On knees weaker than she’d like, she strolled in the direction Axel had instructed her. An elderly lady scowled at Felicity because she was alone. She’d left Susan to wait for her near the bridge.
Entering the shade of the trees, Felicity shivered. The path was overgrown, and the air was cooler. She hadn’t even realized this section of the park existed. She often walked alone while at home at Brightland’s. But that was her father’s property.
This was a public park in the city.
So when Axel’s large figure appeared in front of her, she jumped.
“Sorry about that.” He sent her a half-smile. One she hadn’t noticed before but was finding to be quite attractive. A few leaves clung to his hair.
“You’re fast.”
“I didn’t want you to be alone for long.” He took hold of her hand, leading her deeper into the hidden forest.
“I’ve never ventured this way before.”
“So, you prefer the straight and narrow?” His question was an ironic one. She’d thought so at one time.
“I… don’t know.” Felicity kept her head down and watched her feet, not wanting to trip over the roots that meandered across the trail. “I thought I did. But it involved an awful lot of patience and waiting—of which neither were rewarded…Oh!” He’d led them to a charming wooden bench someone had built under the trees. Trunks extended in all directions, vines hanging down from them.
“I come her alone sometimes.” Axel held the branches back so she could step inside.
It wasn’t a large bench. It provided enough space for two people to sit. When Axel lowered himself beside her, his arms and legs pressed along hers and she shivered.
“Are you cold?” He leaned forward to remove his jacket.
“No. I’m fine.”
But he worked his arms out of the sleeves and then settled the warm garment around her shoulders.Protected… the sensation washed over her even as the word flitted through her mind. “Thank you… Axel.”
“I’m so sorry—”
“I ought to have—”
They both began to speak at once and then stopped at the same time.
“Do not apologize for your father.” He was cradling her hands in his.
“What did he tell you?” What reason could her father have possibly given a wealthy viscount for sending him away? Surely, not that nonsense Lord Crestwood had told him?
Axel’s nostrils flared. “I’m not good enough for you. Not that I don’t agree wholeheartedly, mind you. I just didn’t expect that it would be my own father making that argument.”
“My father told you that he spoke with your father…?” Felicity winced.
“I’m afraid so.”
“It isn’t true. I told him that.”
“I’m not simple,” his tone sounded indifferent, but Felicity didn’t miss the ticking of his jaw.
She hated that Axel felt compelled to give her any explanation or defense. “I find you to be quite intelligent.” She had joked with him about not reading and now felt sorry for it. Not all people were the same.
“My father would be the first to disagree with you.”
She stared into his eyes. In the trees' shade, the green flecks nearly overwhelmed the brown—like the color of the forest itself. “When I absented myself from Lady Westerley’s ball, it was you who followed me.” She had not been crying, and she’d been sure to smile and to greet people she’d met on her way out of the room. And yet…he’d realized something nobody else had.
“Westerley proposed to her right in front of you.”
“It was horrible.” Although she no longer pined for the Earl, the memory was one she’d like to forget someday.
