“Ash, I am well. Truly.” She leaned forward and waggled her brows. “You know, I had actually debated putting him in a headlock, just like I had done with my brothers. They won’t admit it, but I won more wrestling spats than I lost. I was trying to act like an adult, but Colborn makes it difficult. That, and I was slightly afraid I might choke him until he passed out. He is deuced insufferable.”
Ash’s lips twitched. “I don’t think I would have faulted you if you had. Thank you for that—the touch of levity.” His chest rose with a heavy sigh. “All right, I best be off to speak with Colborn. I’ll see you at dinner?”
She hesitated. “I think it might be best to allow you to have some much-needed family time for this dinner. I will take a tray here.”
His stomach sank, the loss of her presence settling heavily inside him. A feeling he needed to become accustomed to. Because soon her presence would be completely gone. From dinners, from the castle, from his life.
And once again, Ash found himself with a shortage of air, with lungs unwilling to work.
They stepped away from each other, Felicity making her way to her dressing table and he to her chamber door. He opened the door behind him, gaze still locked on her as she sat down before the small vanity. She looked back to him and began removing pins from her chignon. He should go. But it seemed he was always stealing one more glimpse of her.
“Come back to me tonight,” she whispered.
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he slipped from her room.
But he knew later tonight he’d be stealing one more touch, too.
25
Ash
Ashstrodeintohisstudy and the first thing he noticed was the glass of whisky his son nursed while lounging in the armchair before his massive desk. His son lifted the glass to take another sip, and Ash ripped it from his hands and slammed it on the desk.
“That was mine!”
Ash crossed his arms, leaned on his desk, and glared down at his son.
“That is the first thing you say?”
“What? You take away my betrothed, you exile me to the outskirts of civilization, and now you take away my drink too?”
“No, Colborn.Iam not the one who is responsible for those things,youare. And the first words out of your mouth should have been asking how Felicity is doing after you shoved her into a sideboard so hard she was knocked to the floor.”
“Felicity,is it?”
Ash ignored his son’s petulant remark.
“Your actions have proven you are nowhere near capable of caring for another person. I will not subject anyone to a future in your hands. I won’t subject anyone to your hands at all. Hence why you are going to Brackenridge Hollow.”
“Many women like my hands, I assure you.” Colborn’s lips tilted, his eyes gleaming smugly.
“You are certain of that?”
“I…” Colborn paused, then frowned. A flicker of doubt flashed in his blue eyes. “Of course they do. I’m me.”
Dear Lord. “I regret to inform you, son, but beingyoudoesn’t magically make you some sort of savant. I have it on good authority that one such person most certainly does not like your hands.”
Colborn’s eyes flew wide, and his voice took on a squeaky pitch. “Felicity told you about us?”
“In passing and, thankfully, without any details.”
Colborn opened his mouth, but Ash cut him off with a lift of his hand. “Which I want absolutely none of. She made it quite clear that you highly overestimate your abilities. And from your attempt to grope and maul her in the library, I’m not at all surprised.”
His son’s mouth snapped shut.
Ash ran a hand through his hair, and his eyes fell shut. He prayed his son’s foolish actions wouldn’t hurt Felicity’s chances at another marriage. He opened his eyes and pinned a glare on his son.
