Page 29 of My Best Friend's Earl
That matter dealt with, Caro returned to her original statement. “As I was saying,” then paused as another contraction gripped her. Her face turned red until Dorian’s quiet reminder to breathe made Caro wheeze out a long exhale as she rode the pain. A moment later, she opened her eyes and continued as if nothing had happened. “Tonight wasn’t the finest dinner party I’ve attended or hosted. Oliver was oddlyquiet. Althea was quite drunk from what I could tell. And did she really flirt with the footman?”
A knock at the door interrupted. Dorian squeezed his wife’s hand. “I’ll be back, love.”
Hattie nudged Constance with an elbow as soon as the duke left the room.
Connie said, “You both know Althea’s behavior was for show. The dowager being here was a potential issue. In the end, Althea decided the potential benefits outweighed any risk. When she and Lord Southwyn left, she was feeling rather put out with his lack of reaction.”
Caro raised a brow. “Would you happen to know anything about Oliver’s subdued mood tonight?”
Her cousin was far too intelligent for comfort. Blinking innocently, Connie said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
Hattie grinned, and Caro started to, before her face contorted with pain once more.
Dorian returned and faint sounds from the hall slipped into the bedroom with him. Constance thought she could pick out Lord Southwyn’s voice.
Even as she recognized the way her attention sharpened to that sound, she hated it.Engaged to Althea, she reminded herself.Has to beconvincedto not marry Althea.
Sent a bandage for my cut, a contrary part of her interjected. This ridiculous attraction served no purpose beyond making her keenly aware of her own failings. Yet she couldn’t help the way each sense came alive in his presence once she’d admitted to her fascination. Damn him, and damn her fickle heart.
“Oliver wishes you a quick and easy birth. He’d thought to keep me company, but I sent him home. Told Mother to go to bed as well.” The duke laced his fingers with Caro’s,then lifted her hand to his lips. Constance didn’t miss the way he spent a moment breathing in his wife’s scent as he kissed the fine blue lines of lifeblood at her wrist. His voice was rough when he said, “I’d take the pain on myself, if I could.”
Caro wound a lock of his wavy hair around one finger, her other hand held securely in his. “Just be here. Don’t leave me to do this without you.”
The bright, pure love in her cousin’s gaze shone so confidently, it made emotion sting behind Connie’s eyes. No one in the world deserved that kind of love more than her cousin. The kind of love that could be loud, completely sure of its welcome.
Yet that very thing had never felt more out of reach.
With Dorian back, Connie could step away for a moment. Excusing herself quietly, she slipped out the door, then stood in the hall, gripping the doorknob behind her, unsure what to do next.
Lord Southwyn’s rangy form strode away down the hall. She could call out and get his attention, but that seemed a tad dramatic. However, the question became moot when he inexplicably slowed, then stopped. Southwyn stared back toward her. For several heartbeats, no one moved.
His expression was one she couldn’t read. It was ludicrous to think she might accurately guess at his mood. With the exception of their conversations about his cat, he’d never been especially emotive around her. Caro’s observation that he’d been quiet this evening resonated, and Constance would love to know why.
Releasing her grip on the door, she took one step toward him, then another. After a few seconds, he moved closer as well, until they stopped, a few feet apart.
“Are you leaving already?” Connie realized this was thefirst time they’d been alone since that day in his study. His jaw lacked the stubble, and his evening clothes were pristine and tailored to perfection. But his citrus scent was the same. It made her want to bury her nose in the dip where his jaw and neck met. She didn’t though, because that would be ridiculous, and if she made a habit of chasing every errant thought, she would probably land in prison for entirely preventable reasons.
“I’ll only be a burden on the staff if I stay.” The words said one thing, but the way he looked at her made Constance think something else was going on behind those eyes. Whatever his emotions, she knew they weren’t frustration, anger, or disdain. She had enough experience with being on the receiving end of those to recognize them.
Knowing what hewasn’tfeeling didn’t help her understand what hewasfeeling. Of course, she’d be hard-pressed to narrow her emotions to merely one or two. Uncertainty over what to do or say grappled with an aching sort of awareness because he wasrightthere, and they were alone, and blast it but he smelled delicious.
Licking suddenly dry lips, Connie tried to determine the best action to take. Perhaps she should encourage him to stay. Or should she do as planned, and thank him for sending a plaster for her finger?
His gaze shifted to her mouth, and she caught a flash of something all too familiar. Breath snagged in her lungs. Hunger. Or, if not full hunger, at least awareness.
Finally, an emotion she recognized. Her lips curved into a smile, and she leaned closer, seized by the reckless impulse to offer to stay with him in the sitting room—or at least split her time between the bedchamber and sitting area.
Except, he moved away. One step, then another. Slowly. Rather like one would retreat from a wild animal.
Oh. That must not have been hunger she’d seen after all. Embarrassment at how she’d misread the situation turned her cheeks hot.
Holding up her finger with the bandage, Connie offered an excuse for her presence. “I won’t delay you any longer. I merely wanted to thank you.”
Again, something crossed his face, and she wished she knew him well enough to hazard a guess at what it meant. Dipping his head in acknowledgment, Southwyn turned and continued down the hall without another word.
He didn’t look back. Not even once. And she felt like a ninny for lingering outside the door long enough to know that.
Silently castigating herself at her foolishness, Constance returned to the bedroom in time to hear the midwife say, “Right then. Let’s take a peek at how the babe is progressing, shall we?”
