Page 7 of The Vagabond Viscount
Augusta avoided Flynn’s gaze as she set her clothes to right. Her body still thrummed with pleasure, but her heart whispered its dark pain. These stolen moments were bliss, but they were still stolen. They were part of a secret affair. She would do anything to be able to take this forbidden love into the light and let it shine. To tell the world that she loved the Vagabond Viscount.
But no one else knew.
She hadn’t even dared to share the depth of this illicit relationship with Victoria, her closest confidant. As far as her sister understood, tender kisses and sweet words were the furthest things had ever gone.
She considered her reasons for keeping Victoria in the dark to be based on sound logic. While Victoria was a romantic at heart, she was also a firm realist. If she had the slightest inkling that matters between Augusta and Flynn had progressed to this stage, Lady Victoria would demand that Augusta speak to their mother, who would, in turn, make certain that Flynn did the right thing and offered for her hand.
It would be so easy to do just that; casually let something slip and allow others to take command of the situation. The duchess would be on the doorstep of Bramshaw House the minute she discovered the truth. A wedding would soon follow.
That is what you want, so why not take the risk? End this cloak-and-dagger drama and finally become Flynn’s wife.
Because Flynn had made it abundantly clear that a forced marriage was the last thing he wanted. If they were to ever wed, then it had to be a mutual decision. On their terms.
But what if this is all he and I will ever have? If Flynn won’t take the next step?
Secret encounters were something that surely had a defined lifespan. The two of them couldn’t go on meeting like this indefinitely. The London social season was looming large, and her parents would rightly expect Augusta to make a concerted effort to find herself a suitable husband this year. At one and twenty, she wasn’t what one would consider to be on the shelf, but polite society had its rules and expectations. She had to marry.
Not only was she an attractive young woman, but she came with the added bonus of a substantial dowry. As the daughter of a duke, Augusta was by all accounts a prize catch. No doubt her name was already in the notebook of many atonmother as a possible future bride for an eligible son.
But I don’t want anyone else—I want Flynn.
This constant delay was beyond frustrating. It hurt. The fear that she may never get what her heart desired left Augusta feeling empty and dejected.
The time would surely come when they would have to face the reality of the situation. Hard choices and sacrifices lay ahead.
I have to be brave for the both of us.
She wanted them to take the next step. To confirm what really lay between them.
Augusta lifted her gaze to Flynn’s and gave him a hopeful smile. At the same time, her fingers touched the edge of his jacket sleeve and gave a little tug. She didn’t want to hear him say no, but she couldn’t live without knowing. This uncertainty was slowly but surely killing her. “Have you given any further thought to us?” she asked.
Flynn nodded. “It’s all I ever think about. But if you mean have I come up with a solution to my father’s decree that you and I shall never marry? No I have not.”
His words sent a stab of pain directly to Augusta’s heart, and with it a little piece of hope broke off and died.
“I don’t understand why he doesn’t like me. I am sure that if my father spoke to him, they could overcome any sort of misgivings that the earl might have about me.”
She hated the anguish and pleading in her voice but was powerless to do anything to stop it. What Earl Bramshaw had against her, Augusta couldn’t fathom. She had met the man only once in her life, and that had been a brief polite encounter at her coming out ball several years prior. She and her potential father-in-law were all but strangers. Why didn’t he want his son to marry her?
“You must know that you are not the problem, G, my love. I am. He is determined to be the one to choose my future wife and is therefore dead set against any woman who I might have in mind to wed.”
Augusta put a hand over her heart and sighed dejectedly. “Then what you are saying is that we are doomed?” Her shoulders slumped. She was accepting defeat.
* * *
It wasn’t a complete lie. His father likely wouldn’t want them to marry. Not only was the Duke of Mowbray one of the few men in London society that Earl Bramshaw feared, but Augusta was a strong-minded young woman. She would stand her ground.
Flynn dared not reveal the full truth to Augusta. If he did, it would surely break her heart. Worse, she might decide that she could take the fight up to Earl Bramshaw. To defy him. The cost she would bear for her bravery would be too great. His father would do his all to destroy her. He would steal her light, and with it any hope that she and Flynn might ever have held for the two of them to find happiness. He could just imagine how much Earl Bramshaw would enjoy crushing the fighting spirit of the future Countess Bramshaw under his iron fist.
Until he could come up with a way for them to be together and safely out of his father’s sphere of influence, he would have to continue to lie to the woman he loved. To the girl he couldn’t imagine living without.
He reached for Augusta once more, intending to offer her a reassuring kiss, but she took a hurried step back and turned toward the door. “I think I might go and find Victoria. There is little point in me remaining here.”
“You are angry with me, and I can understand why,” he offered.
She shook her head. “I don’t think you do, and that’s the problem. You seem to think that we can go on like this forever. That these snippets of time when we are together could somehow be enough for me.” Her voice trembled with emotion, and it was all Flynn could do not to offer up rash promises. Ones he wouldn’t be able to keep.
“I will find a way. Don’t give up on us. Please, Augusta.”
