He towered over her like a stern yet sensual god, silver lightning in his eyes. His smoldering intensity fed the reckless beat in her blood.
After a long moment, Edward simply turned and vanished into the darkness, and only when he was gone could she finally breathe.
“The carriage is waiting,” Benedict spoke into the uncomfortable silence, turning to the door. “I’ll see you two out.”
Retrieving her coat and hat, Alice could not face either Benedict or Penelope; it was clear that something had happened between her and Edward, but she would never say a word about it. She feared that one question would lead to more and more inquiries that might eventually rip her apart to answer.
She seated herself by the rear window while Benedict kissed Penelope’s knuckles and whispered his farewells. Soon after, the carriage began rolling down the driveway. Alice could feel Penelope’s gaze burning into her, but she rested her head in the corner near the window and feigned sleep.
“I know you’re not sleeping, Alice,” Penelope whispered. “I do wish you would tell me what happened to make you so upset.”
My heart is shattered into fragments, that is what.
The raw emotions tearing through her were wholly unexpected and in her ears, she still heard Edward’s voice—or rather, the absence of it.
She took in a shuddery breath.
Why, how many times had she mended a broken pot or piece of clothing? How many times had she taken scraps and made them a masterpiece? She would use all the skills at her disposal and simply fix… herself.
Time heals all wounds, does it not? One day she would look back and only feel a pang of regret, not this crushing, obliterating ache in her heart.
It is time to let him go.
“Do you mind telling me what the devil that was?” Benedict stormed into Edward’s study moments after he had downed another glass of whiskey.
“What was what?” Edward asked, just on the side of tipsy, enough that he did not care his grammar was nonsensical.
“You know damn well what I mean!” Benedict’s mild-mannered personality was gone; instead, he looked like an avenging god on a warpath. “Why did you do that? Why suddenly appear out ofnowhere? You very nearly gave Miss Alice a conniption—if you hadn’t already before we found her. What did you do?”
Edward scoffed. “She wouldn’t have swooned.”
“And how do you know that?”
“She’s of stronger stuff than you think,” Edward reached for the bottle.
“I see that,” Benedict looked at him askance, clearly wondering why Edward was drinking himself into a wheelbarrow. “But there is nothing in all creation that will convince me you didn’t do something to make her so strained.”
The brandy burned over his empty stomach and Edward knew he would be paying for his overindulgence and blatant dismissal of minding his health tomorrow—but he was beyond caring. “Leave it alone, Benedict.”
His brother cursed. “You think I am blind, don’t you? I’ve seen how you look at Alice when you think I am focused elsewhere. How you speak around the topic of her in riddles. The invites, the-the portraits! Not to mention how you were on the balcony with her the night Rutledge barged into the ballroom!”
“It isnothing,” Edward stressed.
“Is that right?” Benedict scoffed, his brow ticking up in cynicism. “When will you just come out and admit that you have something for Miss Alice, man!”
“I do not have the faintest what you mean,” Edward bluffed.
“You might fool the pig-headed men over the whist table, but you do not have one over me. I share half your blood, remember? In fact, I’ve still been waiting for you to explain why Miss Alice was here, in the pouring rain, over three weeks ago.”
Edward’s eyes flicked to meet his brother’s accusatory glare. “How do you know about that?” he demanded.
“I’d left my room for some extra coffee because apparently, my body does not run on the will to stay up on study,” Benedict began. “She was sopping wet and scurried off to your room before I could blink twice. Explainthat!”
Edward’s jaw twitched. “That is none of your business.”
“It is when you are so hellbent on hurting the sister of the woman I intend to someday marry,” Benedict snapped. “Are you interested in her? Good god, did you already take her to your bed? What are you doing?”
Slamming the cut down hard enough that the crystal almost crumbled into his fist, he bellowed, “That is none of your business!”
