Gentlemen Prefer Spinsters (Spinsters Club #1)(53)

Merry grimaced. “Unfortunately, that does sound too much like my father.”

Harcourt shook his head. This was getting ridiculous. “Are you really taken in by this act, Merry?” He closed the gap between him and the old man. “What about the windows? What reason have you for prying them open? Or the door? Or the man on the street who tried to hurt her?”

Sir Seton’s eyes widened. “Someone tried to hurt you?”

“A man in town,” Merry explained. “I do not know why. I thought perhaps it was...well it seems silly now. It was most likely a robbery gone wrong.” She shrugged.

“I-I would never wish you harm, my lady. Your mother took a more sympathetic view of me than your father did, and I would never wish her children harm.” He glanced at Harcourt. “I swear, I did not touch any windows or doors.”

Merry shook her head in disbelief. “I always said it was the wind.”

Harcourt shook his head and thrust a finger at Sir Seton. “No, I don’t believe it. Too many things happened. You must have been trying to hurt her.”

“Accept it, Harry, you were wrong.” Merry put her hands on her hips. “To think you had me tiptoeing around as though someone was trying to harm me.”

“I wanted you safe,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I appreciate...” She dropped her voice with a glance at Sir Seton. “I appreciate that you were trying to look out for me whilst my brother is gone, but I think you took the duty too seriously.”

Sir Seton swung his gaze between them. “Why do I-I not give you a moment?”

“Oh, do not run off, Sir Seton. Please,” Merry begged.

“Yes, I think you should leave,” snarled Harcourt.

Sir Seton hastened out of the room, nearly knocking into a vase on a side table on his way out. Harcourt steadied the vase and turned his attention to Merry.

“You’re foolish to trust him.”

Merry’s cheeks reddened. “The man is clearly no danger to anyone! He could barely stand, let alone try to run me down with a carriage or set someone on me.”

“You really think everything that has happened is a coincidence?”

“You and I both know no one has any reason to harm me. This is a far more logical explanation.”

“Logical,” he scoffed, mimicking her.

She drew in a breath and eyed him. “I know of the Setons’ vaguely. I do not doubt his story, but I will ask my aunt to be sure, of course.” She pursed her lips. “You were uncommonly rude to him.”

“Do you blame me?”

“Yes! Yes, I do. You have been interfering in my life ever since...ever since Father died. I need some space, Harry. How can I even think when you...when you’re always around?” She gestured about the room with her hand.

He stiffened. “I did not realize my presence was so unwanted.”

“It’s not like that...”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I was only trying to protect you. I only wanted you safe.”

She nodded stiffly. “I know. But there is no danger.” Merry thrust a finger toward the door. “I think you should leave. I need space. And time.”

“You know, Merry, if you were not so determined to deny yourself happiness, you’d see that’s the last thing you want.”

“Harry, I am done with you telling me what I want!”

“You are so damned stubborn and mule-headed that you do not even know what you want.” He gritted his teeth and pushed a breath through his nostrils. “Fine. I am leaving. Perhaps then you will wake up and realize what I have known all along.” He straightened his hat. “We are meant to be together.”

He swept out of the room and barged past Sir Seton, his breaths feeling hot in his lungs. Blast that bloody woman. Damn her stubbornness. He was done being patient. He was done trying to wake her up to what was happening between them. He could probably pursue her for years and she still would not give in, all because of some pact.

He was done.





Chapter Twenty-Three





“Merry?”

Merry glanced up at all the shoes and skirts that gathered in the dusty dining room. She lifted her gaze upward to find that the shoes belonged to the Spinsters Club. She gave them a weak smile.

“Whatever are you doing on the floor?” demanded Bella. “You shall get a cold.”

“I was just...” Merry sighed, looking around at the clutter about her. The house was silent with the exception of the shuffling feet of her friends. She lifted her wrist. “I hurt my wrist.”

Lord, she hated how feeble she sounded. She’d been moving furniture alone once more when she’d lifted one particularly heavy sideboard. If her friends had turned up a moment earlier, they’d have seen her practically blubbering from the pain.

Of course, it was not just the pain bothering her. She frowned to herself and tried to remove the image of Harry’s hurt expression from her mind.

She’d not meant to be so dismissive or to push him away. But how could she even breathe or think with him around dictating her movements? How could she ensure she remained true to the Spinster’s Club? Her Father’s cousin had nothing but good intentions and Harry could not see that. She just had to make him go away. She had to.