But what a kiss it had been.
I sat up, stretching my legs out in front of me. I raked a hand over my hair, tugging at my tight cravat until it came loose. The turmoil in my chest made it difficult to sit still. Since my conversation with Anne in the rain that afternoon, I had been certain she would never have feelings for me. She had made her opinion of me clear. But that kiss…it hadn’t been one-sided. It hadn’t been an act. Surely I hadn’t imagined the emotion I had seen in her eyes. She might have still had feelings for Miles, but she might have also had feelings for me, too. The fact of the matter was that I was here, and he was not. I had the upper hand. I already knew I would take much better care of Anne’s heart than he ever had. All I had to do was continue to show her.
I had to prove it.
Before that night, I had been sure of my feelings, but that kiss had sealed it. Anne had stolen my heart, and there was no way I would ever reclaim it. I wanted to show her that I could make her happy. I wanted to tell her how I felt, but it still seemed too soon, especially after what had been said earlier that day. If she had even the slightest feelings for me, she needed time to realize them on her own. I couldn’t risk scaring her.
The idea that I might never kiss her again was a devastation I could hardly think on. I stood from the settee, striding out into the corridor. The house was quiet, but my thoughts raged louder than ever. I prayed that I wouldn’t find an invitation to the parlor in my bedchamber. I was too distracted to play another game. I was tired of games. All of them. I didn’t want my courtship with Anne to be fake, or our kiss to be excused as a forfeit. I wanted to kiss her again, and leave her with no question regarding my feelings for her. In time, I would do just that.
I wanted to prove to her that a man who truly cares for her would never leave her behind or leave her waiting. He would fight for her.
When I reached the first floor, I paused outside my bedchamber. A small flame flickered down the corridor—a light from a single candle. It was most likely a maid delivering the parlor game invitations, but I waited until the figure walked closer in the darkness. The candle illuminated her face.
Anne’s hazel eyes rounded in surprise as her light bounced in my direction, pulling me out of the shadows. “Alexander! You frightened me,” her breathless whisper was barely audible. Her pale blue gown looked closer to green in the warm light.
“I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath. I hadn’t expected to see her again so soon. I was worried the thoughts she had interrupted were still written all over my face. “Were you invited to the midnight game?” I asked.
She bit her lower lip, and I had to look away.
“No.” She shifted on her feet. “Were you?”
I opened my bedchamber door, taking a quick sweep of the floor inside the doorway. There wasn’t a letter in sight. “It appears not,” I said, closing the door again. “If you’re not going to the parlor, then where are you going?”
She stared up at me, her face flooded with reservation. “It is nothing of concern.” She turned toward the staircase that led up to the second floor. “Goodnight.”
I laughed under my breath. “Anne—” I strode toward her. “You can’t sneak around at midnight and not expect me to be curious.”
She turned around on the stair above me. A hint of fear crossed her expression as she realized how close her face was to mine. Elevated on the stair above, her height was close to my own. “If you must know…” her voice lowered to a faint whisper, “I finally solved the riddle.”
She turned around again. I followed her up the stairs. “You solved it and you weren’t planning to tell me?” I kept my voice light, hoping to dispel the awkwardness between us. It was obvious why she was avoiding me. She had enjoyed our kiss as much as I had, but she was afraid to accept it.
At the top of the stairs, she brushed a curl from her forehead. “Well…I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.” Her words spilled out fast. “I didn’t know you were awake.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
She met my gaze. Her rosy lips pressed together as she hurried her gaze to the floor again. “Nor could I.” She paused, a scowl marking her brow. “I-I feel horrible about our conversation this afternoon. I should not have said you deserved any unkindness, no matter who it came from. Your disputes with Miles are not my business. Despite our…differing opinions of him, I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t still be friends.” Her voice weakened at the end of the sentence. Her gaze lifted. “I’m sorry. Let us agree to forget all the events of today.”
I smiled, unable to help myself. “Not all of them.”
Her eyes rounded, but she didn’t glare at me like she usually did when I said something flirtatious. Instead, she seemed unsure of whether to throw her candle at me or run back down the stairs. She opened her mouth to speak, but I saved her from the task of a finding a reply.
“So, did you find the letters of Lord Tottenham’s name?”
Her shoulders relaxed. “Yes. They were written on the backs of the invitations to the midnight games. Each letter had a corresponding one that spelled ‘rabbit.’”
“The key to Lady Tottenham’s heart.” I gave a slow nod. “I heard her say that this evening.”
Anne pointed toward the hexagon room, an eager smile on her lips. “The key is underfoot of the game. The gameanimals. I think there’s a rabbit in that glass case, and we are going to find a key under its foot.”
My jaw lowered, and a laugh burst out of my chest. Anne put a frantic finger to her lips, reaching forward to tug on my arm. “We mustn’t be caught.”
“How did we not realize that before?” I asked in a whisper. “Game animals are the only sort of game that have feet.”
Her smile grew. She shook her head in bewilderment. “I hope I’m not mistaken.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” I raised one eyebrow. I stepped ahead of her, holding the door to the hexagon room as she walked through with her candle. I closed it gently behind us. The hinge made a slight creak, but nothing that would alert the rest of the house. Anne raised her candle, casting the light around the dark room.
“It’s quite terrifying in here at night,” she whispered. The candlelight reflected off the glass eyes of a deer on the wall. She stopped in front of Lord Tottenham’s portrait, and I joined her in her study of it.
