“Well-known?I…who said that?”
“Silas,” she burst out, clenching her hands at her sides.“He made a point to ramble on about it endlessly any time you came up in conversation.”
He wrinkled his brow, hit by both confusion at this answer and his irritation that followed.Why in the world would Silas bring up Callum bedding women to his wife?A lady.A lady who clearly didn’t want to hear those stories, true or not.It seemed untoward and rude to her to do so.Plus, it had clearly colored her view of him.
She sighed.“So how can one little kiss with me make you nervous?”
“There is a vast difference between being a little rakish now and then with ladies who appreciate a man who plays that role and kissing the widow of one’s best friend just months after his death.”He shook his head.“To—to corner her on a terrace to kiss her after you told her you wanted nothing from her.”
She stared up at him, her expression confused now.“You—you act as though you forced me.”
He shifted.She had kissed him back, but that didn’t necessarily mean he hadn’t gone too far.“Did I?”he whispered.
She shook her head immediately.“No, Callum.You didn’t.”
He tensed.That was the first time she had used his given name with any warmth and he felt the power of it work through him.There was sudden tension in the air, very much like the tension that had hung between them the previous night.And in that moment he saw a flutter of…desire cross her lovely face.Desire that called to his own.
And it was so very wrong.
He took a step back, creating the space he hadn’t been strong enough to create before.“I-I was still incorrect in how I handled myself,” he said, to himself as much as to her.“You are in mourning.Si was my friend.”
“And he’s dead,” she said, more sharply than he had expected.“There is no betraying him anymore.If there ever was.”
“What does that mean?”
The desire was gone, replaced with the fear that she had always exhibited when he approached her.Like she had gone too far.She glanced away from him.“You are correct that we shouldn’t have kissed.It was a lapse in judgment, one I must never repeat, Your Grace.”
He swallowed.“I will admit to you that I am more disappointed than I should be.”Her eyes widened, but he continued before she could say anything.“But I will respect your wishes, Your Grace.”
“You will?”Her voice was so small, so laced with disbelief that he drew back.Was she so accustomed to her desires being stomped over that she couldn’t believe he would allow her those boundaries?
Or was her disbelief solely about him?
Either way, he didn’t like that she had no faith she would be listened to.
He stepped even farther away.“I’ll give you some space now,” he said.“Because I fear I’ve taken up too much of your time as it is.Thank you for seeing me today.And excuse me.”
She still looked utterly confused at his retreat.She opened and shut her mouth as if searching for something to say but coming up with nothing.
He took a few strides toward the house, but then stopped and looked back at her.“I-I do hope that if we see each other, you might still call me friend.And not avoid me.”
She looked into his eyes and nodded.“Of course.Good—good day, Callum.”
“Valaria,” he said, and then walked away from her with the knowledge he might be walking away for good.
* * *
Valaria entered the foyer in time to see Callum riding off the drive and onto the street.Riding away from her.She shivered at the image of him vanishing onto the busy road, gone…perhaps forever.
“Higgins said the duke left almost as fast as he came,” Fanny said.
Valaria turned to find her maid stepping off the last stair with a relieved expression.“Y-Yes.I was expecting an ordeal with him today, but he…he only apologized and then left.”
“Apologized?”Fanny repeated.“For what?”
Valaria froze.She had not told her maid about the kiss.They might be close thanks to what they had endured together, but she was not of a mind to reveal something so personal even to her.
She shrugged.“Just something a little untoward that happened last night at the supper at his home.Nothing of note.”
Except the kiss was certainly of note.And so was this afternoon when Callum had respected her wishes without so much as an argument.She’d almost…wanted one from him.Wanted him to say that he didn’t want to walk away from her.
“If he was untoward and apologized, does that mean you have found the key to getting rid of him?”Fanny asked, hope in her tone.
“I think so,” Valaria breathed.“I don’t think the duke will darken our doors again.”
She said the words and heard Fanny’s murmured, “Good.”Her maid said something else before she walked away, back to her duties, most likely, but Valaria didn’t hear any of it.
Because she ought to have been as pleased as Fanny was about Callum’s ultimate departure.But somehow she was not.
