Page 54 of Courting Claudia
He nodded. He clenched his thin lips tightly together.
“And I suppose he told you why I’m here.”
He looked at her, and she was almost certain she saw something close to hatred flash in his eyes. “I cannot believe you would do this to me. You were supposed to marry me.” His voice was low and soft, too soft to be calm.
Claudia took a step away from him. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Perhaps repeating Poppy’s advice would prevent her from giving him too much information. She was sorry if she hurt him, but Poppy was right. They had never been engaged. He’d never even so much as muttered the word marriage to her. Not even once.
“You never asked me.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? You knew of my intentions. I had spoken with your father about it a number of times and planned to ask for your hand when I returned from the country.”
“Speaking to my father is not the same as us being engaged. I’m sorry this happened the way it did, but I’m marrying Derrick.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry!” His voice rose to an alarming level. He pushed his hand through his hair. “Damnation, Claudia, this ruins everything. All my plans.”
Raw rage dripped off him like wax droplets from a burning candle. She’d ruined his plans. She hadn’t hurt him.
“Your plans? I ruined your plans? Richard, I am not a plan. Marriage is not a plan. Not in my eyes, anyway. Marriage is a sacred relationship. It’s about mutual respect and admiration and sometimes, if you’re one of the lucky ones, sometimes it’s about love. But never is it about plans.”
“Don’t be foolish.” A cruel smile lit his face. “Did you think I loved you?”
“You told me you did. All those poems. The trinkets. Those are the actions of a man in love. But to answer your question, no, I didn’t think you loved me. Not really. I did think you were at least fond of me. I thought you wanted me for your wife. Not simply because you needed me to secure your political future.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“Don’t look so surprised. I’m not as foolish as you think, just a little slow to see the truth.”
“Truth? Do you know what kind of man Derrick Middleton is?”
“Decent and hardworking.”
Richard let out a humorless laugh.
How could she have ever looked at this man with favor? True, she had never loved him, but she’d been somewhat fond of him. Had believed he was a kind man. Had believed he’d honestly wanted to marry her.
What a fool she’d been. Perhaps Derrick had been right about Richard all along, and perhaps Derrick would tell her what he’d been reluctant to tell her before. She wanted the details of Richard’s past. She needed to know what kind of man she’d almost married.
“If this is the only reason you came here today, then I’d rather you leave. I’m sorry things turned out the way they did for you and that your plans are ruined. But I have no time to listen to your stories.”
“My stories? You don’t know anything, you foolish chit. Your would-be lover has a secretive past. I’d wager there’s quite a bit you don’t know about Derrick Middleton.”
“You’re talking nonsense.” She stood and walked away from him. Wanting to distance herself from his lies. “But if you’re talking about his previous marriage, then yes, I know about that.”
“No, I’m talking about something Derrick wrote for his father’s paper and the result of it was someone’s death.”
“Reporting the truth is the great purpose of newspapers. It does not make him responsible for a man’s life.”
“I never said the story was the truth,” Richard sneered. “Only that it resulted in a man’s death.”
What did that mean? That Derrick printed a false story? Impossible. Derrick wasn’t a liar. She knew him well enough to know that. Didn’t she?
Richard closed the distance between them. “How did you meet Derrick Middleton?”
“My relationship with him is none of your concern.”
“From what your father said, you’ve made it everyone’s business.” He let his eyes roam down the length of her, and it was as if he’d actually touched her. She shivered in revulsion.
“Had I known that you were so willing,” he said, “I’d have made advances myself.”