He got up and followed her. “You and I have been…friends…for a long time,” he choked out. “Youknowyou can tell me anything.”
She stared up at him, and then her hand moved. He watched it as she lifted it and pressed in against his chest once more. Her fingers slid up and she brushed just the tips along his jaw. There was no breath between them, no space, and in that moment, there were no lies.
He could see something he’d spent years convincing himself didn’t exist. Meg wanted him.
She pulled her hand away with a soft sound in the back of her throat and whispered, “I can’t tell youeverything, Simon.”
“Meg,” he ground out, moving to take her hand.
Before he could, the door opened behind them. Meg spun away, turning her back to him, her slender shoulders lifting and falling on panting breaths.
“Ah, there you two are.”
Simon turned to smile as her brother stepped out onto the terrace with them. “James.”
“We’ve been looking for you. Come inside, will you? We’ve an announcement.”
Meg turned around and Simon caught his breath. She had composed herself to the point that no one would ever guess she had been weeping in the corner not five minutes before. She smiled brightly at her brother.
“Of course, James.” As she passed Simon, she shot him a brief look. “Thank you for the—for the talk, Crestwood.”
He nodded as he followed brother and sister into the house. “Of course, my lady.”
James took her arm, leading her toward the small dais where the orchestra was playing. When he said something, they stopped, causing the dancers to halt and turn toward the cause of their interruption.
James shifted Meg so that she was standing beside Graham on the dais, and took Emma’s hand, helping her into a place beside his own. Simon pushed through the crowd, coming closer as he tried to figure out what James could have to say. It was clearly a family announcement. Perhaps of Emma’s pregnancy? James had already told his friends the happy news, but was this the proper forum to make it clear to the world?
But Emma looked just as uncertain as Simon felt as she slid a hand into the crook of James’s elbow and awaited what he would say.
“Our family has been blessed with much good news as of late,” James said. “And tonight I’ve a little more that I cannot wait to share. The Duke of Northridge and my sister, Lady Margaret—”
Simon jerked his face toward Meg. She was smiling, but her cheeks were pale, her eyes staring straight ahead.
“—will marry at Christmas!” James finished.
The crowd erupted in applause and talk, but Simon felt separated from all of it. He stood there, staring at Meg. She nodded as friends called out felicitations. She smiled into the crowd and once up at Graham.
But Simon knew her. He knew her and he’d seen her tears outside.Thiswas why she’d been crying. This supposedly happy announcement of her impending wedding. After all this time, Meg didn’t want to marry Graham.
And even though that should not have changed a thing for Simon, even though it should have only made him sorry for them both, instead it put a light of hope in his chest. It made him wonder if the future was cast in stone after all.
Chapter Two
Meg let her fingers move over the keys of her pianoforte, pouring out her emotion into the music in a way she could not pour out her emotions in real life. She put her anger there, her desperation, her heartbreak as she played, losing herself in the keys, forgetting the pounding fact that her wedding date was now set and marrying Graham suddenly felt very real.
She smashed her fingers down all at once and let out a strangled groan.
“Meg?”
She started as she turned to watch Emma slip into the music room, shutting the door behind her. Meg’s cheeks burned as she looked away from her sister-in-law. “I missed a few notes.”
Emma stared at her, silent for what felt like forever, then she moved to sit in one of the chairs beside the fire. She motioned for Meg to join her, and with a sigh Meg did so.
“You always play beautifully,” Emma reassured her. “With more passion than most ladies I’ve watched play.”
Meg held back a bark of frustrated laughter. “When she is sober, my mother calls my playing unseemly. Unladylike.”
Emma’s mouth pinched slightly at the mention of the dowager. She was well aware of the issues the dowager had with drink. Not that very long ago, she had even helped Meg when her mother made a public scene. That had been the beginning of their friendship and eventually her relationship with James. The only thing Meg could thank her mother for.
