Page 74 of Love, the Duke
“Why are we having this discussion again, Ophelia?”
“Because people make their homes grand and filled with precious items just so guests will look at them and enjoy the bounty. In reality that is all I will be doing. To make you happy I will seek an invitation from the baron before I look around. It appears you want to dismiss this without even looking into it because you’ve known him so long.”
“I’m not saying that,” he insisted, his voice rising a little. “Let me think about this and I’ll come up with a plan.”
She gave him a level gaze. “Think about it? Make a plan? I already have a plan.”
“You know the phrase ‘Don’t rush where angels wouldn’t dare to tread,’ Ophelia,” Hurst cautioned.
A gasp passed her lips. “Are you calling me foolish?”
“Of course not.” His back stiffened. “Don’t put words I didn’t say into my mouth.”
“It sounded to me as if you did. It’s true you only said part of the quote, but I know the beginning of it. You think I am being foolish to help a brother who helped raise me and loved me and my mother devotedly. You have always thought I was on a fool’s errand.”
The frown on his brow tightened. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He took a step toward her. “I said the part that was accurate concerning you. I don’t want you to get your hopes up again. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger again.”
“Danger? I haven’t been in any jeopardy.”
“You aren’t thinking clearly, Ophelia. You went over a table after a chalice that was a reproduction!”
“Don’t yell at me,” she answered with determination. “And it looked real.”
“I’m not yelling,” he defended, though lowering his tone considerably. “Replicas are supposed to look real. Everything you see concerning this stolen vessel looks real to you. The crests you sketched for Mrs. Turner, and the guilt you were willing to place on my cousin and every peer in London.”
“There was no harm done to anyone, including me, at the fair.”
“Only because I was able to catch up with you and stop you with my umbrella. Footpads abound at fairs and steal from the shopmongers and vendors almost at will. They keep themselves armed with a knife. That man could have assumed you were about to take something from him, pulled his blade out of instinct, and harmed you before I could get to you, and then I would have had to harm him.”
She swallowed hard. “That is rather dramatic. You are the one talking madness now about such dire consequences.”
“Know this now and forevermore, Ophelia.” He spoke low. “You are my wife. I would never let anyone put their hands on you without retaliation. I will protect you above all else.”
His words, and the passion with which he said them, chilled her, thrilled her, but not giving up, she said rashly, “I don’t need protection to check out a man you say is a pillar of the community.”
“I am on a mission to save you from yourself.” Hurst’s expression etched hard with lines of discontent. “I forbid you to go to his house.”
His declarative words astounded her; her eyes filled with shock and her heart thudded in her ears. “You can’t.”
“I am your husband. When we married, I didn’t take a vow giving up my rights as your husband.”
“And I didn’t give up mine. You said you would not forbid me to do anything until after the theft of the chalice was settled. You can’t go back on your word.”
“Listen to me, dam—” He bit off the last half of the word and swore under his breath instead, before saying, “Ophelia, I love you. I have from the moment I saw you even though I doubted my own feelings at the time. I love your courage, loyalty, and your determination. But at some point, you must give up your reckless ways.”
“You want me to give up?” The thought sent chills over her again and made tears surprisingly spring to her eyes. She quickly blinked them away before one should happen to escape the corner of her eye. He knew how important this was to her.
“No. Not give up. Think. Plan. Let me help you my way. We can’t accuse Gagingcliffe, Sawyer, or any other man. If any of them have it, we could tip them off and the chalice could be hidden so that it will never be found. We start with Gagingcliffe and will work together to see if he is the person we are looking for.”
“If he has it, it’s on a bookshelf and we will see it,” she argued again.
“Do you think he’s going to let you just walk into his house and see it?” His voice rose. “He knows you are the sister to the vicar he stole it from. Be reasonable about this.”
“I am always reasonable,” she countered, her voice raised too and her chest heaving.
“You came to my house dressed as a man twice. How are you always reasonable, Ophelia?”
“I had good, reasonable motives for doing it both times.”
“Just do it my way this time.” Hurst mumbled several curses under his breath and looked away.
He wouldn’t be swayed, but neither would she. Perhaps the sip or two of brandy she had consumed was helping calm her after all. She suddenly felt calmer. “I believe you have said that to me before, Your Grace.” She swallowed hard. “Don’t ask it of me again. I believe you know that my answer is still the same. It is not in my nature. I wish you had known before we married that I cannot change my nature. You would have saved us both a lot of heartache.”
Despair pushed from her aching lungs. Ophelia opened the door that joined their rooms and shut herself inside her chambers.
