Chapter Twenty-Two #2
“Why is it that whenever something peculiar happens, it’s always the Coopers? They’re deplorable.” Lady Samantha huffed. “Not to worry the Gallant Captain Reeves is always there to save the day.”
“They were alone together,” Miss Georgiana said. “Do you think she’s been compromised?”
“Like that matters,” Lady Honora said. “If her virtue is intact, it won’t be for long. I overheard Colonel Bishop and Lord Lincolnshire this morning, talking numbers.”
“I’ve never understood his fascination with her,” Lady Samantha said. “Or Lord Bolderwood’s. It sounds like a bad joke. An earl, a colonel, and a bastard all trip over the same skirt. Wait until they hear about this in London. You want to know what I think—”
But Cassandra didn’t care to know what Lady Samantha thought. Feeling sick, she turned the corner.
Colonel Bishop and Sir Reginald stood in her path, arguing in hushed tones in the hallway.
“—you wanted—”
“—not what I said!” Colonel Bishop hissed, viciously pointing a finger at his uncle.
Stuck between going back and moving forward when there was no lesser of two evils, Cassandra stepped forward. Both of their eyes shot to her and Sir Reginald’s mouth smiled, but it didn’t meet his eyes.
“Miss Cooper, I see you have miraculously survived another close call with death. You must have nine lives.” Sir Reginald’s face contorted with the effort to keep a smile up, showing off too much teeth. “Though perhaps you’re down to seven, now?”
“Only one,” Cassandra said, shifting her eyes between the two.
“Is that a fact?” Sir Reginald hummed. “I should be off. There’s an important competition I’m dying to see. I’ll leave you to my nephew. As I understand it, you have much to discuss.”
Sir Reginald brushed past her, and as his steps echoed down the hall, Colonel Bishop offered her a more convincing smile, but no less unsettling.
“Miss Cooper, walk with me. I believe it’s time we have a proper conversation.”
“We’re headed in different directions, Colonel. I should rest, and I don’t wish to make you late for your competition.”
“They cannot conduct the event without me,” he gloated.
“As much as I regret not having the opportunity to test my mettle against your brother’s pet, I do look forward to winning.
Although, I take no pleasure that you have found yourself in such dire straits.
” He gentled his voice and took a step forward.
“Dear child, the sky has fallen, hasn’t it?
Allow me to accompany you to your bedchamber. ”
“I don’t believe that’s appropriate, my lord.” Cassandra took a step back.
“No need for such formalities. One day, you’ll call me Adam.” Colonel Bishop smiled. “I spoke to your brother concerning my intentions for you. He is reluctant, of course, but I’m confident the three of us can reach a suitable arrangement.”
“What sort of arrangement?” Cassandra moved back, inching toward her bedchamber as he continued to advance.
He grinned. “The mutually beneficial kind.”
“Marriage?” she asked, but her voice didn’t sound like her own.
“It was discussed,” he said smoothly. “Among other options. Shall we discuss them ourselves?”
“She doesn’t need to discuss anything with you.”
Seth approached from the direction of their bedchambers, carrying a sizable folio in his hands. Blue bruising covered his unshaven jaw, and he hadn’t brushed his hair. Ink stained his cuff and his fingertips. His blood-shot eyes honed in on Colonel Bishop’s.
“Step away from her.”
“Would you look at that?” Colonel Bishop scowled. “Another timely interruption. Tell me, Mr. Reeves, have you come to collect Miss Cooper?”
Colonel Bishop gave him a pointed glance.
Seth narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.
“I suppose I can allow it. A deal is a deal, after all. Let it be said that I’m a man of my word,” Colonel Bishop sang, all beams and shine.
He grabbed Cassandra’s hand and roughly brought it to his lips, keeping his eyes on Seth all the while.
“Cassandra and I will have plenty of time together in the future. You can bet on that.”
With a deep laugh, he dropped her hand and walked in the other direction, leaving them alone in the hall.
The silence was deafening as his footsteps faded, leaving only a ringing in her ears and a sinking feeling in her chest as she struggled to breathe.
Her heart beat violently, and the concern on Seth’s face only made it worse.
“What did he say to you?”
“Nothing.” Cassandra shook her head. “He didn’t say anything, only that—”
She couldn’t finish her sentence, couldn’t believe that Matthew—who had always hated Colonel Bishop—would agree to anything with him. Matthew lied. After everything he said, they were at the point where he needed to accept whatever offer came to her.
She had to get away, to her bedchamber, to safety.
She ran.
Seth bounded after her.
Cassandra wrenched her bedchamber door open, and he followed her in.
“It’s daylight, you can’t be in here—!”
“I can,” Seth said. He closed the door behind him, placed his hands on her shoulders, and bent down until his face was equal to hers. “What did he say to you?”
She felt as if she were outside of herself as she forced the words out.
