Her heart pounded as she slowly shook her head. “I don’t love him.”

“Do you want to marry him?”

“No.”

He dragged his hands down his cheeks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would it have made a difference?” She’d tossed the question out lightly, but it felt as though her whole life teetered on the edge of his response.

“I don’t know.” He stood and paced the length of the bedchamber. “Maybe.”

“Lord Singleton is fully aware of my family’s financial predicament,” she explained. “He still wants to marry me and has generously offered to help. Moreover, I believe he’s a good and decent gentleman. Given the circumstances, it’s very difficult for me to refuse his proposal.”

“Even if you don’t love him,” he said, his voice distant and cold.

“I would do anything for my family,” she said, a tad defensively. “And many people marry for reasons other than love.”

“Many people do,” he agreed. “But not you.”

Anger bubbled up in her chest. “You have no right to judge me, Reese. I’m sure it’s difficult to imagine yourself in my position. But if you were, I daresay you’d do the same thing.”

He braced his arms on the back of his chair and dropped his chin to his chest. “You’re right; forgive me. I just wish things were different.”

“How so?” she whispered, perilously close to tears.

He pressed his lips together, thoughtful, then sat across from her once more. “I wish that I could touch and hold you. I wish there were no secrets between us. But most of all, I wish I could be the man you deserve.”

“I don’t even understand what that means,” she said, frowning.

His eyes filled with regret. “It means I’m not—and I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”

“I see.” A wave of hurt and disappointment crashed over her, but she refused to let it pull her under. “Then it was definitely prudent of us to set some boundaries from the start.”

“This conversation isn’t going as I’d hoped,” he admitted. “What I was trying to say is that I’ve begun to change. I’m still not whole, not worthy of someone like you. But if you can give me some time—”

“Reese,” she interjected. Though she longed to hear more, she couldn’t, in good conscience, let him go on. Not until she’d told him about her family’s rapidly deteriorating situation—and how it might cut short their time together. “There’s something you should know.”

“What is it?” he asked, instantly wary.