Page 30 of Avoiding the Merry Viscount
“You look beautiful today, Miss Cary,” he said, using her more formal address in front of his sisters. She understood, but she far preferred the intimacy of him using her given name.
“Thank you, my lord,” she replied, casting him a sideways glance and grinning.
Grace huffed from across the table. “You said nothing about how we look today, brother.”
Lydia brought her napkin to her lips to hide her laughter.
“You look lovely today, sisters,” he said, waving to all of them. “You too, Hannah. Can’t have you chastising me for leaving you out as well.”
“There are far better things to chastise you about, Elias,” Hannah replied, shaking her head.
Lydia tamped down her irritation. How was it acceptable for him to be on familiar terms with Hannah, but he had to be so formal with Lydia? She thought he might have felt something more for her after yesterday, but if he was still keeping her at a distance with his family, was that not the case?
A more troubling thought came to her mind. Had he already experienced stolen kisses, or other things, with Hannah? He said he wanted to change, but the man was a rake. He had an unknown number of partners he’d met for trysts.
Lydia sat through breakfast, hardly hearing anything that anyone said. The sisters were arguing about something, and they pulled Elias into the banter. She couldn’t focus on what it had been about, as she was too busy thinking about how many women the man beside her had dallied with. How many of them cared about him and then had their hearts broken? Lydia was almost certain that she was halfway on the path to allowing herself to love him, as foolish as she was, since the odds weighed heavier on her leaving the Snowdon estate with a broken heart.
After breakfast, Diana urged them all outside with baskets and cutters, with instructions on what greenery to collect so that they could all decorate the house to prepare for Christmas. They would have a grand celebration that evening with dinner and carols, and then continue the merriment the next day.
Deciding it might be best to take off alone to ponder more of her thoughts, Lydia took a basket and started off toward the trees. She only just got to the tree line when Elias appeared beside her, huffing.
“I thought we might work together,” he said, grabbing her wrist to stop her. And she believed he also did so to allow himself a chance tocatch his breath.
“How many other ladies present have you ‘worked’ with, my lord?” She knew she sounded like a petulant child, or at best a nagging wife, with her tone, and regretted it as soon as she spoke the words. Besides, wasn’t she the one who told him she expected nothing from him? But that was before she had allowed herself to feel something for him.
Confusion marred his expression. “You already know about Lady Billings. And that is long done. I promise you.”
“Who else don’t I know about?” She just couldn’t leave well enough alone. She had to know.
“I don’t know what you mean, Lydia.”
She pulled her wrist from his hand and hurried away from him into the woods. Even though she knew she was being ridiculous and she had no right to feel the way she did, she was too overcome with jealousy to maintain rational thought.
He made quick work of catching up with her, grabbing her wrist again and spinning her to face him. “Please stop running away from me,” he said with no anger in his tone.
She searched his expression and found nothing but tenderness there. Her chest rose and fell, as all that she could hear over her ragged breath was the distant crunching of snow where other guests had trudged in the opposite direction of where they had gone.
“Lydia,” he started again, “tell me what it is you wish to know.”
She glanced to her feet, trying to summon the words.
“Eyes on me, Beautiful,” he whispered.
Lydia looked up at him, the urge to kiss him far too great. She drew a long breath. “Have you kissed or been intimate with any of the other ladies who are here?”
“No,” he answered quickly, not removing his gaze from hers. “Not a single one.”
She released a sigh of relief.
“Is that what upsets you?” he asked. “You believed me to dally with the other young ladies?” He dramatically put his hand over his heart. “You wound me if you think so.”
Reaching for his hand, she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I just…you were so familiar with Hannah. It got me thinking. I…I don’t know who all you have been with. It could be anyone I am acquainted with.”
He squeezed her hand tighter. “Hannah is practically my sister. I’ve known her since she and Diana were tiny girls following Hudson and me all over these estates,” he said, drawing a deep breath. “I can’t change my past. But,” he paused and gulped, “for you, I aim to be a better man. I am done with that part of my life, and I only wish to move forward.”
She gasped, unsure if she understood his meaning. Did his words mean he intended to move forward with her?
Before she could ask, he had pulled her against him and softly pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was so tender and sweet, it almost brought tears to her eyes. She sank into him, and deepened their kiss, somehow feeling like something had shifted between them. Something that told her she knew she had already lost her heart to Elias.
