Page 96 of The Duke's Rules Of Engagement
He moved woodenly into her office, and, trembling, she closed the door behind them. Suddenly feeling weak, she propped her body against the door.
“Matthew— Um…sorry.” She pressed a hand to her forehead and corrected, “Your Grace…what is it?”
He turned around slowly and studied her, his eyes seeming to strip her bare in a way that made ice harden her bones. “I should offer you congratulations. You almost got away with it.”
“Away?” She frowned. “With what?”
“Your plan to use my title and fortune for your own benefit.”
She gasped. “What? I never…” Her voice dwindled. Then, she shook her head and asked in a quiet voice, “What are you talking about?”
He spun away from her and stepped over to her desk, smacking it hard with the hand holding his gloves. He hadn’t removed his hat.
“I mean your scheme for me to marry Miss Cherrington so her family, and yours, would benefit from my fortune and my title.”
Her jaw dropped. She’d never thought of it that way. She’d felt somewhat guilty at first for steering him toward Harriet, but Harriet had been perfect for him.
Or had that just been her rationalizing what she’d done?
“It wasn’t like that!”
He sneered. “Oh, really?”
“Really! It wasn’t.”
“What was it like, then?”
“I…” She swallowed hard, unsure how to explain it in a way he’d understand. “I knew the Cherrington sisters needed to marry well.”
“Exactly. So Lillian Appleby could marry their brother.”
“It is true that is how I originally learned of their dilemma. But many young ladies, and gentlemen as well, are obligated to marry for financial reasons. There is nothing new to that in our world, Your Grace.” Her words emerged more firmly as they crystallized in her mind. “And you knew enough of the Cherringtons’ situation to understand that your marrying Harriet would put them in a far superior financial position.”
He twisted his gloves in both of his hands and took a step toward her. “You manipulated me. You gave me a list of women who wouldn’t suit, and you knew it. You knew the only one who’d come close was Miss Cherrington. You knew I’d choose her because I didn’t have the patience to waste my time meeting a second group. You engineered the match from the beginning.”
She looked down at her hands. She couldn’t deny what he said was true. She had done all those things. He was right—it had been for the Cherringtons’ benefit, but her motivation had mostly been for herself. So she could ensure her beloved friend’s happiness.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She’d known it was wrong. She’d tried to ignore the pinpricks of guilt at the beginning, and then, when she’d fallen in love with Matthew, the guilt had faded into the background, and she’d all but forgotten she’d been the one who’d manipulated the situation from the beginning.
“I thought you were better than that.” He shook his head in disgust. “And I sat here telling you of what happened to me in the past. Do you remember that, Jo?”
“I—” Her chest constricted at the expression on his face. The raw pain resident there, the anguish. She’d put that look there.
“You knew what that experience with Fanny did to me, and yet you repeated it,” he said, his cold voice raking over her skin. “Knowing how I might feel if it happened again.”
“No,” she said in a ragged whisper. “That’s not true. That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?”
“You thought yourself to be in love with Fanny, and that’s why her betrayal affected you so deeply. That wasn’t so this time. You said you no longer believed in love. You shielded yourself from ever experiencing that kind of pain again. You never suggested that you might have fallen in love with Harriet.”
His mouth twisted, and his eyes went glassy. He blinked hard.
Oh God. Oh no.Jo pressed a hand to her chest.
“Matthew?” she said in a strangled voice. It occurred to her that her heart might actually stop beating, once and for all. “Did you… Did you fall inlovewith Harriet Cherrington?”
He stared at her, unmoving.
