“Oh darling,” Helena said, pulling Amelia closer, “I’m sure he doesn’t feel like that. You are his only family. His only blood. I do not think he could ever wish you gone.”
“So how is it that I have felt more affection from you in the time you’ve been here, than in all the years with my brother?”
Helena’s heart broke. She really had no answer for Amelia. It was something she needed to talk to Silas about.
She sighed. “I wish I could stay with you always, Amelia. But I cannot. Much as I care, I will need to go soon. My family needs me. Youdounderstand that, don’t you?”
Amelia nodded shakily before slowly getting to her feet. “I’m sorry, I must attend to my studies. I’ll see you later,” she mumbled as she took off running.
Helena watched her go with an internal sigh. She knew she had hurt the girl’s feelings, but she did not regret telling her the truth.
It was always better in the long run.
A day later, Silas was annoyed to find that Helena had not gotten any less attractive overnight.
She sat at his dining table, looking soft and sleepy in the early morning light, yellow muslin dress bringing out the freckles on her shoulders.
“Have you been out in the sun without an umbrella?” he blurted before he could think about it.
She turned to face him sharply, her eyes widening in surprise. “I…” she said helplessly.
“Why is it wrong if she’s gone out without an umbrella?” Amelia piped in, glaring at him.
Silas stared at her, nonplused. It was rare for Amelia to speak to him so angrily.
He frowned. “Well, I suppose she would like to participate in the marriage mart one day. Having freckles would be a disadvantage.”
Amelia’s eyes just narrowed further. “‘And what is it to you? Are you her guardian? Or perhaps you mean to compete for her hand?”
The furrow in Silas’s brow deepened. “Why are you speaking to me like that?”
Amelia shrugged, affecting nonchalance, “Somebody has to.”
Helena cleared her throat loudly. “As a matter of fact, Ihavebeen using an umbrella while outside. And I don’t think I will be participating in the marriage mart any time soon, as I am beyond the eligible age.”
Both Silas and Amelia stared at her in surprise as she looked from one to the other demurely.
“So, you can stop arguing about it,” she said with unmistakable finality.
Silas almost smiled. He could not say that he was disappointed to hear that she had no intention of looking for a husband, for reasons he did not want to examine too closely.
His eyes dropped to her lips, a little full and flushed from sleep and the fact that she had been biting her bottom lip. If he was being honest with himself, it was difficult not to look at her.
She had endured so much, yet still, she possessed an unshakable softness, a grace in the curve of her shoulders, the warmth and depth in her piercing blue eyes that seemed to see straight through him.
Her long, wild midnight curls, untamed yet glistening in the morning light, held a magnetic pull. It made him ache with the urge to bury his face in her hair, to feel the steady beat of her heart against his chest.
It was a silly thought, but he could not get it out of his mind. Any man would be lucky to have her, and yet her family had shown no hesitation in throwing her away. He could understand why Amelia was so protective of her.
He could understand whyhecouldn’t get her out of his mind.
He shook himself, focusing on his plate, trying to remind himself that it was rude to stare. After her rather cheeky statement, Helena had returned to her meal looking like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
He really could not help darting glance at her glances at her from beneath his lashes.
She truly was an enigma. And he was in the business of mystery solving. Of course he was interested in her.
What spy wouldn’t be?
