For the first time since she'd first brought up Clarissa Cosgrove's name yesterday, Angelica seemed to understand. He couldn't brush her off, because everything she was saying was the truth. He was momentarily speechless — which was fine, because she had speech enough without his interrupting to add fuel to the fire.
When she'd finished he still didn't know what to say. The only thing that came to mind immediately was a rebuttal of her assessment of him. Your history has shown you to be a poor judge of men's characters, he could have said, but that would have been cruel. Emrys could perhaps be cold while trying to get them out of this conversation with all possible speed, but he could not be cruel.
He stood, less for any real need and more because this felt like the kind of moment in which he ought to be evenly matched — as though she were an opponent rather than a lover, and he needed to avoid surrendering the high ground. "I could never throw you away," he began, quietly and seriously. "But I cannot accept your terms. I cannot marry you."
When she'd finished he still didn't know what to say. The only thing that came to mind immediately was a rebuttal of her assessment of him. Your history has shown you to be a poor judge of men's characters, he could have said, but that would have been cruel. Emrys could perhaps be cold while trying to get them out of this conversation with all possible speed, but he could not be cruel.
He stood, less for any real need and more because this felt like the kind of moment in which he ought to be evenly matched — as though she were an opponent rather than a lover, and he needed to avoid surrendering the high ground. "I could never throw you away," he began, quietly and seriously. "But I cannot accept your terms. I cannot marry you."
Lou made this! <3