“You likely wouldn’t.And if you did, I’d have questions.”Anna nudged him with her elbow.
“Fair.”
“And why are you making me ask again?Who was the gentleman?”
“Lord Hawthorne.”
“I should have known,” she said, shaking her head with a breathy laugh.“His reputation does precede him.”
“It does, but I’ll say this—he’s a decent fellow.Aside from these… clandestine nighttime escapades.”
“You spent quite a while at dinner talking to him,” Anna noted.
Henley smiled, unable to help himself.“Watching me, were you?”
Then, just because he could, he leaned in and kissed her softly.
“You were in my line of sight,” she answered, though her voice was breathless, undermining her teasing tone.
“That’s the only reason I watched you as well—purely line of sight.Nothing else.”He kissed her again, this time nipping gently at her lower lip.
“Good to know.”
She started to pull away.“Hen—Lord Allendale—”
Henley kissed her again, silencing her words.“Henley,” he whispered.“We’re far past the Lord part of this.”He kissed her once more.
“I know… and… that’s the—”
“Problem?No, Anna.”He caressed her lower lip with his thumb and tipped her chin up until her gaze met his.“That’s the solution.”
Chapter Nineteen
Anna woke uplate, her sheets a tattered mess all tangled up in her feet and her eyes sandy from lack of sleep.The sunlight poured into her room, another indicator of the late hour, but rather than rise quickly, she closed her eyes and thought over the events of the night.
She was a tart.That was all there was to it.The entire ton expected her to return home with a betrothal announcement, and she was kissing the wrong brother.
And liking it.
No, that was the problem.She was loving it.
She whispered his name, wondering if she was truly going mad.She’d never once dreamed of Henley in a romantic fashion, yet, piece by piece, he was stealing her heart.
A heart that she’d all but promised to his brother.
Good Lord, what a disaster.And it didn’t help that Pere was left in the dark.She needed a friend, but Pere was going to be shocked, in the least.Acting on a whim, because why change now?She quickly rose and called a maid.As soon as the maid arrived, she dispatched her to check to see if perhaps Pere had also slept in late.After all, Anna had been leaving her room when she’d run into Henley.The odds were in her favor.
When the maid returned, stating that Miss Allendale was still in her room, Anna sent a note, requesting Pere wait for her, and quickly made haste to be presentable enough to be enter the hall to make the short trip to her friend’s room.
“What is this all about?”Pere asked, not waiting for Anna to knock, but glancing up and down the hall, she all but pulled her friend into the room.“I wake up to a maid knocking, asking if you could come see me.”She froze.“Did Edwin propose?”She began to clap.“Good Lord, he moved fast, but when?”Her brows crinkled as she stepped back, her eyes moving up and down Anna’s attire.“Did you just wake up?”
Anna took a deep breath, grateful for the brief pause in Pere’s whirlwind of questions.“I… think you should sit down,” she said, frowning slightly.This was going to be harder than she’d thought—and she hadn’t thought it would be easy.
“Why,” Pere asked flatly.“What happened?Is my brother an idiot?Wait, don’t answer that.Let me sit.”She abruptly turned and walked to a chair and flounced into it then leaned forward.“Okay.”She waved her hand in a grand gesture.“Tell me.”
Anna walked toward her friend, and took a seat across from her, mirroring their positions from the night before.“I… don’t quite know where to start…”
“The beginning.”
