Chapter 25
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence after Cat left. Then Kai said, “So I suppose we should hold off on sending out invitations for the wedding breakfast?”
“Aye,” Struan said, looking as though he was trying very hard not to laugh. Normally, Thane liked to see his friends enjoying themselves, particularly Struan, who’d had a rough year to say the least. Now, however, he wasn’t feeling so magnanimous.
“It’s not funny,” he snapped. “And the problem remains to be solved.”
“Honestly, we didn’t think she’d have such a strong objection,” Calan explained.
“Or any objection,” Struan added. “Aren’t most young ladies looking for marriage?”
“Not her,” Tacita said sadly. “I do wish you’d mentioned this to me before announcing it. I could have told you what would happen.”
“But not marry at all?” Kai asked. “Even to save her life?”
Thane shrugged. “She’s said as much before.
” Except that was before she’d been compromised by Thane.
He was uncomfortably aware that he now had the perfect weapon to wield over her should he want to force a marriage.
A ruined, potentially pregnant Cat would find life even more difficult, and he doubted her attacker would take kindly to the idea of a baby, which would put him further away from inheriting.
“Aunt Tacita, why does she hate marriage so?” Kai asked.
“Though she is adamant that her objection is philosophical, I’m sure it stems from watching her own parents’ unhappiness from a very close vantage point.
Mr Ross was not a good husband or a good father by the end of his life, and it’s my understanding that Mrs Ross did not conceal anything from the children. She was an outspoken woman, you see.”
“That’s completely believable,” Thane muttered.
“Catriona told all this to Brodie after she ended her first engagement. He understood—though I suppose he would not have mentioned it to you gentlemen, it being a rather personal topic.”
“He did ask all of us if we intended to marry in the future,” Calan recalled suddenly. “Now that I think about it, that must have been shortly after the showdown with Melrose.”
“Aye, and Brodie said himself that he wasn’t as sure about the whole idea of marriage as he used to be,” Kai added. “Not that he ever got the chance to come up to scratch for any lady.”
Thane grimaced. That was his fault too. But aloud, he said only, “Sounds as if his sister made him reconsider.”
“You ought to ask her yourself why she thinks as she does,” Tacita suggested. “I was not present for most of her life, I’m sorry to say. She would undoubtedly offer you more details for you to counter.”
“What, I’m a barrister now?” Thane asked.
“I merely point out that you and Catriona have often had lively discussions.” The older lady smiled charmingly and excused herself. Thane recognized a rout when he saw it.
“Stop smirking, all of you,” he muttered to the other men, who did not stop.
But Thane never got the chance to ask her, because Cat was impossible to find the whole afternoon, and when she appeared at dinner, she was withdrawn and aloof toward him, still clearly furious at the idea of marrying as a method of self-preservation.
She was polite, and to everyone who wasn’t Thane, she was even sweet.
But frustration radiated from her like summer heat.
Cat looked cornered, about to be caught and caged, and desperate for an out.
He’d have to watch her even more closely now.
Thane managed to get a word with Cat as she got up from the table. “We need to talk about your options.”
“Oh, do I have any?” she asked sarcastically.
“Sleep on it, and we’ll talk tomorrow.” He tried to keep his tone even.
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She strode off, head held high. Thane watched her go, annoyed and…annoyingly aroused.
After dinner, the men met without the ladies to discuss the issue. Thane had fortified himself with a very stiff drink.
“So who’s going to be the victim?” he asked. “Can’t go to Melrose and ask him to offer again. The man’s already got a wife.”
“You’ll offer,” Duncan said flatly.
“Me?”
Calan said, “We thought you and she had some kind of rapport.”
Thane glared at him. “Why would you think that?”
“You can’t keep your eyes off her,” Duncan grunted.
“That’s not true.”
“It is,” Calan said. “Granted, she’s a beautiful woman, so it’s no surprise she’s turned your head. But the question is more why you don’t want to turn it just a bit more and get the girl to happily agree to a marriage proposal.”
“She would more happily traipse to her death,” Thane pointed out.
Duncan didn’t look impressed. “Ach, she’ll come around. Especially if you ask nicely.”
“Why should I be the one who offers for her?” Thane asked, mostly because the old Thane, the before-Cat-upended-his-life Thane, would ask that.
