Before he could stop himself, he reached out and tucked her robe back up her shoulder. “If you want to fill the moat, all you need do is ask me for the funds. I’m not struggling financially.”
She frowned, not seeming to notice the brush of his fingers against her bare skin. “I never thought you were. But surelybeing taken advantage of is galling to you? I know it certainly is to me.”
He inhaled, trying to find the right words. “If there is a severe problem, it is better to deal with it firmly and swiftly, of course, but if it’s only a matter of a few pounds, it is more sensible to keep the peace.”
“More sensible for whom?”
“We rely on our servants for everything. If we upset them, then they can make life unpleasant in small ways.”
“So you would countenance them stealing from you so long as they treat you with deference?”
He clenched his jaw, attempting to keep his temper. It had been tried more often over the past week than it had in the past few years. “If they are stealing, that is one thing, but a simple mistake—”
“I am not looking to punish them for a mistake,” she objected, pushing back from her chair and pacing back and forth. “I have no desire to fracture your household, but can you endure this disrespect so easily? We rely on our servants, yes, but does that mean we must live in fear of offending them?”
He followed the path she took, tracing the way her legs moved under her nightgown. She had long legs, and the outside of her thigh occasionally pressed against the material.
He pinched his nose, attempting to force the image from his brain. “I never said that.”
“You might as well have done. I ought to keep the peace no matter the provocation?”
“Merely not rile them unnecessarily,” he said. “You forget that they have served me for a long time.”
She turned to look at him; in the lamplight, he could not read her expression. But her shoulders were stiff, and he had the awful suspicion that he had said the wrong thing. “I know I am not the wife you would have chosen, if choice were a luxury youfelt you could afford,” she said, her voice cold and remote. “But am I to be so dismissed?”
God, he had never felt so out of his depth. “No, Chris. Sit down, please.” He rose to meet her, and when he caught her wrist, she looked down at the contact with a slight gasp. “I won’t hurt you,” he said, exasperated, releasing her at once. “Do you see me as so much of a monster?”
Her pupils were wide as she looked up at him, her chin rising defiantly. “I would respond that way ifanyonewere to grab me.”
“I merely wanted—”
“You wanted me to sit and listen like a good little wife.” She exhaled suddenly, her shoulders falling, and returned to her chair. “Which, I suppose, is all I am. Proceed, if you will.”
“Chris, look at me.” When she did, he resisted the urge to take her shoulders and shake them. “Have I ever treated you like a silly little wife?”
“You’ve hardly had the opportunity to until now.”
“I respect you, and I would like for us to be partners. But understand this—my household has been curated from those who can endure my face without flinching. If we scare them away, or dismiss them, then we must find new servants who have such temperaments, and I can tell you now, there are few in this world who see me as anything less than a beast. I had trouble enough procuring kitchen maids.”
A line appeared between her brows as she studied him, the heat of anger gone from her eyes. His chest rose and fell, and he realized he was panting.
“Hugh,” she said softly.
“I don’t need your pity. But if you cause trouble, there are consequences.”
She came to stand before him, her mouth turning down. “Is that what you see when you look in the mirror?” she asked, and to his surprise, she reached a hand to his cheek—his ruined,scarred, vile cheek. Her skin felt cool and soft against his, and she trailed her fingers over his temple, his cheekbone, the corner of his mouth perpetually twisted down. “You are no monster to me,” she murmured. “You are not hideous. And if someone has been making you feel that way, thentheyare the problem.”
He caught her wrist before she could touch him further. She had cupped his cheek briefly once before, but no one, not even Amelia, had touched him like this since the fire. He felt as though she had set his chest alight. All pain and heat. “You know the rumors, Chris.”
“The rumors arewrong.”
Without knowing why, he brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed them one by one. The air between them disappeared; she looked at him as though she could hardly believe what he was doing. As though his grateful kisses were as much a mystery as her gentle caresses.
“The rumors are there in part because of servants’ gossip,” he said. “I know well the dangers of disloyal servants and their tongues.” He released her, and she brought her hand to her chest, cradling it against herself. “All I ask is that you do not wage war unless you know for certain you will be victorious.”
“And if I’m already certain?” Her eyes met his, almost silver in the light, gleaming like mercury. “What then, Hugh? Will you support me?”
“If you require my support, then you have it,” he said. “Don’t abuse it.”