Page 54 of His Revelation
He smiled again, and her knees went weak.
“Now,” he began in a no-nonsense tone, “it ismyturn to apologize to ye. Are ye prepared?” Without giving her time to answer—not that she could’ve done anything more than nod mutely—he took a deep breath and launched into what was obviously a prepared speech.
“Tiffany Oliphant, I have done ye a grave injustice. Ye are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and I also kenned ye kenned yer own appeal. I was entranced by ye at the ball—by yer beauty, and the way ye charmed me.”
When he paused, she murmured, “Thank you,” which clearly startled him.
With a quick frown, he shook his head. “It was no’ a compliment. I understand how to be charming, ye recall, and I kenned the women around me were trying to charm me as well. Charm me into offering them marriage. I met ye, and…” He blew out a breath. “I wasnae thinking of marriage, no’ yet, but I was thinking, ‘Oliphant, here’s a beautiful woman whom ye wouldnae mind getting to ken better,’ and that’s why I called upon ye here at yer home.”
“You call yerself Oliphant?”
“What?”
Her lips twitched. “When you talk to yourself, you call yourself Oliphant? Do you not confuse yourself with all the other Oliphants running around?”
“Well, of course.” His brows dipped in. “It’s my name. Better than calling myselfviscount— Why are we talking about this?” he blurted. “I had this apology memorized!”
“Mea culpa,” Tiffany intoned, inclining her head regally. “Please continue.”
He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders, momentarily tightening his hold on her hand. “Where was I?”
“I was entrancing you at the ball, and you called on me for tea.”
“Och, aye. Thank ye.” His lovely hazel eyes went out of focus for a moment, as if he were reading over internal notes. His muttering confirmed it. “Beautiful…own appeal…tea— Nay, we covered that.” He blinked. “Did I get to the bit about yer being haughty and self-centered?”
“No,” she said drily, “I am certain I would remember that.”
“Good.” He nodded once more, cleared his throat, and launched into his speech again. “I kenned ye thought highly of yer own beauty, and having met yer mother, I could understand why. She’s the reason ye were vain, I ken that now. But when I overheard ye say those things about my brother, an entirely new vision of ye coalesced in my head.” He paused to squeeze her hands and wince apologetically. “I was certain that understanding was correct. I was certain ye were vain and self-centered, thinking yer beauty put ye above others and allowed ye to say things like that.”
Unable to stay quiet, Tiffany pushed herself up on her toes—not quite close enough to kiss him, but close enough to cause him to blink in surprise. “You were not wrong, Lysander. Iwasvain and self-centered?—”
“Nay. Ye kenned yer beauty, but ye were also caring and loving, Tiffany.” His expression softened as his gaze caressed her face. “The verra first time ye met me as Laird Gaberlunzie, ye offered me charity. I’d been so certain going to ye poor and dirty and ill-mannered and disfigured would expose the prejudices and cruelty ye’d been hiding from me in an attempt to charm me.”
Now it was her turn to blink in confusion. “You thought I would…what?”
He winced again. “I thought ye’d kick me aside, stick yer nose in the air haughtily, and perhaps piss on me on yer way to better things.”
“It does not work that way.”
“What? Ye dinnae think women are capable of acting that way?”
Her lips had thinned. “Women can be cruel, yes, but we are incapable of pissing on anything as we pass by. Have you seen how many petticoats we must wear?”
“I cannae believe we’re discussingpissingin the middle of my apology.”
That’s right, hehadbeen apologizing, hadn’t he? “You certainly had a poor opinion of me, did you not?”
“I did,” he agreed quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“And I am sorry for giving you reason to have such a poor opinion of me. I can understand why you might have wanted to hurt me in return.”
“Never!” he gasped, pulling suddenly so she took a small step closer. “I swear to ye, Tiffany, I never wanted to hurt ye.”
“You wanted to humiliate me,” she reminded him, proud of the way she kept her voice steady.
To her surprise, he nodded in agreement. “I did. I wanted ye to understand what yer prejudices had cost ye, but I never wanted to hurt ye beyond that. My plan was to reveal myself, and when ye begged my forgiveness for the horrible way ye’d treated me, to stick my nose in the air and saunter off, content in the knowledge of a job well done.”
Before she could respond—not that she quite knewhowto—he hurried on.
