Page 74 of My Duke, The Stranger
This will not go well… but for me, or Mr. Harwood? I wish I knew.
“What is the meaning of this?” Cassian strode ahead. He fixed a glare on Mr. Harwood, the type that could turn fire to ice,before passing him by and planting himself beside Isolde. “Mr. Harwood, you ought to know better than this.”
“Your Grace.” Mr. Harwood bowed deeply. “I do apologize for the intrusion and the means by which I have done it.”
“My steward told me you wished to speak to my wife alone.” He held his glare. “To even ask for such a thing…” He curled his lip. “I ought to have you dragged outside.”
Isolde took some pleasure in watching Mr. Harwood cower. In the face of Cassian’s hostility, he was not so confident. But that pleasure was short lived.
“I had hoped it would not be necessary, Your Grace,” Mr. Harwood spoke quickly. “When I arrived, I was not certain if you knew the truth of your wife’s upbringing.” He looked at her quickly. “A truth I now know you are privy to.”
Cassian turned stiff. “If I were you, I would choose my next words carefully.”
“I came here to warn you, Your Grace,” he said. “When I heard of what Isolde?—”
“Her Grace,” Cassian cut him off. “You will address my wife as befits her position.”
Mr. Harwood swallowed. “When I heard what she had done, I was not surprised, Your Grace.” He swallowed again. “You see,while it brings me no pleasure to tell you this, she did the same to me.”
“What?” Isolde blurted. “That is a lie!”
“A harsh truth,” Mr. Harwood said smoothly. “As you know, her family is in dire straits, financially speaking, and she attempted to trick me into marrying her so that I might rescue them.”
“I did no such thing!” Isolde stood quickly and looked at Cassian. “He is lying, Cassian. I would never… I would not…”
“I refused her, of course,” Mr. Harwood continued with a smirk. “Only to learn that a few days later she found her way into your good graces. The nature of it…” He sighed and shook his head. “I would not deem to pry. But I thought you should be warned thatHer Gracewill do anything she must to get her way. I only wish I had learned sooner, so I might have warned you.”
Isolde could not believe what she was hearing!
She looked at Mr. Harwood, noting the proud smile on his lips and the reflection of it in his eyes. That was why he was here. He claimed it was to do the right thing, but it was little more than revenge.
Then she looked at her husband, and that brought her little respite.
Cassian’s brow furrowed and there was no sense at all that he meant to simply dismiss Mr. Harwood’s absurd claims because there was no way he could believe them. In fact, it looked as if he was considering them. Worse still, he did not once look at Isolde.
“Cassian…” She took his hand. “He is lying to you. Mr. Harwood asked me to marry him, and I turned him away.”
“That is a lie,” Mr. Harwood said. “Do not believe her words, Your Grace, for they are spoken with a tongue of poison and wickedness.”
“Please,” she begged. “You must believe me. I would never…” She caught her tongue, because she could not possibly say that she would never lie to him.
“Mr. Harwood.” Cassian’s voice was so cold that Isolde felt its chill. “Leave us. Now.” He glared warningly at Mr. Harwood, a sight that should have told Isolde that he was on her side…
“At once, Your Grace.” He bowed deeply. “Again, I do apologize for this most troublesome news, but you needed to be told.” He made sure to smirk once at Isolde before departing.
“Lies,” Isolde said as soon as they were alone. “Every word he spoke was a lie.”
“A lie…” Cassian rolled the word over his tongue. “You would know of such things, wouldn’t you?”
“I…” She leaned back and he slowly peeled his hand free. “That is not… I lied once, Cassian. I would never do it again. You must believe me.”
“That’s just it, though.” Still, he could not bring himself to look at her. “I do not know if I must. I want to, Isolde. I wish it were that easy. But…” He bit into his lip, and she saw the battle raging across his face. “I need some time to think about this.”
“Cassian…” His name came out in a whimper.
He strode across the room. When he reached the door, he turned back and looked at her. In that look, she did not see the same man who had kissed her just one day ago. She did not see love or compassion. What she saw was doubt and pain and a hint of the man whom Cassian had fought so hard against returning to.
Then he turned and walked away.
