“I would have, if I’d known you’d turned into a reckless fool overnight.”
He curled his fingers around her hand. “I was a boy once, you know. We learn to climb trees with our mother’s milk.” He tried to tug her close. “I was fine. Really.”
She snatched her hand free, her heart still thundering in her chest, and walked back into the room. Edwin, climbing trees. Who would have thought it?
As he followed her inside, she snapped, “So tell me. What was so all-fired important that you had to risk your life to speak to me alone?”
“Durand was here last night.”
That halted her in her tracks. With her throat tightening, she whirled to face him. “What do you mean?”
“Down the street. He was watching the house.” The deadly seriousness in his tone confirmed the truth of his words. “I confronted him, and he gave me an ultimatum.”
Her stomach began to churn. “What sort of ultimatum?”
A muscle worked in Edwin’s jaw. “Either I call off our engagement by tomorrow evening, or he’ll reveal some unsettling secrets about my family.”
“What secrets?”
“I’d rather not say. But they would essentially destroy whatever credit Yvette and I have in society. We would be outcasts.”
Yvette? It had something to do with Yvette? And him, too. Oh no. “If that happened, you wouldn’t be able to find a wife,” she whispered.
“Precisely.”
A hard lump stuck in her throat. She considered prodding him to reveal what secrets Count Durand was holding over him, but if they were enough to make him this alarmed, they had to be bad. Which meant he wouldn’t talk about them with her. He never revealed such things to her. Why, she wouldn’t even have known about how uncaring his father had been toward the family if Yvette hadn’t told her.
Edwin wasn’t the sort of man to open his past to anyone, even a woman he contemplated marrying.
And it probably wouldn’t change anything if she knew. “Well, then, it appears you have no choice.” She swallowed hard. “You must end our betrothal. Or better yet, I’ll jilt you. Honestly, I never intended to marry any—”
“You’re not listening, Clarissa.” Stepping closer, he fixed her with a bleak glance. “He wants me to end things because he wants you to have no recourse but to marry him.”
“That’s absurd,” she said, though a frisson of fear skittered down her spine. “I always have a recourse. I will simply jilt you. It will make things difficult for you, I know, and I’m very sorry for that, but at least—”
“That won’t work, damn it. Don’t you see? He doesn’t mean to give you a choice! He was lurking in your street just last night. He’s obsessed with having you as his wife. If you continue to refuse him, one day he will simply abduct you and carry you off to Gretna Green. Or worse, to France. He could get away with it, too. Diplomats are immune to all charges except murder.”
Slowly the reason for his sense of urgency sank in, along with a hard knot of anger at Durand. “But why is he obsessed, drat it? Why does he want me? I don’t understand him!”
“You’re a beautiful woman, full of vibrancy and good humor. Who wouldn’t want you?”
The delicious words startled her. They weren’t at all like him, which made her suspicious. “This is not the time to be trying out your newfound skill at compliments. There are plenty of women like me.”
“Not as many as you’d think.” Glancing away, Edwin rubbed the back of his neck. “But I’ll admit that his fixation with you goes beyond the pale. I can only assume that by wedding you, he hopes to gain access to something he wants.”
“Like what?”
He huffed out a breath. “Bloody hell, I don’t know. I wish I did. Perhaps Warren is wrong about his wealth. Perhaps he lost it at the gaming tables.”
“If it’s just about money, there are any number of heiresses who would happily marry a French count on his way to great success as a diplomat. Why insist on marrying a woman who clearly despises him?”
“He doesn’t seem to believe you do.”
“Then he’s blind, deaf, and dumb,” she said stoutly.
“Or he doesn’t care how you feel. Right now, it hardly matters what his reasons are. It doesn’t change the fact that he has both of us trapped.”
“Not you.” She sank onto her bed. She was tired of dealing with Durand, tired of the up-and-down, of being sure he was out of her hair only to have him show up again. “You must protect your family and take his bargain. I’ll jilt you, and Mama and I will keep to the house until Warren is home. Then he can handle Durand.”
“The way he’s been handling him?” Edwin’s face darkened. “You know damned well Warren might not be back for weeks. I am not leaving you alone to be abducted by that bastard.”