Chapter 8

The two of them ate in silence, though Bethany picked more at her food than ate it. No doubt she was disturbed by his declaration that they would wed, but surely, she understood that they had no other choice.

Did she hate him so much that the very idea of life as his duchess was abhorrent?

At one time, they had gotten on very well and he had even started falling in love with her and then it ended, and Leopold never knew why. One day they were enjoying a pleasant conversation while all he could think about was kissing her and the next day, she pushed him into the Serpentine with no explanation.

"Why were you originally going to miss Christmas with your family?"

Bethany looked up from her plate and stared at him. "It is not important."

"It must have been, or you would not have made your original decision."

Bethany glanced down and picked at the eggs on her plate.

Maybe he shouldn't pry, but he wanted to know her reasons. One does not simply miss out on such an important holiday with family without good cause.

"The club," she finally answered.

Bethany and Tessa had opened a gentlewomen's club this past spring. From what he had been told, it was more of a salon where sciences, politics, and arts were discussed. There was another room for gambling and a dining room where meals were served. Even though it was for women, he knew gentlemen who were granted entry and paid for a subscription. He had applied once and was turned down. At the bottom of the rejection either Tessa or Bethany had penned: You would not approve, Your Grace.

Ellings had told him that Bethany deemed him too priggish to appreciate what was offered.

Priggish! Was that how she saw him?

Though, these past few years, he had been.

No wonder she did not want him around and it explained why she refused to discuss marriage.

"I understand that the club is a success. Not that I would know as I have not been granted a membership."

She said nothing but sipped her tea instead.

"If you are needed there, why were you traveling to Faversham?" he asked. He needed to get Bethany to talk to him.

"With the holiday, we had fewer in attendance than I anticipated so I closed until after the first of the year." She took a sip of tea, and gently set her cup back in the saucer before looking up and meeting his eyes. "I also reevaluated the true reason I had chosen to stay behind and decided that I was not going to let anyone keep me from my family this holiday." She glared at him with her last statement.

"Anyone?" he asked. Something told him that Bethany didn't mean the members of her club. "Me? Is it because I was going to be present since my sister married your cousin?"

Bethany must truly hate him, which did not bode well for their future.

"I did not want my holiday ruined by a duke who cannot stand to be in my presence, and who glares and growls when I am about."

"I do no such thing," Leopold argued.

"Yes, you do. You have treated me the same since that regrettable day when I pushed you into the Serpentine."

Bethany gasped and placed a hand over her mouth.

Leopold raised an eyebrow, even though it pained him to do so, but at least he may finally learn why she did so.

Bethany had not wanted to admit why she was avoiding her uncle's home but did not want to lie either. But she certainly hadn't intended to remind him of the most humiliating and uncharacteristic moment of her life.

His eyes narrowed as he set his breakfast tray aside and sat up more fully, the covers dropping so that they barely covered his lap. Oh, she wished he would keep them pulled to his chin so that she did not have to stare at his muscular chest with the sprinkle of dark hair that matched his thickening beard or view the defined lines of his abdomen that nearly looked sculpted.

One glimpse and she warmed all over. So much so that the fire she'd been tending since they arrived was not needed.

"I still do not know why you did so. There was no cause," he said calmly.

"There most certainly was!" She'd never been so deeply hurt by words before, which was likely what prompted her to shove him in the first place.

"Would you care to enlighten me because I was having a conversation with friends then suddenly, I found myself falling into the water."

"You claimed that you were happy to be free of Tessa and her friends who were nothing but bird-witted twits."

"Tessa was quite happy to be free of me as well," he reminded her.

"That is not to what I refer," she said through clenched teeth as she became angry again.

"The bird-witted twits?" he asked, as if he was confused.

"Yes!"

Claybrook stared her down and then his brown eyes widened, and he started to smile. "I did not mean you."

Bethany sprung to her feet. Oh, she was not going to allow him to lie to her. She'd been standing there and had heard him quite clearly. "I am her closest friend and if all her friends are bird-witted twits then that is what you think of me. Thus, you earned that push into the Serpentine." Her face heated. "Though, in truth, I was quite mortified by my actions as it was uncharacteristic of me. For that I do apologize, Your Grace." She plopped back down, determined to push the hurt of that day down so deeply that it could not be found again. That was two and a half years ago, and she had moved past the event.

Claybrook swung his legs over the side of the bed, grasped the coverlet, and wrapped it about him before he stood. "Do you honestly believe that I thought you were a bird-witted twit?"

Bethany stood again and threw her hands up. "Of course I did. It is what you said. I heard you."

Claybrook chuckled. "I meant that gaggle of misses who suddenly surrounded Tessa that season. The ones that were no more than children with their giggling and fanning themselves and always twittering about. Those bird-witted twits. Never you."

Bethany could only stare at him. Then she recalled that spring and the new debutantes who were in awe of Tessa and wanted to be like her and learn from her. They had nearly driven Bethany mad with their incessant questions and inability to remain on one topic. Tessa found much humor in their presence, though it wasn't so often…except they did always seem to be underfoot when Claybrook was about. "Is it because of them and their getting in the way that you did not pursue Tessa?"

"Good God, no!" he barked with laughter. "Tessa and I would never suit. Clearly you saw that."

They had been an odd pairing. "You courted for nearly two months. Certainly, some emotion was involved, unless it was simply to appease her father."

"Bethany, the only reason I attempted to court Tessa for so long was because you were always there."

Her heartbeat seemed to skip, and Bethany wondered if she had imagined his words. "Me?"

"Have I not been clear?"

"There is no need to yell at me. You know you have not been clear."

Claybrook blew out a long, belabored breath. "It was you who I wanted to court. It was you who I found fascinating. It was you who I found beautiful." He took a step toward her, holding the blanket so as not to expose his nether region. "When Tessa and I had ended our potential association, it was only after you and I had come to know one another. It was you I grew to desire and wished to court. I had planned on calling on your father to ask permission but before I could do so, you pushed me into the Serpentine."

Bethany gasped and placed a hand against her heart.

Except, it hadn't been just the comment about Tessa's friends, but what she'd heard even before that, and it made her wonder if he was only saying what he thought she needed to hear as appeasement since he was certain they would wed.

Could she trust anything he said now? He had easily lied to the constable so couldn't he just as easily lie to her?