“Do you?”
* * *
Unable to bear hiscompany and proximity even a moment longer, Fiona turned on her heel and walked away from him yet again.Taking a glass of wine from a footman as she passed, she made her way to the corner of the room where Richard and Abby were chatting with Ilona and Coline.
With a tight smile, she worked her way to Ilona’s side, fuming internally as the conversation wended its way around her.But Fiona did not hear a word of it.Aylesbury’s presence had her so tied in livid knots that all she could hear was the blood pounding in her ears while tension roiled in her gut.
She couldn’t do this.She couldn’t be here with him.Sharing the same city was bad enough, but to occupy the same room?To sit next to him at dinner?The anger she harbored for him might have worked from a distance, but it was useless with him standing right next to her.There was too much behind them.Too much pain was still in her heart when she was near him.And she hadn’t even met his eye yet and already he had her dwelling in the past.
She didn’t need to look back.She only wanted to move forward.With Ramsay.Or if Francis denied her that, with someone else.Good God, anyone else at this point.
Not even if Aylesbury came to her on his knees...
Not that there was even a chance of that happening.
“You could freeze hell with that look,” Richard said quietly.“Are you not glad to see Aylesbury again, Blossom?I can clearly remember you once saying that he was everything a woman could want in a man.”
Yes, she had said that once upon a time.Aylesbury did have everything a normal woman would want.He was titled, wealthy, charming, and witty.And that smile!Oh, he hadn’t shown it yet tonight but he soon would.The barely contained humor, the endless cheer.All of it practiced and calculated to melt a woman’s heart.
“He is still a bachelor, I hear.”
Was he?Then who wasshe?No, I don’t care!
Fiona gnashed her teeth.“Obviously, a far better choice than Lord Ramsay, right?”she asked with bitter sarcasm.“Is that why he’s here?”
Good Lord, if her family somehow thought to neatly substitute Aylesbury for Ramsay at her side, she thought she might have to elope after all.
“No, but it is an intriguing idea, isn’t it?We all like him, and he is a handsome one, isn’t he?”Abby teased, squeezing her husband’s arm.
“Enough of that from you,” Richard growled under his breath, hugging his wife to his side.
Aylesbury had a long history of irritating the men in her family.If only he affected the women in the same manner and thus be banned from the MacKintosh home and, hence, her presence.
“Quite honestly, I have to agree with Abby,” Coline said with a broad smile while Ilona nodded her concurrence.
“He is.Isn’t he, Fiona?”Ilona asked pointedly, eyeing her thoughtfully.
“Isn’t he what?”
“Handsome?”
Fiona looked at Aylesbury, who was now conversing with Eve and Francis near the fireplace.She wasn’t about to admit that there was anything attractive about him, not anymore.No, there was nothing about him that was handsome to her any longer.Nothing about those strong features that might be called beautiful or even godlike.Nothing about the clarity of his bright blue eyes that invited a woman to look into his soul.
Nothing about his wavy black hair that made her fingers itch to run through it.Nothing about the curve of his lips when a smile lifted the corner of his mouth that could inexplicitly call an answering smile to hers.Nothing about his height and muscular physique that could conceivably drive a woman to distraction with fantasies of what might lie beneath his finely tailored dinner jacket.
Her fingers tightened around her glass, her knuckles turning white until Ilona discreetly took it from her and set it aside.
No, there was absolutely nothing about Harry Brudenall that could possibly make her blood rush like a flame through her veins.Or make her feel as if she were in a constant flush.Or make her heart race like the wind over the Highlands.
Nothing!Damn him.
“Is he?”Her voice dripped with deliberate disdain.“Showy, perhaps.Like a peacock.”
Richard laughed at that, tossing back his head, but Abby only frowned.“That is rather unkind, Blossom.You rather fancied Aylesbury at one time.”
As if he could feel her eyes on him, Aylesbury lifted his eyes to hers, holding them before lifting his glass in a silent salute.Fiona’s eyes narrowed, now welcoming the return of her anger.
“No, Abby,” she said tightly.“Not any longer.Will you excuse me?I have a frightful headache, I’m afraid.”
