Page 58 of The Reckless Love of an Heir
Alethea turned a little more sideways on the sofa, drawing his attention back to her as her knee brushed against his. Her eyes said he was about to be held to account, and yet the position of her body told him his desertion had already been forgiven.
‘Where did you go, Henry?’ It was the question that had been hanging in the air for the last half hour.
‘To Brighton, I thought you knew.’ He looked at and spoke to Alethea, fighting his desire to look at Susan and see her response.
‘I only found out the day before yesterday. But I did not mean to which town. I meant to where in Brighton? Or rather why? What was there?’
Henry swallowed. ‘To a gentleman’s club, with my friends. We had a curricle race?—’
‘When you nearly killed yourself doing so before!’ Susan complained. His gaze spun to her. She had sat forward in the chair, her hands clasping each arm, expressing anger.
Their gazes clashed and melded. He could see her feelings towards him were unchanged. The knowledge yelled out within his senses. Now he wanted Alethea to go away; he wanted to speak to Susan and dispel the agony within him, and her. He could see the equivalent turmoil to his in her eyes.
‘You should not be so reckless, Henry.’ Alethea held his hand, drawing his attention back to her again. Her eyes shone with a desire to please and amuse him, but there was no fire, no heart, or… who knew what it was between Susan and he, but the same emotions were not engendered when he looked at Alethea.
‘Well, I am back now.’ He looked at Susan, speaking for her benefit. ‘And I survived and am healthy, as you see, regardless of the risk.’
Susan made a face at him, then stood.
Damn, was she going to run and leave him with Alethea? No. He moved to stand, but Alethea’s hold on his hand kept him seated.
‘I have not thanked you for the flowers yet,’ Alethea said.
‘Flowers?’
He glanced at Alethea then back at Susan. Susan had turned her back on them and walked to the window.
‘The flowers you sent me…’ Alethea prodded in a voice now full of annoyance. She widened her eyes in a look that said,you do not even remember.
Oh. Damn.The flowers. He set up the arrangement with a florist for the whole period Alethea was to be in town.
What did Susan think of that?
She was looking out of the window not at them. She did not even appear to be listening to them any longer. But perhaps that was pretend.
Her hand lifted and her fingers pushed her spectacles higher up her nose. He wanted to take off her spectacles and kiss her, with his fingers about her nape and in her hair.
‘Why did you go, though?’ Alethea asked, her fingers squeezing his hand.
He looked back at her. ‘To race, I told you.’
‘But why leave me?’
His desertion had insulted her. But she would be a hundred times more insulted if she knew the truth. At least Susan had not bowed to the pull of honesty. He was certain she would havefought hard to resist it. The guilt within her must be leagues deeper than his. He swallowed back his own battle with the truth.
‘It was a lark, Alethea. An amusement. I fancied a distraction. Life can become monotonous in town,and things do not always go as one plans.’ He raised his voice for Susan’s benefit. He wanted her to know he was hurting too – especially because she had not come to speak to him in Bond Street.
‘If we marry, would you disappear on a whim like that?’
His mouth dried. He would never marry her.
But… He looked at Susan’s back, as she looked through the window. ‘When I marry I will live a very different life, but until then…’
Susan made a scoffing sound as she turned from her observation of the street and glared at him.
What was she thinking? If Alethea walked out of the room would she curse him – or kiss him breathless?
He looked at Alethea, desperate to find a way to speak to Susan. ‘Where will you be this evening? May I escort you?’ If he joined them, then there must come a moment when he might converse with Susan in private. A moment she would not be able to avoid him.
