“Did you talk to Thomas about it?” Roarke burst out.
“I tried,” Gertrude said. “But he was going away to handle some estate business for a few days and he didn’t want to hear it. He said I was hysterical.”
“Fuck,” Roarke muttered, and didn’t care that he’d cursed in front of his maiden cousin. “Let me out.”
Gertrude blinked. “What, but I wanted to talk more about—”
He leaned over her and banged on the wall behind her. “No, let me out.”
“Why?”
“Do you know where they were going?” he asked. “A friend in the country. Was it the Duke of Blackvale or the Duke of Lightmorrow?”
She stared. “How did you know?”
“Because I know her. And I know her friends.” He gulped back his fear. “Tell me which one.”
“Blackvale,” she said softly. “They left two days ago.”
The carriage stopped and Roarke jumped down even as it still rocked. He leaned back in and speared his cousin with a glare. “You said this happened yesterday. Did you send a message to Flora, telling her she might be in danger?”
Gertrude shifted and the fear flashed in her eyes again. “N-No,” she admitted. “I thought my brothers might find out and then it would be me who was threatened. I thought…I thought…”
“We’re all cowards in this family,” Roarke said. “And I can only hope that our spectacular failures as human beings won’t lead to harm to a woman who deserves nothing but the best things in this world. Deserves better than us, for certain.”
With that he slammed the carriage door in her face, grabbed the reins of his horse from the confused servant who had been riding him but jumped down when he saw Roarke get out of the carriage, and rode off at full speed to exit London.
He had to get to Flora. Nothing else mattered. He could only hope that it wouldn’t be too late.
CHAPTER15
If Flora had hoped that going to a new location would quell the pain in her heart, she determined within a day of her arrival to Callum’s estate that it wasn’t meant to be. Now instead of sitting on her own veranda, staring out at fluttering leaves and trying not to cry, she looked over Callum’s foggy, moody estate grounds instead.
At least it was a change in scenery. But she couldn’t seem to change her heart. Why did this hurt so much? Why couldn’t she just write Roarke off and come back to herself? She feared the answer that sometimes woke her at night. Feared emotions that, if she accepted them, would only make all this worse.
“You look cold.”
She jolted at the voice close to her and looked up to see Bernadette had joined her on the terrace. She held out Flora’s spencer and she got to her feet as she took it.
“I didn’t even notice the chill,” Flora admitted even though now the breeze cut through her a bit more. “Thank you.”
Bernadette helped her slip the short jacket over her arms and Flora buttoned it while she continued to look out into the distance. She was warm now, but still empty.
“I know I must try to be a better companion during this trip,” she said with a sigh.
“Don’t be silly—you are a lovely companion,” Bernadette said, giving Flora’s waist a little squeeze.
“Well, then I must find some way to shake off these doldrums if only for myself.”
“I know you’re suffering.”
Flora rolled her eyes. “But why? I knew Roarke Desmond for a few weeks. I shared a handful of kisses and one…well,encounteron my settee.” She shivered as she remembered his mouth on her, her body convulsing with pleasure. “I should not be so forlorn like he was a lover for years with promises made and expectations created.”
“Expectations can be created in a night,” Bernadette said with a slight tremor to her voice. “I watched you with the man, I listened to you talk about him. Perhaps the acquaintance was brief, but it meant something to you. Trying to pretend it didn’t won’t help you get over your disappointment. Whatever his motives, yours were pure. Your emotions were real. I hate to see you try to discount them as a way to stop hurting. I can tell you from bitter experience that it doesn’t work.”
Flora bent her head. “Perhaps you’re right. But if I admit that I…I cared for him, oh even saying the words stings.”
“Understandably,” Bernadette said. “Because he lied and broke your trust and made you question yourself.”
