“No man will have a woman who behaves as you do,” Sir Peter added, forcing his foot further into his mouth. “I certainly would not take one for a wife who behaves with such impropriety.”
“Oh, well then, of course I shall close the club forthwith because it is my fondest wish to be your wife, after all.”
Her words were thick with mockery, and Ambrose had to swallow his smile. Tilly never took a backward step from anyone or anything. She was often disrespectful to her betters. His father always said people earned respect.
Do I show Tilly respect?
He dismissed that thought. Ambrose was a good man, mostly. He did right by others and was neither cruel nor rude. Perhaps he might have spoken harshly to her upon occasion, but it was no less than she deserved after the way she spoke to him.
“I say, are you mocking me?” Sir Peter looked shocked at the prospect.
Tilly simply folded her arms and smiled as if they werenot standing in the drizzling rain and cold but chatting over tea.
She wore a long forest-green coat that was buttoned to her neck. It was fitted and showed off the lovely outline of her body, which Ambrose had also spent far too long admiring over the past few years. A matching bonnet with a large brim was keeping her face partially dry.
“Yes,” she simply said.
“You are playing a dangerous game, Miss Wilson, and one you will not win. Men are far superior to women, and we will have this silly little club of yours shut down in no time, because I for one have no wish to see it when visiting mine, as many of our members don’t,” Hardacre said. “I’ve a mind to teach you a lesson on just how superior we are in both intellect and strength.” The man then took a threatening step toward Tilly.
The rage that anyone would threaten Tilly that way hit Ambrose hard. He rarely reacted without thinking through his actions, but right then he was battling the urge to punch Hardacre.
“Back away now,” he said in a voice that had Tilly’s eyes shooting at him for the first time even as he was sure she’d known he was there.
Both men then turned to face him.
“I say, Talbot, are you speaking to us or her?” Sir Peter said.
“You,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Never threaten her, or any of the women who enter this club, again.”
Their mouths fell open. It was Hardacre who recovered first.
“A women’s club should not be opening next door to our club, Talbot. It’s not right?—”
“Whether or not it’s right, you have no reason to threatenMiss Wilson, and I will not stand by and allow you to do so,” Ambrose snapped.
Hardacre’s eyes narrowed. “His behavior is due to his sisters. They’re friends with this woman.” He jabbed a finger at Tilly. “Likely they, too, will enter this ridiculous place because he can’t control them.”
Rather than feeling intimidated, Tilly’s eyes narrowed in anger. The woman had absolutely no sense of self-preservation.
“I cannot believe you’d allow your sisters to attend this place, Talbot,” Sir Peter snarled.
While he’d tried to rein in his sisters’ actions many times, he’d never succeeded. In fact, stopping a charging bull would prove easier.
“I do not control my sisters, Sir Peter.”
Both men scoffed, which, considering the pounding in his head and short supply of patience, wasn’t a wise move.
“Of course you do,” the idiot said. “Why, without our direction, they’d be completely helpless.”
“Ah, suddenly your unwed state is not so surprising, sir,” Tilly said before Ambrose could speak.
Sir Peter glared at her. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your misogynist patriarchal views are perhaps hindering your ability to secure a woman’s interest. A woman may look more kindly upon you as a prospective husband if you allowed her to actually think for herself.” She followed these words with what could loosely be interpreted as a smile but was, in fact, just a slight baring of her front teeth.
Ambrose had no reason to laugh and therefore swallowed down the need when he saw the shocked expressions on the two men’s faces at Tilly’s words. Instead, he gave her a hard look, which he hoped she interpreted to meanshut up. It was a faint hope at best.
CHAPTER 2