“It’s a long story, Claire, but not so strange as you probably imagine. I was ill when Mrs. Schuyler found me, and she was good enough to take me in. She is a charming woman,” he continued tactlessly. “And very comme il faut.”
“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” Claire interrupted bitterly. “Very comme il vous faut, I am sure.” Her emphasis of the “vous” was both angry and insulting.
Alexis sprang to his feet with an exclamation of rage.
“How dare you insinuate such a thing, Claire?” he darted an angry glance toward the doorway. “Mrs. Schuyler is an angel!” he finished with emphasis.
Claire winced beneath the adoration in his tone.
“You love her, don’t you?” she said wistfully. Her great hopeless eyes rested on his flushed face.
Completely startled, he rose to his feet and stood over her almost menacingly.
“Five minutes ago I didn’t know it,” he announced brutally, “it remained for you to teach me.”
“I!” The cry was wrung from blanched lips.
He met her anguished eyes with insolence.