“Thomas,” Abigail said and turned to him. “Is that true?
“Well, I...” he stuttered and lowered his gaze.
“Rebecca, come here. Sit with us,” Emma said, angrily eyeing Thomas.
Rebecca approached the large sofa where the three young women sat and joined them.
“Is this true, Rebecca?” Emma asked.
She glanced worriedly at Thomas, but Abigail added, “You may speak freely here, Rebecca.”
Rebecca drew in a breath and nodded. “Indeed. I witnessed most of the conversation from afar, a spectator who was not asked to give her opinion on the matter. I am not certain why Thomas thinks that is what I want.”
“You don’t care for him?” Abigail asked.
He stepped back and lowered his gaze in disappointment. If she did not have feelings for him, everything he had done had been in vain and he’d made a fool of himself.
“Truthfully,” Rebecca said after a long pause, “I do like him. He is wonderful and kind at the best of times, but seeing him today talking to my father with no regard to what I want is not the kind of man I know him to be. My feelings for him do not matter much, whether I am deeply in love with him or not. I cannot agree to marry a man who made arrangements with my father as if I were a millstone around his neck. He did not even ask my permission, or even my opinion first. If I did not matter in the proposal, why would I matter in the rest of the marriage. That is not what I want.”
“What do you want?” Emma asked.
Thomas stared upon the lovely Rebecca, whom he had lost his heart to, and clearly all his sense of reason as well. He stared hopefully at her, fearful that he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
It was true. He had not considered her feelings at all at the time, and that would surely cost him.
“I want to matter,” Rebecca said, and her gaze met Thomas’s from across the room. “I want to matter the most.”
REBECCA GAZED AT THOMAS, whose eyes were filled with guilt and shame. It was clearly visible on his face, and Rebecca felt remorse inside her soul. But she deserved more than what had been handed to her, of that she was certain.
“But you do matter the most, Rebecca,” Thomas said, and at least his words sounded sincere.
“It certainly does not feel that way.”
Thomas ran his fingers through his dark hair and slowly approached her. He knelt before her, his hands resting on her knees. Even though it was not the most appropriate thing to do, the duchess and the two ladies were at least present as chaperones.
“I am truly remorseful if it came across that way, Rebecca. The reason why I told your father that I would marry you was because I did not wish for your reputation to be ruined by the terrible things printed in the newspaper, which were not even true...”
“Well, at least not all of it,” Julia said, with a gentle reminder.
Thomas pursed his lips, avoiding turning his attention away from Rebecca. He took both her hands in his and drew in a deep breath. “I did not wish for your reputation to be tainted in any matter, Rebecca, and I thought that a request for courtship eventually resulting in marriage was the right way to go about things. But it was not. The only thing I succeeded in doing was to upset you and drive you away from me.”
“Thomas, you did not drive me away,” she said.
“You did not exactly fall into my arms at the thought of marrying me.”
“I was disappointed, as you had broken a promise you made me,” Rebecca said and glanced down at him.
He studied her for a moment, attempting to recall a broken promise. It was not in his nature to make promises without the intention of keeping them. “I do not...”
“You made a promise to me that the reason why you would ask for my hand in marriage would not be when my reputation was at stake.”
The memory slammed into him, making him rather ashamed at his recent behaviour.
“Indeed, you are correct. I did,” Thomas said, taking a slow, steady breath. “I am so sorry, Rebecca. It was not my intention to upset you or make you feel as though you don’t matter. I value your opinion. I simply asked your father’s permission as I wished to deflect his anger away from what had happened. It is certainly not an excuse, nor does it justify my actions.”
“No, it does not.”
Thomas cringed and placed one of her hands in his and placed his other hand on top of it. “Will you forgive me? Forgive this silly fool of a man who has treated you unfairly but wishes nothing more than your happiness. Please forgive me and allow me to prove to you that I truly care for you, more than I have ever cared for anyone.”
“It is true,” Emma said with a smile and Rebecca glanced at her.
“It is?” Rebecca asked.
“Indeed,” Emma said. “The first day he met you, he returned home and could not stop talking about you.”
“We all were under the impression he was inebriated, swooning dreamily about the hallways,” Julia said.
Rebecca giggled and gazed back at Thomas. “That is rather delightful to hear.”
“No, you are delightful, Rebecca. I have never met a woman as beautiful and kind as you, who also enjoyed going hunting for fossils. At first, I could not determine whether you only said it was interesting to distract me from the pain as you sutured my wound, but seeing the wonder in your eyes at the beach confirmed that you were truly interested.”
“I was. I would never pretend to be interested in something I was not, regardless of how charming or attractive the person may be,” Rebecca said.
The corners of Thomas’ mouth curled upward as he gazed at her. “You
