“What are those?”came a dreamy voice from over Penelope’s shoulder.
She jumped and jerked around, clutching the glass figurines to her chest for safety.“Virginia!I didn’t see you.These are birds.”
“Turtledoves,” Virginia corrected, a self-satisfied smile spreading across her face.“Of course they are.”
Penelope waved Virginia’s cryptic comment away impatiently.Time was running out.“You live here.Do you know which guest chamber belongs to Nicholas?”
“Sixth floor,” Virginia answered without hesitation.“South wing, left side, fourth door.Did you know that the nuptial flight of the European turtledove is often—”
“Thank you,” Penelope called over her shoulder as she fled the reception area and dashed up the spiral stairs.
She could swear she heard Virginia trillingturr, turrafter her as she ran.
Penelope flew up the stairs.Even though it might already be too late, even though love was scary and unknowable, even though she might have already broken things past all repair, she had to try.Nothing else mattered.She skidded off the landing and into the corridor.
The door to his guest chamber was open.Shadows moved inside.Nicholas might still be here!
She burst inside, out of breath and half wild.“I love you!”
Christopher Pringle stared back at her, eyes wide.His startled gaze dropped to the figurines.“Did Nick make those?”
“Er, not you.”Penelope hugged the turtledoves closer to her chest.“I meant—”
Nicholas stepped out from his dressing room, his eyes dark and unreadable.“Out.”
“Does he mean you or me?”Penelope whispered to his brother.
“Definitely me,” Christopher said cheerfully.He slipped past her into the corridor, shutting the door as he left.
“I love you,” she said again, her heart racing.
“People ‘of science’ perform experiments on animals,” Nicholas said.“You don’t fall in love with them.”
“I’m not proud that I set out to manipulate you,” Penelope admitted.“It was wrong of me.To be honest, I didn’t believe it possible.”
“Congratulations,” he said icily.“Now you know.”
Penelope bit her lip.“You don’t understand.The experiment was whether I could attract a man as myself.We might have begun on false pretenses, but every moment we shared was you being you and me being me.Nothing could be more real.”
He arched a brow.“Nothing?”
“You met the true me.You know the true me.You made love to the true me.”She took a half step forward.“I’m so sorry I hurt you in the process.I was foolish.I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
He let out a slow breath.“Penelope—”
“I won’t sell it,” she said quickly.“Duchessis dead.I’ll stopDuke, too.I never expected a perfume to become my greatest achievement, and when I saw what it could do, my only thought was to give women the same advantages.I never meant to bring heartache.”
“Perfumes can’t break hearts,” he reminded her.“Women who manipulate men into falling in love with them, despite having no interest in keeping them, break hearts.”
“There’s nothing I wantmorethan to keep—” Penelope’s voice caught.“You still love me?”
He cocked his head.“You want to keep me?”
“Of course I want to keep you,” she choked out.“The experiment was to attract your attention, nothing more.I changed it to flirtation, in order to have another day with you.And then I changed it to a kiss, in order to have another.And then I changed it to—”
“Last night… wasn’t part of the experiment?”
“The trial was successful on the first day,” she admitted.“I couldn’t give up the experiment because it meant giving up you.I thought the only reason you kept coming by was because the chemical scent engineered for my pulse points had bewitched you.”
