No matter what Blythe claimed, he was not hurting his family with his pretense that protected Else from being pushing into marriage by her parents before she was ready. If his father and brothers were emotionally invested in a relationship between him and Else, then yes, they would be hurt.
But they weren't. They were not emotionally invested in him, much less who he was dating. He had a role to play in this family and he fulfilled it; that did not mean the minutiae of his life mattered to either his father, or his brothers.
Tor hurt no one in his bid to protect his one true friend.
Blythe made a wounded little sound that he forced himself to ignore as he opened the door. He had to take a damn shower.
And if he got himself off again remembering that kiss and the feel of Blythe's body against his? That wouldn't be anybody's business but his own.
Blythe collapsed into a chair after Tor left. Déjà vu. Just like their last confrontation in here.
How could she have let that happen though? She'd kissed him! Not the other way around and she was fully cognizant of that fact.
She couldn't help the frisson of feminine pride that went through her at the thought she'd brought him to a climax with a kiss and some rubbing.
He was probably embarrassed, but Blythe thought it was the sexiest thing she'd ever experienced.
And that was just all kinds of wrong.
The fact that he wouldn't come clean about his relationship with Else to his family showed that they had very different priorities. He was so lucky to have a family that cared about him, and he was going to hurt them all when they found out he had no plans to marry Else.
He couldn't have any plans to marry the other woman. Not when he did nothing to hide how much he wanted Blythe.
Tor wasn't a player. He wasn't the type of man who would marry one woman while sexually pursuing another.
Was he?
Blythe simply couldn't let herself believe that of him, but was that her own emotions talking, or logic?
She couldn't understand why Tor would lie to his family though. What did he believe was so different about his upbringing than that of his brothers?
Yes, he'd lost his mother and his father had become something of a workaholic after, but she'd seen Prince Canute with his sons. He cared about all of them, like a father should.
It was one of the reasons Blythe adored the whole royal family the way she did. They had a dynamic missing from her own.
Parents that actually wanted the best for their children. Parents who actually wanted their children.
Not like her own parents, who would have let her die when she was eight rather than be inconvenienced with a medical procedure, who had not even known what degree Blythe had gotten at university, much less gone to her graduation. They'd both been out of country on business at the time, but she doubted it would have mattered if they hadn't been.
They had paid for it, of course. It was expected. And they always did what looked right to their peers, but it was never with any sense of caring.
Until she met Janice and her mom, Lady Ingrid, Blythe'd had exactly two birthday celebrations in her life, both milestones others would have noticed if her parents didn't do something for her.
When Blythe had learned that her father's inheritance had depended on him having a child, she'd finally understood why she'd been given life at all.
She'd fulfilled a will's codicil and that was all.
Her parents did not, and had never, loved or wanted her.
Tor had a whole family who loved him and wanted the best for him. That he would deceive them hurt Blythe deep inside.
It shouldn't.
He wasn't her friend, not really.
He for sure wasn't her family. Not like Janice.
So, why did she care so much if he did something Blythe couldn't approve of?