Never Fall for Your Fiancee

Not that the vexing Minerva knew any of this, because she hadn’t read his blasted note!

And if she awoke in a snit tomorrow, and avoided him again, he would have to get Payne or Giles to explain it all to her. And get them to say goodbye.

For some reason, that made him feel both sad and furious in equal measure. Sad, because despite her recent betrayal and flagrant blackmail, he liked her. A great deal. He had from the outset, and he couldn’t bear the thought of her disappearing when he knew he would forever worry about how she was faring on her own again. And he was furious because she would leave still unjustly assuming he was a brute, while absolving herself of all blame for his supposed brutishness.

That hardly struck him as fair.

Why did she get to have the last word when there were important things to be said? The logistics for tomorrow, for example? The need for her to continue to behave as if she was peeved at him. The fact he needed her to know she could come to him if life or fate was ever cruel to her again? She was denying him the right to continue to be her knight in shining armor, when he was resolutely committed to continue being it.

He jumped off the bed and began to pace again, annoyed with himself for still being annoyed and annoyed at the thought of her enjoying the blissful sleep of the self-righteous when he wouldn’t sleep a wink. So much for being master of his own house. What sort of master had to resort to pacing the Persian?

Not this one.

Something inside him snapped, and Hugh was striding across the landing toward the east wing before he thought better of it.

If she wouldn’t read his note, then she would hear it in person!

As he turned into her hallway, he saw the thin strip of light bleeding beneath her door.

Good.

She wasn’t asleep. He hoped she was feeling as remorseful and frustrated as he was by today’s unfortunate chain of events. He stalled his clenched hand before it pummeled on the door, realizing in the nick of time that without stealth, her sisters would dash to her aid and he’d have to try to hold one of the single most important conversations of his life in front of an overprotective audience. Instead, he tapped lightly once and then strode inside without allowing her the opportunity to tell him to go to hell.

“Minerva, we need to…” The rest of the words died in his throat. She stood at the window in nothing but a billowing nightgown. A nightgown the firelight rendered translucent. Her dark hair was loose, hanging almost to her hip, a breathtaking silken curtain that shimmered in the dim flame of the single candle.

“What the…!”

He winced at the shriek and motioned with his hands for her not to scream as she scrabbled for the shawl hanging on the mirror and held it against her, thoroughly spoiling his splendid view. “I am sorry for barging in—but it cannot wait. I really do need to speak to you.”

“Here? How dare you come here!” Her eyes then raked the length of him, taking in the loose untucked shirt and bare feet and calves poking out of his breeches. “You’re not even dressed!”

“It was a sudden decision … and in the spur of the moment I forgot myself. I’m sorry.” But he wouldn’t be deterred. Nor would he be seduced. “Would it help if I apologized for part of what transpired earlier?”

“Only part!” Instead of placating her, his words only served to get her dander up further, and Hugh sighed, remembering his butler’s advice.

“I am sorry for being in a bad mood earlier and for taking it out on you.” He owed her that much of an apology. “And I am sorry for galloping off and leaving you to struggle with Marigold alone. That was ungentlemanly.”

Still clutching the shawl in front of her like a shield, she looked down her nose at him. “It was. Very.”

“In light of what happened subsequently, I also regret falling out with you over Vee.”

“That doesn’t sound the least bit like an apology.”

“It is a partial one. One which when combined with the other two acknowledges I am three-quarters to blame for this morning.”

“I suppose you expect me to take responsibility for the remaining quarter?” He decided to take the fact she was not shouting as a positive sign.

As tempting as it was to moan about Vee, he wouldn’t. Her sisters were her Achilles’ heel, and mentioning that wouldn’t release him from purgatory. “Not all of it.” He held up his finger and thumb an inch apart. “Just the bit where you were mean to me and then tried to blackmail me as revenge for my shoddy behavior.”

“It was shoddy.”

“My behavior or your attempt at blackmail?” He offered her a tenuous smile as an olive branch.

“Both.” Contrition replaced the affronted outrage. “I shouldn’t have stooped to your level. You don’t have to pay me sixty pounds.”

“I will and gladly. You saved my bacon today and for that I am truly thankful. Do you accept my apology, or shall I get down on my knees and plead as I did when I begged you for your hand?”

The beginnings of a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She wasn’t the least bit sorry for making him sound pathetic and lovelorn in front of his mother, and he admired that. “As tempting as that is, I shall accept.”