“Mother. You both do that thing where you narrow your eyes and shake your head at me.”
Amelia’s lip quivered. “You don’t know that she ever did that.”
“I think it was them, Mother and Father, coming to spend a bit of time with me in my dream.”
Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and Graham flinched, instinctively wanting to go to her side and hold her. He was losing himself again. Or perhaps he was already lost. Although aggravation and frustration still coiled inside him as well. She’d left Graham at the ball without warning, let Chase into the house—and yet in spite of everything, he wanted nothing more than to be next to her.
Something cold spread through his chest and it scared him as he realized what he was feeling.
He’d fallen for her. He’d fallen for her, and once Alston knew, once Alston understood they’d had a fake engagement, Alston would ask him why Graham had agreed to such a thing—or rather, gone along with it. Hehadn’tagreed. It had been too late to say anything after Amelia announced it at the garden party. But Alston would see that Graham felt something real—something terrifyingly complex for Amelia.
And Amelia... wouldn’t marry him. Even if she knew how he truly felt. She wouldn’t dishonor them both by entering into a marriage where one person loved and the other could not.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” he said aloud.
“Don’t leave, Graham,” Alston bade him. “I know this must have been a madhouse, with just the two of you holding the reins. What’s happened?”
“Nothing. We’ve been bored and scared for you,” Amelia said.
“That’s not quite true,” Graham objected.
Amelia sat up and glared at him. “Don’t say anything to distress him.”
“What is it?” Alston asked.
Graham sat in the chair to Alston’s right. “Mrs. Dove-Lyon has a match for you, and she’s been sending around Mr. Chase to see why you haven’t been about.”
Alston sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“You knew?” Amelia asked.
“No, but she always has her intense focus on me, as if I were a prize bull.”
Amelia made a disgusted face, and Graham smiled.
“Why me and not you?” Alston said with a suspicious glare at Graham.
Graham shrugged. “I’m not an earl.” This felt like old times, like a normal day spent bantering over newspapers and coffee.Except Amelia looked ready to collapse. She rested her head on the bed, her face toward Alston. He knew how she felt.
“I’m going to change out of these clothes.” Graham exited. He paused outside, leaning against the wall as a wave of emotion swelled in him. Alston was awake.
Sam wasawake.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
They talked allnight, until the early hours of the morning, long after Amelia had fallen asleep, curled up at the end of Alston’s bed like a cat. Alston had grown tired, eyes heavy, and Graham had ordered him to go to sleep, too, told him they’d have breakfast together in the late morning after everyone had rested. Alston had nodded, but he was already half asleep. Even then, dawn was breaching the horizon.
Graham considered leaving Amelia there but decided not to. He picked her up, though it hardly required effort. At some point, she’d put on her nightgown and robe, and both were thin enough that he could feel every curve and dip of her body as he carried her to her room, the warmth seeping into him.
Her door remained partially open, and he nudged it wider, expecting her maid to be waiting either awake or asleep, but the room was empty, her bed already turned down. Graham laid her down on her side, peeling off her robe as milky-blue light filled the room, lighting her achingly beautiful face. He got the first half of the robe out from under her, and he glided the other sleeve down her arm, slowly, admiring her stunning beauty while she couldn’t castrate him emotionally, but then she opened her eyes.
She smiled, her eyes glowing. He thought maybe she was dreaming, not seeing him at all, or she wouldn’t look so happy.
“He’s awake,” she said in a sleepy, raspy voice that made him want to kiss her.
“He’s resting now. I promised we’d all have a late breakfast together, but you need to sleep, and so do I.”
She reached up and grabbed his shoulder, giving him a little shake. “But Graham, he’s awake.” She said it once more. Because it was a miracle. An absolute miracle.
