Cara turned round to look at him.
“Why should you be so foolish, my Lord, as to want me to stay when you know as well as I do that you will find – my presence here intolerable? Every time you look at me you will remember how you have been humiliated by Uncle Lionel and, however much you try to forget – it will be a constant irritant that will make our lives a living hell!”
The way she spoke was more surprising than what she actually said, and the Marquis rose from his chair to walk across the room to stand beside her.
She did not speak but merely stood looking up at him, her curious slanting eyes seeming to hold a question that was impossible for him to answer.
He did not speak for a moment and then he said,
“You puzzle me, Cara, because you are quite unlike any young woman I have eve