“He wishes to enter into… an arrangement.” Through her clouded vision, her shaking hands didn’t look like they belonged to her. “How could this happen?”
Seth wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her with the scent of rosemary. “Don’t enter into any arrangements with him. Wait for me to figure this out.”
“I’m out of time.” With gloved fingertips, she swiped at her eyes and tried to straighten her spine, but she crumpled in on herself, heavily leaning back against the door. “Matthew has already agreed to it. And if he hasn’t, he will. It’s our only choice. It’s my only choice.”
“No, sweetheart, it isn’t. You have choices,” he whispered. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll fix this.”
“There’s no fixing this! We’ll have to sell Cooper House! Everything. Even—”
Me.
“Look at me,” he urged. “That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let that happen.”
“I’ll never see you again.” She curled her hands in his shirt, grasping it with clenched fingers, desperate for him to hold her together as her world fell apart.
“You will, I promise you will.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “I swear it, Cassandra, I—”
Unsure which of them made the first move, they melted into a hungry kiss.
Caught in a storm, her fingers wove through his hair and she crashed into him, trying to give all of her fears and insecurities to him, as if he could take them from her, as if a kiss could make it all better.
Seth held her face with strong hands, and eyes of the deepest blue caressed her own.
Time suspended, and in one brief moment, his soul met hers.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Marry me.”
Cassandra froze.
What am I doing?
“Stop.”
Seth stepped back, eyes wide and apologetic. And it only made her feel more wretched. “What’s wrong?”
What was wrong? Everything was wrong! She steeled herself and plastered on a serious expression as, brick by brick, she tried to build her walls around her shattering heart. Forcing words from the lips that had kissed his for the last time, she said, “You can’t talk like that, Mr. Reeves.”
Eyes widening, Seth stammered, “What did you just—” His brows furrowed and hurt tinged his voice. “Talk like what?”
“Like there’s a future for us. I can’t marry you.”
“What if you could? What if I could solve all of this? If I had the means to take care of you—”
“But you don’t! You can scarcely take care of yourself! I have to think of my family. People are starting to talk. My reputation is hanging on by a thread! We are destitute!”
Seth reached for her hand and she stepped back.
“Do you love me?”
“Please don’t do this.”
“Answer me.”
“I can’t marry you.”
“You said that, and that’s not what I asked.”
“You don’t understand—”
“Then help me understand! Talk to me, Cassandra!”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not I love you! I don’t have any choices anymore!”
“You need someone wealthy.” Palms open, he thrust his arms wide. “Give me one week and I can be that! I’m asking you to wait one week for me. Marry me.”
“I can’t.” Cassandra crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes closed. “Even if you could save me from this, you aren’t a gentleman, and now—”
“Why does a title matter?”
“It matters for Caroline!”
“No.” He advanced and placed a hand on either side of her on the door. “Don’t hide behind Caroline or your obligations or your two favorite words, ‘should’ and ‘don’t.’ What do you want, Cassandra?”
She slapped his arms away.
“I want you to stop boxing me in!” She glared at him, eyes blazing, chest heaving. “I need space to think!”
Recoiling from her, he took four paces back. “Is this enough space? Should I go to my bedchamber? Or London? Or America?” He sat on the windowsill and asked, “How far is far enough for you to have the space to think about what you want for once?”
Cassandra didn’t have to think about what she wanted.
She wanted to fling herself into his arms and trust that he would take care of everything.
But she wasn’t a child anymore, and Captain Reeves couldn’t save her from the future that awaited her.
Whatever plan he tried to devise would come too late, and he would keep trying unless she put a stop to it.
“I want you to stop calling me by my name. To stop pressuring me—”
“Pressuring you?!”
“And interrupting me!” she snapped. “You asked me what I want, I’m telling you, and you’re talking over me! I want you to stop!” His face reddened and his mouth opened, and then closed. He inhaled a deep breath through his clenched jaw.
“I want you to stop kissing me, touching me, and making me question myself! I want you to stop toying with me, and I want you to leave me alone!”
The last piece of her heart broke as his face fell.
“Alone,” he repeated.
Mr. Reeves stood.
“That answers the space question. But not the important one.” Her heart hammered against her chest with an icy sting. Tears clung to her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall.
“No, Mr. Reeves.” Cassandra cast down her gaze, unable to face the pain she would find in his eyes, and she lied, “I don’t love you.”
He schooled his expression, shielding himself completely. With hardened eyes, he gathered his folio in his hands and she moved away from the door. If he spared a glance for her, she wouldn’t have noticed with her eyes trained on the floor.
“You truly are a terrible liar, Miss Cooper.”
Mr. Reeves left. The lingering scent of rosemary was the only evidence that he had been there at all. Cassandra slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, holding herself tight as her walls collapsed and crushed her.
Brick by brick.