Pondering their interactions, he had to wonder if he’d imagined the magnetism between them. Was it a figment of his own lustful fantasies or had he truly felt something coming from her too?
He was hardly the epitome of morality, yet he’d never entice an innocent, and there was no question, Alice was an innocent.
His temple throbbed, “What in God’s name am I doing?”
“I’d ask you the same thing,” Benedict said while entering the room, a cup of coffee in hand. Dressed in a pair of loose trousersand a linen shirt, his brother added, “Ihave a reason to be burning the candle at both ends, but I cannot say why you are up.”
Resting his glass on a small round table at his side, Edward admitted, “A moral dilemma is my problem this night, Benedict. I assume yours is trying to finish a treatise on Jean-Baptiste’s Political Economy.”
An aggrieved sigh came from the depths of Benedict’s throat, “How on earth do you know that?”
His smile was flickering. “Old man Favreau always gives that paper at this time of year. It is a timeless rite of passage for everyone who takes his class, and it is oneeveryoneknows to prepare for.” He levered an admonishing look to Benedict. “Even you, if you had listened to me months ago.”
Laughing softly, Benedict took a seat and rubbed his forehead, “Would you happen to have your old paper anywhere, by the by?”
“No,” Edward replied. “You shall suffer on your own.”
“So,” crossing his legs, Benedict sipped his drink. “What is keeping you away from your bedchamber? What moral dilemma has stymied you? Are you figuring out how best to earn another windfall from a new investment?”
“The dilemma is emotional instead of economical,” Edward trained his gaze to the window across the room. The sliver of the moon peeked out from the clouds. “I am entertaining thoughts about a young woman that I should not be harboring.”
“What?” Benedict’s mouth fell. “Do my ears deceive me or am I hearing that my brother, the stoic, cynical, is having a change of heart? Is this the divine intervention I have hoped for so long now incoming? Dare I ask if you are falling in love?”
The scoff that left Edward's mouth was profoundly insolent. “Who mentionedlove? That is an emotion that I neither wish for nor will I ever indulge in.”
Besides, it does not truly exist.
“Lust, then?”
After a moment, Edward replied, “I cannot put a word to it. It is a cross between intrigued, admiring, hesitant, and yes, desirous.”
Logically, Edward knew he was toeing the line of despicable discussing this matter with Benedict, as he too had his eye on Alice. But he reasoned that if he kept things hypothetical and vague, his brother would not be any the wiser.
“The matter is she is not the sort who I believe will agree to or even understand casual bed sport without commitment, a thing I know I cannot give her,” Edward replied. “It also does not helpmatters that she has more pressing issues than to commit to any sort of relationship, be it casual or intimate.”
Shuffling his feet, Benedict shrugged, “Well, move on, then.”
“I cannot.”
“But she cannot give you the thing you want without you in turn giving her the security she needs,” Benedict said. “I’d say you are lodged between a rock and a hard place, old man.
“You have painted yourself into a corner, managed to engineer a double checkmate for yourself, dug a pit for yourself, floated yourself down a river with nary a row—”
“All right, all right, Christ,” Edward snorted. “Must you evoke every possible imagery of the situation?”
“Yes, because rarely do I get the chance to do so,” Benedict grinned. His smile faded a little, “Honestly though, I do not know what to do here because, on every other occasion, I am the one asking you for help, sipping drops from your almost infinite well of wisdom.”
“I am glad you find me that way but sadly to say, I am just as fallible as you are,” Edward replied, his words punctuated with a little sigh.
“What Icansay is, follow your heart instead of your head this time,” Benedict replied while rising to his feet.
Canting his head, Edward asked, “When is the heart the most logical of all organs?”
“It is not,” Benedict grinned over his shoulder. “But when is your head the most emotional of all organs?”
Touché.
“Oh, by the by, I took the liberty of inviting your Miss Alice and her sister to our ball,” he said belatedly.
