Page 6 of Rejected
She hoped not; of course, with his looks, he could definitely be one, if he so chose. A pang of longing crushed her soul at the thought, and she felt her eyes sting with unshed tears.
I miss him, she thought.I just miss him.
“I think this is the first time I’ve taken an actual breath in the past three days,” she said out loud, closing her eyes to enjoy the unexpected peace. “Pretty much since we came to town. London is so busy and dirty. I miss the quietness of home.”
The sound of violins and dancing was distant enough that she could ignore—
“I can’t breathe,” Laurie said again. There was something sharp and urgent in his voice. He sounded as if he was completely out of breath.
Jo opened her eyes abruptly and turned to look at him.
He was deathly white.
“Are you all right?” she asked him, taking hold of his sleeve. His arm was hard like marble underneath his perfectly-fitted jacket, as if he were incredibly tense. “Laurie?”
Something in the way she could hear him choking on pure air scared her—she did not dare call him by their childhood pet name ‘Teddy’.
“I’m… I’m…” He stumbled over the words.
“Are you dying?”
He looked like he was dying.
“I am going out of my mind,” Laurie gasped.
This was so unlike him. She had never seen him act in this dramatic manner outside of her theatrical productions before, and she hardly knew what to do. Was he joking? If he was, she would kill him for frightening the life out of her.
“Why?” Josephine asked cautiously.
If hewasjoking, she was loath to make a fool of herself. Then again, he did look awful. His whole body was trembling, and he snatched his arm away from her light touch and clutched at his once immaculate cravat as if it were choking him.
“Because of your dress,” Laurie said. He must be in his cups, inebriated beyond all reason. He was talking pure nonsense. Jo had never spared a moment’s thought for her clothes—and right now, she couldn’t remember what she was wearing even though it had taken themodisteliteral hours to create her dress. “The way it embraces your figure… And your hair falling on your cheek in that maddening way, and—” his breath caught again.
“Stop it, Laurie. Come on, let’s get you some coffee to drink, or water, or…”
“I’m not drunk,” Laurie said, his voice breaking in the end.
“You aren’t? Then why—?”
“I’m in love,” he gasped.
A peal of laughter nearly bubbled out of Jo’s lips at the absurdity of the statement, but she quickly swallowed it down.
Most definitely inebriated.
If this wasn’t a joke, Laurie would be beyond embarrassed tomorrow. She would challenge him to one of their fake duels and describe to him how he looked like a lovelorn puppy with his hair tumbling gorgeously over his forehead, as if he were a tortured poet.
Well, maybe she’d leave the ‘gorgeously’ part out of it.
“Excuse me?” Josephine said.
“With you,” Laurie rasped. “I’m in love with you.”
Dear Beth,
All this time?
All this time?