“Oh, would you prefer one of us to do the honors?” Calan asked, rather too eagerly. “I’m only a second son without much at all to my name, but I’m willing to take the plunge.”
Thane stepped up to his friend before he could stop himself. “Don’t even try it!”
Calan’s knowing smile hit harder than any punch to the stomach. “Ah, there it is. The jealousy at the mere thought of another man offering for her.”
“It’s got nothing to do with that. You all heard her. She’s opposed to the very idea of marriage.”
Calan snorted. “You’re just scared she’ll turn you down.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Thane blustered. “If you want to propose to her to save her life,” he added sarcastically, “then by all means go ahead and do it! I don’t care. Just don’t be surprised when she says no.”
Thane left before Calan opened his stupid trap again. If he did, Thane was liable to answer with his fist. He stalked away, so disturbed by the idiotic exchange that he nearly collided with one of the maidservants as he went. He needed another drink.
About an hour later, Calan found him in the library, nursing a glass of scotch. After pouring his own, Calan walked to the window near Thane’s chair. “Ready to talk now? Or are you still thinking about punching me in the face?”
“That obvious?”
“Oh, no, it’s just I have a very developed sensitivity to it by now. A lot of men have wanted to punch me over the years.”
“Don’t you mean over their wives?”
Calan chuckled. “Progress. I’m glad to see you’re no longer going to rant and rave.”
“I neither rant nor rave,” Thane objected. “It’s not my way.”
“I know,” Calan countered. “Which is why it was so revealing when you did so this time. But the fact remains that Miss Ross still has a serious problem, and you are in a position to help her solve it. A marriage would be quick, easy, and painless. And then her problem is solved.”
By introducing a whole new problem, Thane thought. Aloud he said, “Why should it be me who has to marry her?”
“Hmm, I wonder. Perhaps because out of all of us, you’re the only man here who addresses Miss Ross as Cat.”
He shrugged. “So we’ve gained some familiarity.” If by some familiarity, one meant that he knew what she looked like naked and breathless after coming undone on his bed.
As if reading his mind, Calan raised an eyebrow. “Some?”
“Look, she’s not interested in marrying me or anyone else, so what does it matter?” Thane wanted, needed to deflect his friends’ attention from this. Especially Calan, who was no stranger to illicit relationships.
“If it keeps her alive, it matters.”
“You saw her reaction before. It won’t change. And I for one have no intention of shackling myself to a woman who will resent me for it for the rest of our lives. It would be a nightmare.”
Calan told him he needed to get all his brooding done with so he could talk reasonably again. “Or if it will be faster, I can kick your arse.”
“Either way, I just want another drink.”
“I’m leaving, then. Come out when you’re ready.”
Thane continued to sit, alone. Brooding.
He’d never be ready. Not for a life with Cat. She was the one woman he truly desired, and the one woman he didn’t deserve. God, he wanted to make her feel so good and so satisfied that she’d never be sad again. And never be able to hate him.
Thane fell back to earth, hard. Cat was still going to hate him, probably more than ever now. He’d made a choice, and unsurprisingly, it was the wrong one.
* * * *
Cat went to her room at the same time Tacita did, for appearances.
But she paced in her chamber, her mind constantly turning over the news the men had brought.
She believed the new theory to be the correct one.
Kai and Duncan especially seemed like they weren’t the type of people who committed to something until they were certain.
It was in one way a relief. It meant that her choice to pursue the calling of advocating for women was not a mistake.
She’d do it anyway, of course, but it helped to know that all the angry letters and mockery was just that, and nothing more nefarious.
On the other hand, it suggested a deeply callous individual who was willing to do anything to claim something he considered already his. How was Cat to ever sleep easy until that man was captured?
She walked the halls, finding the place mostly quiet, though she could hear the voices of men in the great hall…
No doubt Thane and his comrades were having a grand time.
Then she passed the room that Thane used as his office, and noticed a light burning there.
She peeked in, and saw Thane sitting behind the desk, his long legs stretched out with his feet propped on the top edge.
He was holding a glass of amber liquid, swirling it as he gazed at the minor maelstrom he was creating within.
He looked troubled, unhappy. Why wasn’t he with his friends downstairs?
Cat pushed the door open more, and he looked up. His eyes widened, and he took his feet off the desk. “Cat, what are you doing here?”
“You said I ought to be reasonable and talk about my options. Well, I’m here, ready to talk.”
“I said tomorrow.”