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same.” He looked more serious than she’d ever seen him. The determination in his features was more frightening than his barely leashed passion in London. She regarded his hard jaw and steady eyes and questioned her ability to withstand him.
    “Don’t.” She faltered back. Her hand clenched on the ivory umbrella handle to the point of pain. If he told her again that he loved her, she’d strike him.
    He ran his hand through his hair. “Do you remember that afternoon we spent walking through the snow? I felt like I’d met the other half of my soul. Tell me you didn’t feel like that, too.”
    How this hurt. How she cursed Sidonie for bringing Elias here to persecute her. “I might have been carried away for a few hours in the pleasure of finding a kindred spirit.”
    His mouth flattened with impatience. “More than that, surely.”
    “Less than that if you intend to badger me.”
    To her surprise, he didn’t react with rage. Instead, compassion softened his black Thorne eyes and he stepped toward her. “Oh, hell, I should have realized.”
    She regarded him warily and backed off to maintain her distance. “Realized what exactly?”
    “How much Cam hurt you, devil take him.”
    She frowned at Elias and raised the umbrella like a lance. “Of course I loathed all the gossip.”
    “I thought that was all it was.”
    “All?” she asked on a rising note.
    “I know your pride revolted at what happened. Now I see you fancied yourself in love with him.”
    Shock held her silent for a beat. “Are you mad?”
    He knocked aside the umbrella’s frail protection and took her arm. “I’m so sorry. No wonder you find it hard to trust me.”
    She shook free and regarded him with dislike. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
    “No, you don’t.” He didn’t touch her again, thank goodness, but he was far too close. “If you’re marrying Desborough because the man you want is out of reach, think again.”
    The man she wanted
was
out of reach, for all that he currently stood mere inches away. “You don’t truly think I’m wearing the willow for Camden Rothermere, do you? He and Pen are perfect together. I knew it the first time I saw them.”
    She couldn’t mistake his vast relief at her uncompromising response. “I’m glad. I hate to think of you being unhappy, Marianne.”
    The irony of that statement left her gasping. “Then why chase me down here? That’s hardly likely to put a smile on my face.”
    “Neither is marrying Desborough.”
    She stiffened and sent him a dismissive look. “Good afternoon, my lord. I hope your journey back to London is dry.”
    A fine misty rain had started to fall, turning his black hair to slick curls. The only really dry thing in the whole dripping gray world was his tone. “You won’t get rid of me merely for the asking, my lady. I’m not giving up the contest.”
    She hid a flinch. Seeing him was so painful and she could tell by the stubborn line of his mouth that nothing she said would make him leave. Hiding her distress behind composure was second nature to Marianne. Why was it so cursed difficult with this one man? “There is no contest. Or at least not one where you’re in the running. Last week, I refused your proposal. You should have the good grace to retire from the race.”
    His eyes slitted in a way that sent apprehension slithering through her like a snake, colder than the winter air around her. “Oh, no, my lovely. This particular runner is vying for the prize and intends to win it.”
    Despite her vow to appear unshaken, she took an unsteady step backward.
    She gasped as her heel slipped in the mud. With lightning swiftness, Elias moved to seize her arm and save her from an embarrassing tumble.
    “Careful,” he said, but she hardly heard.
    All she felt was the heat of his touch through her blue sleeve. All she saw was the glitter in his black eyes. The breath jammed in her throat as he loomed nearer, tall, magnetic, oh, so, tempting. While