“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather play another round with your brothers?”he asked, but only because he felt he must.
“I am more than happy to take tea with you instead.”She grinned up at him mischievously.“Besides, do you think you could have taken the punishment for another round?”
“From your brothers?”he asked with a grin, feeling happier than he had in a long while.
Gasping in mock outrage, she bumped her shoulder against his.
“Oh, from you?”he teased as if he had just guessed her meaning.“Not at all.I enjoy watching you play...whether I win or...”
Words fading away, Aylesbury’s head turned with a frown and Fiona followed his eyes to a pair of simply dressed women emerging from a small bodega across the street.She recognized the look all too well.
“Somehow, I gather you aren’t suddenly in the mood for a bottle of wine,” she said lightly.“Should I be jealous?”
A half-smile turned the corner of his mouth as he glanced back down at her, but just as quickly, his glance slid back to the young women.“I know I’m a fool...to think...”
“Harry?”
“Piper.”
His gaze caught as if he had seen a ghost.She eyed the younger of the two women more thoroughly.Even from a distance, Fiona could see that she was about the right age, tall and slim, but her hair was up and hidden by a wide-brimmed hat that also shaded her face.
“Oh, Harry, it’s not.”She squeezed his arm sympathetically.Her heart ached for him.“I’m sorry.For your sake, you know I wish...”
“My God, it’s her.”
“It’s just wishful thinking,” she persisted, but he was already gone, a London aristocrat running in long strides through Aylesbury.
“Piper!”She heard him call.“Piper, stop!”
“Harry!”Fiona called after him in vain, then shook her head.“Won’t you ever accept the truth?”
It was a silly question.Harry Brudenall, the man and marquis, was probably logical enough to accept that his sister wouldn’t just be walking freely about town.But Harry, the brother, the optimist, would always continue to hope.She could only hope, for his sanity, that he discovered the truth of what happened to Piper one day.
“Why hello, darling!”
Chapter 42
