope you’re not saying so to be kind. Was he really?”
“He was. Does your father have an occupation?”
His occupation was lying in wait for her to come home every day. “He owns most of the public cabs around town. Hansoms and Clarence cabs. Horse busses.”
“A lucrative endeavor in a town the size of London.”
“One might assume, but I assure you my father would insist otherwise.”
“Men and their money,” he muttered. He glanced at his desk, as if the conversation was over, but Hattie thought that it was only fair that he answer her burning question.
“Why have you never?”
He looked up. “Married? A personal question, Miss Woodchurch.”
“So was yours.”
He laughed lightly, and the sound of it was a caress. “That it was.Dios mío, Miss Woodchurch, how unguarded you are.”
“I see no reason to be guarded—I trust you.”
His smile faded. He seemed to take that information and tuck it away, his eyes wandering over her, leaving a warm trail across her body. “I’ve lived a solitary life, as you know. I suppose that is the reason why I’ve not yet married. I prefer the Castillo Estrella to the Valdonia palace. But I would wager you’ve deduced that much about me.”
She hadn’t deduced any such thing. “Have you lived that way by choice?”
“By choice. And by necessity.”
What didthatmean?
“Have you any more questions for me, Miss Woodchurch?”
He meant to end this inquiry, but Hattie had one last question. “Do you want to be married?”
He frowned with confusion. “Sí, I do. I’m no different from most in that I would like a family.”
That was something, at least. Flora might be happy at the Castle in the Stars. But Hattie worried the “solitary” part of his life might be problematic for Flora—she liked to be surrounded by friends and family. To Hattie, it sounded like heaven.
“Now I must ask you, Miss Woodchurch—do you wish to be married?”
Since her engagement to Rupert had ended, Hattie hadn’t had the courage to ask herself that question. She didn’t know the answer anymore. “I did.”
His brows dipped into a slight frown of concern. “It saddens me to hear it. It saddens me to think a gentleman has hurt you so.”
A rush of warmth spread through her and centered in her chest. No one, not a single person, had paid any heed to her after she ended her engagement to Rupert. As if her crying off had said all there was to say about it. Everyone around her seemed to believe she ought to be relieved it was over.
But nothing could have been further from the truth—she’d mourned Rupert. And then she’d despised him and everything he’d represented to her.
