Page 75 of The Scholar's Key
“It is nearing the dinner hour,” Cassandra said as they walked into the house, the butler, Clarkson, greeting them. Percy caught his eye as she passed, and she wondered at the scrutiny he was giving her. He likely hadn’t been prepared for her presence. “Why do you not settle in and then we will meet in the drawing room?”
“Wonderful,” Percy said, but her heart was heavy as she climbed the grand staircase. The last time she had been here, so had Noah – although she had only then seen him as an acquaintance. Still, she hadn’t been prepared for how the association would assault her.
She could almost swear she could smell him too, the hint of cinnamon which clung to him. His presence was within these walls, taunting her. She should have just returned home to their country estate, but there was no one there but the servants.
With the help of her lady’s maid, who had accompanied them, she changed for the evening into her favorite cream silk, which she hoped would make her feel up to being pleasant company.
As she sat and ran her hands over the dress, all she could think about was Noah removing it from her body. Mary had pinned her hair up and all that Percy could picture was Noah removing the pins and letting it fall, lacing his fingers in her strands.
Familiar tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Was this to be the rest of her life, then, him following her wherever she went?
Now was not the time to consider it, however, for Cassandra and her family would be waiting. Percy lifted her skirts as she stood and walked out the door, eager to finish this dinner and crawl into bed, where she hoped, tonight, her dreams would give her a respite and not contain the man who had rejected her. It was time to banish him from her thoughts, in turn. It was the one place where she should, at least, have total control.
Percy descended the stairs and was just about to turn into the drawing room when Cassandra came hurrying around the corner, her relief evident when she saw Percy.
“Oh, thank goodness, there you are,” she said. “I need to tell you something—”
Percy wasn’t able to hear anything else she said, however. For at that moment, her head turned, her body reacting before she even realized who had so surprised her.
Noah.
She stopped, blinked, and froze in place as they locked eyes. He was just walking out of the drawing room as she was stepping in. His shoulders were slouched, his gait was slow, and she was sure that it was pain she saw in the depths of those hazel eyes that she knew so well.
Percy took one step back, and then another, shock, anguish, and desire all welling up in her, each fighting with the other for dominance.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.
She turned and ran.
* * *
No one had toldhim she would be here.
Noah had spent the last two days doing exactly what he had promised Eric he wouldn’t do – mope. How could he not after learning that the woman he would love for the rest of his life was going to marry another man?
Especially when the reason she was doing so was all because of him and his stupidity.
It had been bad enough before, but how was he supposed to handle it now that he had to be in her presence? She obviously had no wish to speak to him. She had made that clear the last time they had seen one another, and now, when she ran away at the simple sight of him.
“What did you do to her?” Ashford asked, looking back and forth between him and Percy’s retreating form as he stepped out of the room to see what was wrong. Lady Covington was biting her lip as she watched Noah, as though she had something she wanted to say but was afraid to say it.
“He turned her away,” Lady Covington finally burst out, apparently no longer able to contain her words.
“What?” Ashford said, looking from his sister to Noah and back again, his confusion evident. “Right now?”
“No, in Bath. He refused her affections.”
Ashford scratched his head. “I thought she was marrying Lord Stephen.”
“No,” Lady Covington said, shaking her head dramatically. “Her father wanted her to, but she told him that she couldn’t.”
At those words, hope began to glow in Noah’s body, starting in his stomach and rising through his chest.
“She didn’t agree to it?” he said.
“But what of the engagement party?” Ashford asked, his brow furrowed.
“That was for her brother,” Lady Covington said with obvious exasperation at their inability to keep up with the conversation. “He is marrying Lady Jane Montgomery.”
