first I thought it was because of the fire, but even then it shocked me that you would not come to me so we could plan what to do together. It took me months and months to realise that you had no intention of returning to me.’ She felt as if she were bleeding inside.
His face turned stony, but she sensed turbulent emotions inside him. ‘I was convinced you did not want me.’
‘You were easily convinced, apparently. Did you think so little of me, Leo?’ She slid away from him and crossed her arms over her chest as if this would protect her heart. ‘Even if you thought all that nonsense about Ashworth was true, you did not try to fight for me, did you? Or try to make me change my mind? You never gave me a chance. You just took it upon yourself to run off.’
Her words wounded him, she could tell by his face, but they were true.
He spoke quietly. ‘I am not running away now. I want to help you.’
She desperately wanted help, but not from him. The pain of his leaving her still hurt too much.
Her own father had manoeuvred the situation, true—she must deal with that later—but it was Leo who’d chosen to leave.
She stood and tied her mask back on. ‘I want to go back.’
He rose and donned his mask, as well.
They entered the crosswalk that led back to the other side of the gardens. She took long deep breaths, trying to calm herself lest tears dampen her mask and give away her emotions. The closer they came to the supper boxes, the more she cringed at having to return to Kellford’s side and to pretend to her father that he had not set about the destruction of her happiness two years before this. At the moment, though, it was worse to be with Leo. She was enraged at him—and perilously close to falling into his arms.
He’d held her many times when they’d discussed marrying, when they declared their love, said they would overcome all obstacles together.
She remembered when she’d learned his stables had burned down and most of his horses were lost. She’d read it in the newspapers. When her father told her Leo never showed up for his appointment, she’d imagined it had been because of the fire. She waited and waited until days stretched into weeks and weeks into months. She waited even after learning Leo had left the country. He would send for her, she’d thought.
But he never did.
He’d promised he would marry her, and now he promised he would find a way to prevent her marriage. It was too late to believe in him. It hurt too much to be wrong.
She walked at his side, not touching him, her cape wrapped around her like a shield against him.
One good thing about his sudden appearance in her life was she now felt roused to battle harder against this forced marriage. She did not need him for it. All she needed was to remain single for two more years and her inheritance would be hers, free and clear. No man could use it to rule her life. No man could keep her from protecting her mother and sisters.
Her father told her he owed Kellford a large gambling debt, one so large that their family would be ruined if he did not pay. Apparently Mariel was payment of the debt. Or rather, her fortune was. How much of that was a lie, like the lies he told her about Leo? She wanted the truth.
Then she would know what to do.
It was a start. A plan. And her time was better spent dwelling on how to escape this dreadful marriage than on fantasies and regrets about Leo Fitzmanning.
They reached the arches; the supper boxes were just on the other side.
‘Do not remain with me,’ she demanded of Leo.
He seized her arm before she could leave him. ‘I cannot let you go until you tell me what hold Kellford has over you.’
This was becoming tedious. Why not tell him? Perhaps he would leave her alone if she did.
She turned so she could look directly into his eyes. ‘Kellford threatens my family. He has the power to ruin my father, my mother, my sisters.’ She spoke the words slowly so he would not miss their importance.
‘Mariel—’ he began.
‘No more promises!’ She pulled out of his grip. ‘Do not stop me again, Leo. This time I am the one who is leaving. Right now.’
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