current companions clearly did not realize what danger they were courting each time they cracked another asinine joke.
'I am going to speak now,' he said, keeping his voice painfully slow and steady. 'And the person who interrupts me will be tossed out the window. Is that clear?''
No one said anything.
'Is that clear?'
'I thought you wanted us to be quiet,' Blake said.
Which turned out to be all the incentive Caroline needed to open her mouth and say, 'Do you think he realizes that the window isn't open?'
Elizabeth clapped her hand over her mouth. James glared at her. God help her if she laughed.
He drew a deep breath and stared hard into her blue eyes. 'I did not tell you who I was because I was called here to investigate the blackmail of my aunt.'
'Someone is blackmailing your aunt?' Caroline breathed.
'Good God!' Blake exclaimed. 'The cretin must have a death wish.' He looked over at Elizabeth. 'I, for one, am terrified by the old dragon.'
James looked at the Ravenscrofts, then looked markedly at the window, then looked back at Elizabeth. 'It would not have been prudent to inform you of my true purposes here at Danbury House, because, if you recall, you were the prime suspect.'
'You suspected Elizabeth?' Caroline interrupted. 'Are you completely insane?'
'He did,' Elizabeth affirmed. 'And he is. Insane, I mean.'
James took a steadying breath. He was about two steps away from spontaneous combustion. 'I quickly cleared Elizabeth of suspicion,' he ground out.
'That's when you should have told me who you were,' Elizabeth said. 'Before-' She cut herself off and stared purposefully at the ground.
'Before what?' Caroline asked.
'The window, my dear,' Blake said, patting his wife on the arm. 'Remember the window.'
She nodded and turned back to James and Elizabeth, her expression expectant.
James purposefully ignored her, focusing his entire being on Elizabeth. She was sitting in a chair, her back ramrod straight, and her face looked so tense he thought that the merest caress might cause her to shatter. He tried to remember what she'd looked like just an hour earlier, flushed with passion and delight. To his great horror, he could not.
'I did not reveal myself to you at that time,' he continued, 'because I felt that my first duty must be to my aunt. She has been…' He fought for words that might explain the depth of his devotion for the crotchety old lady, but then he remembered that Elizabeth knew of his past. In fact, she was the only person to whom he'd ever told the entire story of his childhood. Even Blake knew only bits and pieces.
'She has been very important to me over the years,' he finally said. 'I couldn't-'
'You don't have to explain your love for Lady Danbury,' Elizabeth said quietly, not raising her eyes to meet his.
'Thank you.' He cleared his throat. 'I did not know-I still do not know-the identity of her blackmailer. Furthermore, I have no way of determining whether or not this individual might prove dangerous. I saw no reason to draw you into the matter any further.'
Elizabeth looked up suddenly, and the expression in her eyes was heartbreaking. 'Surely you know that I would never have done anything to harm Lady Danbury.'
'Of course not. Your devotion to her is obvious. But the fact remains that you are not experienced in such matters, and-'
'And I suppose you are?' she asked, her sarcasm evident but not obnoxious.
'Elizabeth, I have spent most of the last decade of my life working for the War Office.'
'The gun,' she whispered. 'The way you attacked Fellport. I knew something was not right.'
James swore under his breath. 'My altercation with Fellport had nothing to do with my experience in the War Office. For God's sake, Elizabeth, the man had attacked you.'
'Yes,' she replied, 'but you seemed far too familiar with violence. It was too easy for you. The way you drew your gun… You'd had far too much experience with it.'
He leaned forward, his eyes burning into hers. 'What I felt in that moment was far from familiar. It was rage, Elizabeth, pure and primitive, and quite unlike anything that's ever before coursed through my veins.'
'You've-you've never felt rage before?'
He shook his head slowly. 'Not like that. Fellport dared to attack what was mine. He's lucky I let him live.'
'I'm not yours,' she whispered. But her voice lacked confidence.
'Aren't you?'
From across the room, Caroline sighed.
'James,' Elizabeth said. 'I can't forgive you. I just can't.'
'What the hell can't you forgive me for?' he snapped. “For not telling you I had a bloody title? I thought you said you didn't want a damned marquis.'
She pulled back from his anger, whispering, “What do you mean?'
'Don't you remember? It was in this very room. You were holding the book, and-'
'Don't mention that book,' she said, her voice low and furious. 'Don't you ever mention it.'
'Why not?' he taunted, his anger and pain making him mean. 'Because you don't want to be reminded of how desperate you'd become? Of how grasping and greedy?''
'James!' Caroline exclaimed. 'Stop it.'
But he was too hurt, too far gone. 'You're no better than me, Elizabeth Hotchkiss. You preach about honesty, but you were going to trap some poor, unsuspecting fool into marriage.'
'I was not! I would never have married someone without making sure he knew my situation first. You know that.'
'Do I? I don't recall your mentioning such noble principles. In fact, all I recall is your practicing your wiles upon me.'
'You asked me to!'
'James Siddons, estate manager, was good enough to be teased,' he sneered, 'but not good enough to marry. Was that it?'
'I loved James Siddons!' she burst out. And then, horrified by what she'd said, she jumped to her feet and raced for the door.
But James was too quick. He blocked her path, whispering. 'You loved me?'
'I loved him,' she cried out. 'I don't know who you are.'
'I am the same man.'
'No, you're not. The man I knew was a lie. He wouldn't have taunted a woman the way you did me. And yet-' Her voice broke, and a horrified laugh escaped her lips. 'And yet, he did. Didn't he?'
'For God's sake, Elizabeth, what the hell did I do that was so evil and base?''
She stared at him in disbelief. 'You don't even know, do you? You disgust me.'
The muscles in his throat twitched with rage, and it took every ounce of his restraint not to grab her shoulders and shake her until she saw sense. His anger and pain were so raw, so close to the surface that he feared one tiny show of emotion would unleash the whole, horrifying flood of fury. Finally, exerting a self-control he could barely believe he possessed, he managed to bite off two clipped words: 'Explain yourself.'
She stood utterly still for a moment, and then, with a stamp of her foot, she stalked across the room and yanked out the copy of HOW TO MARRY A MARQUIS that had been resting on the shelf. 'Do you remember this?' she yelled, shaking the little red book in the air. “Do you?''
'I believe you asked me not to mention that book in front of the Ravenscrofts.'
'It doesn't matter. You've humiliated me so thoroughly in front of them, anyway. I might as well finish off the job.'
Caroline laid a comforting hand on Elizabeth's arm. 'I think you're quite brave,' she said softly. 'Please don't think you've been shamed in any way.'
'Oh, you don't think so?' Elizabeth lashed out, choking on every word. 'Well, then, look at this' She thrust the
