“No! I cannot bear to face her just now. I cannot bear to speak to anyone yet. Why will you not leave me in peace? All I want is to be left alone,” she said with a sob, “and I do not want to talk to you. Definitely not you. Go away.”
She repeated that she was going to pack her things and leave.
For someone who was through speaking to all of them, she certainly had a lot to say. “Eden, I’m coming in.”
“No!”
He placed his hand on the doorknob. “Are you dressed?”
Several seconds passed before she finally responded. “No! I haven’t a stitch on.”
Gad, the girl was a terrible liar.
Even if it were true, what would it matter? He was going to marry her. Yes, it was highhanded of him, and the last thing he wished to do was place her in a compromising position and force her hand. But was he not the one who would be hurt most if he had to spend the rest of his life without her? “I don’t believe you, Eden. I’m coming in.”
He tried the door, relieved to find it unlocked, and entered cautiously on the chance something would come flying at his head. Fortunately, nothing did. Had Eden been anything like her mother, there would have been objects crashing all around him right now.
But she was all goodness and kindness, nothing like either of her spoiled and childish parents.
“Eden, love. What happened?” His heart tugged when he spotted her curled up in a little ball on her bed, her back to him. He shut the door behind him and crossed the room, taking a seat on the bed beside her in order to remain close. The mattress dipped, rolling her toward him.
He wanted to draw her into his arms and hold her, but had not expected her to look quite this wounded and was now at a loss as to what to do. “Eden, I am not going away, so you may as well talk to me.”
She sat up and turned to him with a tearful glower. “You cannot be in here, Connor! Are you mad? If anyone saw you come into my room or notices you coming out of it, I’ll be ruinedand then you will have to marry me! Do you hear me? Marriage. Wedding vows. Church bells.”
She studied his expression, no doubt surprised he wasn’t flinching or trying to hurry away. “I will not let you destroy my reputation and blithely ignore the consequences. So get out now before you find yourself trapped in marriage to an aging spinster.”
“Are you through berating me?”
She gasped. “I am not berating you. I am trying to warn you of a dire circumstance that you seem to be taking far too casually. Or do you think so little of me that you do not care if I am shamed and you will never do the honorable thing?” She turned away from him and sank back into her curled position, emitting another sob.
“Eden, have I not said I will always protect you?”
“I don’t recall.”
“I’m sure I have said it many times,” he muttered. “Will you turn around and look at me?”
“So I can be blinded by your Silver Duke brilliance? Your Silver Duke I-am-never-going-to-marry brilliance. No, I prefer to wallow in darkness.”
She had not drawn her drapes, so the afternoon light was pouring into the room. Nor was Eden’s heart or soul even remotely dark. The girl was pure sunshine.
“I canfeelyou mocking me, Connor.”
“I am not mocking you, just trying to figure out what happened to leave you so undone. Just talk to me. Don’t you know by now that you can tell me anything?”
“Ha!”
“You can, Eden. I will listen and never judge you harshly.”
She gasped. “Judge me?Me?What right have you to judge me?”
“None whatsoever. You are right, of course,” he said, feeling quite exasperated because he had not a clue what was wrong with her. “Let’s try this again. Have I said or done something to upset you? Or is it Lord Aubrey who has upset you?”
He was met with silence.
“Eden, I will not let you leave my home until I have the truth out of you. So you may as well start talking. Who upset you? Me or Aubrey?”
“Both.”
