Most strangely, his appearance two days ago outside of the modiste had forced her to reconsider how she felt.
It had been a quick moment. Sometimes, she wondered if it had happened at all. But more than once, her mind cast back to those few seconds where he had helped to tie the back of her dress. When his fingers had brushed her skin. When his breath hadbeen felt on the back of her neck. And when she had pressed into his crotch and she had felt something…
A pulse rippled across her body at the thought, and she felt her skin flush red. Thalia did not like the man. She did not want to marry him. But even she could not deny the intensity of that moment, just as she could not deny what it meant.
As if this marriage isn’t complicated enough.
“Ah, there they are!” Lord Benedict Hale, the Duke of Northwick announced as he strode into the breakfast room. “Right where I expected them.”
“Your Grace!” a butler hurried in after him, out of breath. “I am so sorry. I tried to ask His Grace to wait until I?—”
“It is quite fine,” her brother dismissed. “Benedict.” He turned toward his friend. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Benedict was beaming as he swept into the room. And his eyes lit up when he found Thalia, who he approached without even looking at her brother.
“Ah, the woman who broke my heart…” He reached her and took her hand. “It is not too late, Thalia, to take me up on my offer of marriage.”
She rolled her eyes. “Perhaps I should thank the Duke of Amberhall for saving me from you?”
“How very droll…” He held her hand with his right hand as he brought it to his lips. Then, he wrapped his left hand around it and looked into her eyes.
Thalia’s face scrunched as she felt Benedict place something in her hand, what felt like a piece of paper. “What…”
He winked at her. “If your Duke doesn’t realize what a treasure he has, you know where to find me.”
“Enough of that,” her brother snapped. “Benedict, what are you doing here?”
Benedict dropped Thalia’s hand and strode down the table toward her brother. This had the benefit of taking her brother’s attention off her, and Thalia used that scrap of time to unravel the piece of parchment underneath the table. What had Benedict brought her?
She gasped when she realized that it was a letter from none other than Rosaline.
“I have news of your brother,” Benedict said.
“You do?” Damien perked up. “What news?”
“I would like to be excused.” She stood quickly and looked at her brother, who was not paying her attention. Benedict, however, turned and winked at her a second time.
She offered him a grateful smile and hurried from the room and upstairs to her bedroom.
Once inside, she shut the door, locked it, and fell on her bed where she uncrumpled the letter and smoothed it out so that she could read it.
My dear Thalia,
I am so sorry for not writing to you sooner, just as I am sorry for how this letter has reached you. As you can surely imagine, things have been a little haphazard lately, and I worried for some time that I would not be able to reach you at all.
Let me start by thanking you again. One thousand times and it will still not be enough. What you did for me… for Laurent… we will never be able to repay you. You saved me, Thalia. You saved the two of us. We owe you everything, and if you need anything, please do not hesitate.
Which brings me to the most exciting news of all: Laurent and I are married! Yes, you read that correctly. We married just last week at Gretna Green, and by the time you read this I suspect that we will be in Scotland on our honeymoon, where we intend to stay until everything calms down. Oh, you cannot know how happy I am!
Laurent sends his best, and he asks that you tell Damien for him that he is sorry. As am I, for that matter, but only a little. Truly, I still cannot believe all that has happened.
I will write again soon, by which time I suspect I will know more about the fallout of what I did. I pray that you are not being punished for it, and when I return I promise to set everything right.
Your friend, Rosaline
Thalia read the letter two more times, and each time that she did, she felt her heart swelling inside of her chest, and even a few tears began to drip down her cheeks.
It had been two weeks now since her brother and Rosaline had runaway together, a development that had not surprised Thalia one little bit. She knew of their love, she knew what they wanted to do, and she knew that she would support them no matter what.
