Graham strode up to Kuni looking more handsome than ever. Gone was his earlier dishabille. His wide shoulders were now shown to perfection in a sharp coat of olive green. The white of his cravat sat in gorgeous contrast to the golden bronze of his skin. His soft black curls tumbled over his forehead artlessly, giving a casual air to his impeccable demeanor.
“Last chance.” Light brown eyes met hers, his voice low and inviting. “There’s still room on my lap if you want to come.”
“I do not wish to take part,” Kuni lied. “I have an important mission of my own to complete and must make the most of the few weeks that remain.”
It wasn’t a lie. It was true. It justfeltlike a lie, because every particle of Kuni wanted to launch herself into his carriage to go and protect someone today.
But she had made a vow to her father and their ancestors. Generations of de Heusch guards had served the king as his favored and most trusted soldiers. Her great-great-grandfather had shown the way to unity and freedom. Thanks to her relative’s timely protection of a king who chose people over profit, slavery had been abolished. Every de Heusch generation since had done their part to serve the king and secure more freedoms. She would not break her family’s noble tradition at any cost. It was her destiny.
“As you wish, princess.” Graham set his hat on his head at a rakish angle, his intense gaze never straying from Kuni.
Elizabeth bounded up to them, an innocent-looking cane held out in each hand.
“Be kind to my swords,” she told her brother.
“I don’t need your swords,” he replied. “We’re collecting signatures, not heads.”
“But if the opportunity presents itself,” she insisted, “run through as many blackguards as you please, starting with the owner of that cursed cotton mill. Then bring the blades back in good condition.”
Graham embraced his sister without taking the swords. “What if I loan the blades to Jacob?”
Elizabeth pulled back, appalled. “Jacob won’t harm a fly. Literally. Whilst you’re collecting signatures, he’ll be in the manufactory collecting arachnids and releasing them out of doors. Or he’ll train them to attack in deathly swarms.” She brightened. “That’s not a bad idea. I shall ask him what he knows about training killer insects.” She hurried off to catch Jacob before he slipped out through the door.
“Killer insects?” Kuni said skeptically.
“You scoff, but half the feats Jacob has accomplished with animals are because one or more of the siblings wagered that it could not be done. I should intervene before Elizabeth plants the idea into his head.”
But he did not move.
Neither did Kuni.
All the other Wynchesters had embraced or kissed goodbye. A loud, teasing bustle of activity that Kuni had watched from the rear of the room, in the shadows. She did not know them well enough to partake in such affectionate displays.
Or rather, she did not know how to display or receive affection. Her family was not demonstrative.
It had been an age since the last time she’d been embraced. She touched the soft muslin of her gown where her father’s epaulet hid beneath. He had never hugged her before that day, as far as Kuni could remember.
Her brothers never touched her, except to pull her braids or to give her a playful shove. She barely remembered her mother and had no reason to expect softness from anyone else. It was as though, the day her father hugged her goodbye, he had suspected it was the last time he would ever see her.
So, no. She would not take her leave of Graham that way, even if they had been the best of friends and had known each other since birth. Embracing felt like gambling with fate. Like shouting up to the heavens,Here, this is a thing I care deeply about. I dare you to take it from me.
Fate always won the wager.
Graham reached forward. Not to pull her to him, but as though he wished to run his thumb over the back of her hand or the bare brown skin of her arm. He stopped before his finger made contact.
That might have been the end of it, had Kuni not flinched. Sort of flinched. And sort of maybe accidentally pushed her arm that final half-centimeter to feel Graham’s thumb against her skin.
It was not anembrace. This was nothing. Just a four-week temporary flirtation. Meaningless. Forgettable.
Yet her heart pounded as though she had ventured too close to the edge of a boat in the middle of a sea.
The other siblings had left the house. Jacob, Tommy, and Philippa were outside in the carriage. Marjorie and Elizabeth were in the front garden to wave them off. They were waiting for Graham. He ought to hurry.
Not gaze smolderingly at Kuni as though the only mission on his mind was the possibility of stealing a kiss.
A very low possibility. Very, very low. She absolutely, positively, probably would rebuff him if he tried.
Maybe.
