‘You asked him? Why did you not tell me?’
‘I assumed you would want to hear about it from Susan; meanwhile, it seemed wise to let him know someone had her interests at heart.’ He was watching her from under heavy lidded eyes, bruised by tiredness, but Hester was not fooled into thinking Guy Westrope was the slightest hit sleepy.
‘Thank you.’ This situation was so unreal. Hester fell back on common civility to guide her. ‘And thank you for dealing so effectively with the Nugents.’
‘Ah, yes, my delinquent cousins. Georgy told you all about that, I presume.’
Hester nodded. ‘She was very kind. What have you discovered about them?’ She really wanted to know, but not at midnight with a man in her bedchamber.
‘That they are very deeply in debt and there seems to be some suggestion of fraud involving Sarah’s erstwhile fiancé.’
‘What will happen to them?’ Hester pulled the counterpane up around her shoulders.
‘I will let them sweat a little and then buy the house on the condition they leave the country. Provided you drop charges and Jethro and the doctor do not want to pursue their claims, they will be free to leave.’
‘Oh, yes, anything to be rid of them.’ Hester tried for a firm note. ‘Thank you for letting me know, I hope you are warm enough to go home now.’
‘Not nearly warm enough.’ His voice was a husky drawl and Hester gasped.
‘You have come over here thinking that, because I was one man’s mistress, I will take you into my bed? Get out this minute!’ She pointed furiously at the door. ‘Go on.’
‘Hester, I came to apologise for making you think I was judging you, condemning you.’ Guy sat down on the end of the bed and she withdrew her feet sharply. He was far too close, far too male and, now his waistcoat joined his coat on the chair, wearing far too little. ‘I was very clumsy and I did not know how to make things right between us.’
‘You mean you do not believe I was John’s mistress?’ Had Maria or Lady Broome said something after all, or was this the declaration of trust she had been praying for?
‘I mean that I do not know. If you were, then either you were deeply in love with the man and for some reason could not marry him-and if that were the case, it would be rampant hypocrisy on my part to condemn you, knowing what I do about my own grandmother-or you were forced into that position against your will, in which case, what blame is there in that?’
Guy was watching her face, his own serious as he spoke. Hester could feel the colour ebb and flow under her skin as her emotions struggled to keep pace with what he was saying.
‘You mean you do not care?’
‘Of course I care.’ He reached for her hand and she snatched it away. ‘I care if you have lost someone you love, I care if you were forced into a relationship you did not want, I care if you were the object of gossip and scandal whatever the circumstances.’ He moved swiftly and captured both her hands before she could evade him and pulled her gently towards him. ‘Hester, what I am trying to tell you is that I love you. I love you now, as you are, whatever or whoever you are. I was not part of your past, but I want to be your future.’
The room fell silent, so still that Hester could hear the crackling as ice crystals formed and brushed against the window panes. ‘But… I thought all men wanted to marry virgins.’
Guy smiled, lifting her hand to brush it against his cheek. ‘That would be very hard on widows if it were the case.’
‘Do not jest with me.’ She should pull her hand free, but it felt so good against his cold cheek, rubbing against the stubble that was darkening his jaw.
‘Hester, I hurt you, firing out questions when what you needed was for me to take your side against my sister instantly, without explanations. I did side with you, but too late, when I was alone with her. I believe I put enough questions in her mind about why such a scandal broth should have been stirred in the first place.’
‘She knows the truth,’ Hester said stiffly. Something was hurting inside-did a broken heart mending hurt like this? ‘I had better tell you.’
‘Only if you want to.’ Guy released her hands and ran his palm caressingly down her hair. ‘Hester, I asked why because I hurt for you, wanted to know so I could protect you. I am not looking for an explanation, or for you to justify yourself to me.’
Hester swallowed. The pain was an ache now, a fading ache. Hearts did mend after all and it seemed it was possible to smile. The change in his expression when he saw that tremulous curl of her lips made something inside her jolt. Slowly she began to explain, watching Guy’s face, seeing the comprehension in his eyes as the tale unfolded.
‘I did love him,’ she finished at last. ‘I loved him like an uncle or a much older brother, but never in any other way. It would have been wrong to marry him simply to provide for myself. I accepted the legacy he left me because I knew he truly wanted me to have it and it would have worried him so much if he thought I would not. His is the wine you have been admiring.’
‘Then I will drink to his memory when next we open a bottle of it. He sounds a good man. It is a tragedy that his last months were made miserable by the spite and the greed of his relatives.’
‘But that spite remains,’ Hester pointed out, doggedly de
termined to drag out into the light every festering element of the scandal. ‘I should never have agreed to marry you, and I should have explained why at once. Think of the scandal if you marry me now.’
‘If Georgy knows the truth, then believe me, her influence in London society utterly eclipses that of Sir John’s cousins. By the time you reappear in London at my side, there will be no scandal.’
‘Guy, do you really want to marry me? We were thrown together, you were emotionally involved with this house, you felt you had to protect me. I would understand if you find you were mistaken…’ Her voice trailed off as he rose from the bed and moved away towards the fire. It was the right thing to say, she told herself, wondering if she would manage not to cry until he left the room.