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“I did it to protect someone else,” he told her on a shuddering breath. “Even then, that kind of darkness follows you everywhere. It is like a damned weight I cannot shake off.”

“Hudson…” She reached for his face, but he had stepped away.

Out of her reach, once more.

“I cannot taint anyone who is bound to me,” he murmured. “And if you stay with me, little cat, the darkness will consume you, too. I cannot allow that.”

It was preposterous, what he was saying. Guilt was not infectious in the same way a cold might be, but Hudson seemed to have convinced himself of it.

She would have told him all of that, but he had already turned around and left her.

Stupid man. Did he really think he could scare me with that?

If he wanted to ensure that she kept to his ridiculous proposal of amarriage blanc, he did not have to make up some dark backstory of a tortured hero—she already believed that he was.

And he was going to behers. Her very own tortured hero.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Scarlett woke up to find her mama sitting by the side of her bed, the soft sunlight limning her features. It had been so long since she last woke up to find her mother occupying that same spot. When she was a child… maybe seven or eight.

“Mama,” she croaked, her mouth feeling dry as dust. “What are you doing here?”

Her mother frowned slightly, her auburn eyebrows scrunched together. “Your dog has been eyeing me suspiciously for a while now.”

Scarlett smiled slightly and scooped Snowdrop up into her lap. The puppy offered no further protest and settled right in, succumbing to her gentle ministrations, although it still did regard her mother with wary eyes.

“Snowdrop is still not used to seeing other people,” she explained. “And I dared not let him out so much with all the guests about.”

That, and she did not think Hudson would take too kindly to a lively ball of white fur tumbling around the corridors.

“I would feel much more at ease if he did not stare at me so.” Her mama shuddered. “It makes me feel like I have just committed an awful blunder of some sort…”

“Oh.” Scarlett allowed Snowdrop to settle into a much more comfortable position on her lap.

Growing up, she had borne witness to the various tactics her father had employed to ‘subdue’ her mama. She would not be so surprised if a pointed glare in absolute silence was one of them.

“The Duke and Dowager Duchess have decided to make the announcement after dinner.” Her mother picked at the fine embroidery on the bed hangings. “And I have sent word to your brother. He means to arrive after lunch, or so he told me.”

“Alex is always so busy.” Scarlett shrugged slightly.

“But you are his only sister,” her mama huffed. “Naturally, he should be present for the announcement of your engagement. A meeting with your betrothed is also necessary to smooth out other details for your marriage.”

Betrothed.

The word danced on her tongue like a foreign cuisine—strange but not entirely unpleasant.

“Have you been up this whole time?” Scarlett asked instead.

Balls usually finished at breakfast, and with her mama and the Dowager Duchess running the entire affair, she must not have gotten enough sleep.

Her mama gave her a sharp look. “Well, I cannot be expected to lie about the whole day like an invalid when my only daughter is about to be married to a duke.”

Scarlett winced. So, she was the invalid here.

“Heavens, I could not afford that, Scarlett. And even then, I would be very ashamed to do so, what with His Grace already up and riding to the Archbishop for a special license.”

Her heart sank into her stomach at her mother’s words. Last night, he had not been in favor of obtaining a special license, and now he could hardly sleep to go get it.