She couldn’t bear to hold out her hand to him, nor did he offer his own. He merely nodded toward her a second time, then moved off to the sideboard to look at the food there.
Stenfax moved past her to where Lady Barbridge, Celia and his mother were speaking, leaving Rosalinde frozen in her spot, shaking in her slippers and wishing she could wake up from the nightmare she was currently in.
Gray looked down the table toward Mrs. Wilde—Rosalinde—and pursed his lips. She was not eating, just as she had not eaten from the moment they all sat down together. She was simply staring at her plate, not engaged with those around her. Certainly she never looked at him.
What the hell was going on?
He’d left this woman in his bed at the inn the previous morning, his mind filled with longing and faint desires for something he knew he could never have. To see her here, to know she was the sister of a woman he was bound to break from his brother…
It set him on his head.
As did she. Had she known his true identity all along? Was her behavior toward him, her surrender, all a way to divert him from his path?
And why did she have to be so beautiful? More beautiful than he’d remembered, if that was even possible. He’d been dreaming of her since, obsessed with each second they’d shared.
Stenfax cleared his throat gently. “You are quiet, Gray.”
Gray blinked, focusing on Lucien as best he could. “You never told me the last name of Celia’s sister,” he bit out softly.
Lucien wrinkled his brow and looked down the table at the subject of their conversation. Rosalinde was picking at her food with her fork now, but still hadn’t taken a bite.
“I didn’t find it all that important,” Lucien said, leaning in to give their conversation more privacy. “And it wasn’t as if you were around to meet her until now. Why do you inquire about her at all?”
“No reason,” Gray said, fisting his hands against his thighs under the table.
Lucien’s mouth tightened with obvious irritation and he glared at Gray. “You and I are going to have to have a talk about your coldness toward my fiancée and her family.”
Gray almost laughed. Coldness. Well, that might apply to the grasping Miss Fitzgilbert and her grandfather, but he had been anything but cold toward Rosalinde. The absolute opposite had been true in that tiny chamber on a stolen night.
He could already imagine Lucien’s horror if his brother ever found out aboutthat.
“I would very much like to discuss it,” Gray said.
“Stenfax,” their mother said, drawing Lucien’s attention away from Gray for the moment.
Gray took a long breath and stared at Rosalinde once more. At last she let her gaze dart to him, and when she found him staring she immediately blushed and refocused on her plate. Her hands were shaking, so she shoved them beneath the table’s edge. Celia was sitting next to her and leaned in, whispering something to her. Rosalinde shook her head and murmured words in return, but her gaze didn’t return to him.
Anger bubbled up in him, joining the confusion he’d felt since first seeing her here in his brother’s house. He hated to think Rosalinde might be part of her sister’s game, but he had to consider it. He didn’t trust Celia, she was a title hunter if ever he’d met one, and his brother had already suffered from one of those in his life. He’d nearly…well, Gray wasn’t going to consider what Lucien had nearly done after being tricked by a woman with greed in her heart. Gray was determined never to have it happen again.
Rosalinde licked her lips, and slowly her gaze sought his. For the first time since he walked into the room, she held her eyes on his and he was lost, albeit briefly, in the bright blue. He had touched this woman, tasted her, felt her writhe above and beneath him. Worse yet, he still ached to touch her, even now when he questioned her motives.
He ached to feel her body wrap around his.
“Grayson, you have hardly touched your food,” his mother said, leaning forward to talk to him around Lucien.
Gray forced a smile for her. “I find I’m not very hungry, Mama, that is all.”
“You and Mrs. Wilde have the same affliction, then,” Lady Stenfax laughed. “She has also hardly eaten a bite.”
Rosalinde jerked her gaze up at the mention of her name. “I apologize, my lady. I suppose the travel has turned my schedule around.”
Lady Stenfax nodded. “It will do that to the digestion, I know. Perhaps a walk will help. You wanted to see the house, yes? I know Celia and her grandfather have some issues to discuss with Stenfax. And Gray, you could join us, just to get a little exercise.”
Gray looked at Rosalinde. She was tomato-red now, staring straight ahead, clearly trying to find some way out of this situation. Obviously hoping he would refuse his mother’s suggestion.
But they had much to discuss. And sooner rather than later. But not in front of the others.
“Why don’t you letmeshow Mrs. Wilde around, Mama?” he suggested, watching as Rosalinde’s eyes widened and her delectable lips parted in shock. “I know you like to keep to your schedule and write your letters after breakfast. And Felicity, didn’t you say something about your seamstress coming?”
