Page 11 of A Wish Upon an Earl
Still, they’d stayed quite a bit apart, up until the point that Aubrey had joined them.So if anyone had seen them, there was nothing untoward about their meeting.
She sighed in relief as she remembered the facts.The last thing she needed was another scandal in her life involving Lord Bentley.Jack.
She shook her head.She should be glad he was gone.
She hadn’t wanted to see him, let alone talk to him.Definitely didn’t want to be held in his arms.
So how did she explain how she’d fantasized about kissing him?And her feelings of disappointment now that he’d left her room?
Aubrey slid onto the bed next to her.Her friend was dressed as an angel, and the feathers on her wings fluttered about her as she sat.
“Did he carry you all the way up here?”Aubrey asked, bending closer.
Sarah looked at her friend with a sidelong glance.Having found love had made Aubrey a bit like pudding—she’d turned into a bowl of mush.Which was all well and good, but the last thing Sarah needed was for her friend to paint this night with a romantic brush.“Yes.”
Aubrey sighed.“How lovely.The knight came to your rescue.”
Sarah pressed her lips together.Sure.He’d done that right after he’d nearly taken her leg out from under her.“It isn’t like that, Aubrey.”
Aubrey’s brows lifted.“Really?”She leaned closer, dropping her voice to a whisper.“He looks at you with an intensity, Sarah.And then there was your wish…”
Ah.The wish.
How could she forget?That was where Aubrey’s romantic notions were coming from.And who could blame her?She’d wished for a puppy, and almost instantly a puppy had appeared and led Aubrey straight to love and marriage.
Sarah loved her friend for her new optimism, but honestly, Sarah’s responsibilities to Ash and the marquessate had to take priority over any whim or fancy.Not that she fancied Jack or his suit of armor or the way he’d carried her up the stairs and made her think of kisses in the moonlight.
“My wish was for a knight who might come to my rescue.Not a man who nearly—” She stopped.It wasn’t for her to say what Jack had done.
“What did he do?”Aubrey asked.
Ash looked over at her, his eyes narrowing.
Sarah cringed, looking down at the embroidered pattern on her gown.Her ankle throbbed terribly, so she pulled up her skirt again to inspect the injury.It looked the same as the last time she’d checked, as she’d known it would.But it gave her an excuse not to meet Ash’s gaze.
“What did he do?”Ash repeated.
Sarah plucked at her skirts.“You know very well.That whole incident years ago.”
Aubrey sucked in a small breath, but Ash nodded.“That’s what we’re discussing?”
“Yes.What else would we be talking about?”She nibbled at the inside of her cheek.Did her brother know that Jack had knocked her down?
Ash came over to stand next to her by the bed.“He wishes to talk to you about all of that.”
“I’m not sure I want to speak with him.”She shook her head as she continued to stare down.
Aubrey touched her knee.“Did I miss something?”
Nearly as much as Sarah did not want to talk with Jack, she did not wish to retell the incident to Aubrey.Her friends knew her as practical and competent.To relay how she had dressed as a poetry-spouting cupid was too much to bear.“It was a long time ago, when we were all younger and less sure of ourselves.”
Aubrey nodded.“I understand completely.I don’t know that I knew who I really was until Drew.”
Sarah only just managed to keep from rolling her eyes.She was happy for her friend, of course.And to find love was wonderful, but other than the occasional wayward moment, Sarah didn’t expect to find that sort of emotion.She’d marry.Likely a good match that furthered Ash’s title and connections.But save for a moment of wayward fancy around the maypole, Sarah didn’t dream of love.She shouldn’t.Duty was her only goal.
“Well, I know who I am and it’s not that flighty girl I used to be.”
Ash’s weight settled on the bed next to her as he reached for her hand.“You’re wonderful now, Sarah, but you were magical then.None of us keeps that innocence and zest forever, but I wish you’d let a bit of it back into your life.”
