Page 26 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
Was that what this was? The protectiveness. The possessiveness. The desire to make her happy and ease her concerns. The overwhelming desire to see her again...
No. It couldn’t be. He barely knew the lady. One didn’t fall in love with a stranger.
Richard was watching him expectantly, no doubt waiting for him to brush aside the comment or make a jest about how wrong he was. The best he could manage was to turn the tables on his friend. “I’ll defer to your judgment on the matter.” He paused to give his friend a sly smile. “After all, you’re the one pining after some fantastical creature who can’t possibly be real.”
Richard chuckled as he fell back in his seat. A smile lingered on his lips, as well as that expression he’d just accused Luke of wearing. “Guilty as charged,” Richard said. “And she’s not fantastical—”
“She’s as clever as she is fair,” Luke said, adopting a melodramatic tone as he teased his friend. “She’s graceful, and kind, and—”
“And she is,” Richard said resolutely.
“And you know all this from one encounter with the lady?”
The moment the jest came out of his mouth, and said with such disbelief, Luke recognized the hypocrisy of it. He couldn’t stop thinking about his mystery woman, and he didn’t even know her name.
At least Richard knew his dream woman went by the name Miss Farthington.
Luke frowned. But hewasn’tsmitten with his mystery woman. Of course not.
Richard shrugged. “Sometimes one encounter is all it takes for a soul to recognize its mate.”
Luke tried to scoff, but it came out sounding like a cough. “You’re a man of science. Surely you don’t believe the nonsense you’re spouting.”
But Richard merely shrugged, his expression unperturbed as if he’d long ago come to accept his own dichotomous ways.
Luke met his own gaze in the mirror and stared, his hands still and his heart pounding. He couldn’t possibly actually have feelings for this woman.
He barely knew her. Just as Richard barely knew this Miss Farthington lady.
“If you feel so strongly about the matter, then why have you done nothing?” Luke said, more to distract himself than anything.
Richard lifted his shoulder, a wry smile curling his lips. “It is pointless and I well know it. She’s younger than I—”
“You’re hardly ancient,” Luke pointed out.
“You say that because we’re the same age,” Richard shot back.
Luke grinned. “Even so, it’s true.”
Richard touched his hair near the temples where hints of gray could be seen. “We’re not getting any younger, either.”
“Now you stole my mother’s line,” Luke accused, only half teasing. Every time he pushed aside talk of marriage and children his mother liked to point out that he was getting on in years.
Then his father would undoubtedly chime in on how it was no longer a matter of comfort and preference, marriage was a matter of duty.
Duty.
His lips curled up in a sneer. It was not the word itself he took umbrage with. No, in fact he’d lived by words like duty and honor for as long as he could remember.
It was this particular duty that was wrong. Itwasn’this duty. It never had been. His brother had been raised for this life, not him.
He tore his thoughts away from all that. For tonight, he had only one duty, and that was to the crown. If there was a leak, it was his obligation to ferret it out.
With a deep breath, he looked away from his reflection to study his friend. “If you’re so in favor of love and marriage, then why have you not attempted to court your paragon of virtue? Is it really because of age?”
“No, no, it’s not just that...” Richard sighed. “Her father is a viscount. Heir to an earldom.”
Luke stilled and then turned to face his friend. “Ah.”
