“Fair?” the Duke ejaculated. “It is, if you like, crass stupidity! But it is hardly what one expects from someone of your age who pretends to be looking after her younger sisters!”
“I went into the – garden, because I – thought I saw Cheryl ahead of – me,” Andrina quavered.
She felt that she had to explain, she had to make the Duke understand that she had not deliberately sought to be alone with the Earl in the darkness.
“It is typical that you should be fussing over your sisters instead of setting them an example by your own behaviour,” the Duke snapped. “You are not such a nitwit, Andrina, as to think that a man with Crowhurst’s reputation would take you into the garden except to make love to you.”
He paused to say sternly,
“If he has scared and shocked you on this occasion, perhaps
