Anna turned toward him.“So, I’m to thank Pere for the invitation?”
He smiled.“If you’re offering thanks, I’ll take it.I approved the suggestion.”
“Your approval is very important,” Anna replied, tone light—but sharpened just enough to cut.
His brows rose.
Drat.He caught it.
“Noted.I rather like the idea that you care about my approval,” he said lowly, voice like silk against skin.“I was under the impression that wasn’t a task I could accomplish.I’m intrigued.”
“That was sarcasm,” she murmured, but her voice betrayed the heat curling through her when he leaned closer—close enough that his breath stirred the lace at her collar.
I know.He mouthed the words back, eyes intent, unreadable.“Which makes it all the more delicious.Besides…” He leaned in the barest inch.“I didn’t exactly cross off your name.I would’ve added it myself.”
“As if your brother wouldn’t have already done so,” she said, retreating into the stiff safety of her posture, smoothing her skirt like it was armor.End this.End it now.
“I may have suggested the house party in the first place.”He took a long sip of tea, eyes still on hers.Still waiting.
“What do you think, Lady Anna?”Lord Devon’s voice sliced into the charged silence like a blade.
Drat that man.She glanced quickly at Allendale—just in time to see him lower his cup with the smallest smug smile.
Her stomach flipped.He knew exactly what he was doing.
She turned to Lord Devon, trying to recall what on earth the question had been.
Her mother saved her.“We do love Bath, don’t we?”
“Yes!Yes, we do indeed,” Anna said a little too brightly.“The sea air is a favorite of mine.”She flashed a grateful look at her mother before facing Lord Devon fully.
“I’d love to steal you away for an afternoon,” Lord Devon said, smile smooth as polished stone.“To show you the sights by the sea.Our estate borders the water on one side.
“You’re welcome too, Lady Kinfield,” he added quickly, too quickly.
Lady Kinfield smiled warmly.“We’d love to,” she said for them both.
But Anna barely heard her.
Her heart thudded like a hammer, not because of Devon’s invitation, but because she could feel Allendale’s gaze on her—like the slow press of a question she couldn’t answer yet.
If she were given the choice now, she would choose Lord Devon.After all, he had been the one her heart had been set on from the very beginning.But something had shifted—an uncertainty coiled deep within her, rebelling quietly, whispering that perhaps Lord Devon wasn’t the man she had imagined him to be.She had never truly considered Lord Allendale—until he had quite literally forced himself into the picture.And now, all the qualities she thought belonged to Lord Devon seemed to belong instead to Lord Allendale.
She found herself caught between two worlds, unsure if her heart was leading her—or if it was simply trying to find its way.
Chapter Fourteen
The journey toBath was at least two days, and as such, Henley elected to take his own conveyance to their ancestral home.Without the necessary stops Pere would insist upon, not to mention his mother’s need toget some air, their journey would likely take three days.Edwin had made a similar decision but hadn’t offered to make the journey in his brother’s company.Not that Henley expected it—they were still at odds after last week’s visit to the Kinfields’.
It was rare that Henley could observe Edwin’s lack of composure in a public setting, so the afternoon at the Kinfields’ had been an entertaining delight.Edwin had nearly been rude in his demeanor, yet even so, Henley hadn’t noticed a diminishing of Lady Anna’s regard for him.Damn it all.It was remarkably frustrating, and he wasn’t sure what other actions he could possibly take to gain her favor.
Already, he’d put forth more attention and effort than his brother, but he was working against a strong current; her attentions were already bent toward Edwin and had been for some time.Henley knew this, painfully so, but so did Edwin, who used it to his definite advantage.A little charm went a long way when someone already liked you, and in Edwin’s case, the massive charisma that surrounded him like a proverbial cloud only enticed those already infatuated.
But infatuation wasn’t love, and Henley wouldn’t settle for anything less, nor did he want Anna to.
And that would be exactly what she would get from his brother.If there were an honorable way for him to tell her, he would—but there wasn’t.
The hills of northeast Somerset rolled green and gentle, the steeple of the church standing out in the distance like a welcome beacon in a season of so much disarray—at least in his life.Another hour or so, and he’d arrive, likely the first to the estate.The servants would be bustling about preparing for the many guests, but their manor could easily accommodate them all.
