“You may call me Benedict in front of him,” Benedict said, sending a meaningful look toward the other man. “Isn’t that right, Darrius?”
Warwick hadn’t stopped looking at her even during the exchange and he took a long step toward her. He really did have the most remarkable eyes, though they were entirely unreadable in that moment. Well, not entirely. There in the depths was a heat that made her heart flutter a little in her chest.
“I think, considering what we are about to discuss, first names would be appropriate.” He extended a hand, as if they were meeting for the first time. “Darrius.”
“Darrius,” she repeated as they shook, and she saw his pulse quicken in his neck. “Vanessa.”
He released her hand and walked away, toward the window where she had been standing not a moment before. He leaned back there, arms folded and nudged his head toward Benedict, as if to encourage him to begin. Benedict shot him a look in return, but then focused on her.
“Now that you’ve had a day to come to terms with the shock of Arthur’s behavior,” Benedict said gently. “Now that his foolhardy actions have sunk in for all of us, you must have thoughts. Worries.”
“Of course,” Vanessa said on a sigh. “I’m not a ninny.” She glanced toward Darrius again, her cheeks heating once more. It was odd how much she wanted him to believe that. To not see her as a fool, though she was a bigger one for wanting the regard of a man who could hardly look at her for more than a moment at a time. “And I suppose I cannot pretend that this is the first time I’ve been abandoned by a fiancé at almost the last moment. I seem to be entirely unmarriageable. Unwantable.”
She said the word and wished she could take it back. She’d said something similar last night to Benedict and he had kissed her thoroughly as response. Now in the bright light of day, with Darrius standing by, now watching with such intensity, that felt like revealing something.
Benedict shifted, but before he could speak, Darrius came forward. “The idea that you are unwantable is entirely ridiculous,” he said, his tone a bit sharp. “You are most certainly wanted.”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him. Did he mean by himself? Even though he always behaved as though he didn’t like her, always avoided her? Or was he referring to Benedict? Had he told Darrius about what had happened between them in the hallway?
“And marriageable,” Benedict added. “But we cannot deny that what has happened with Arthur, added to what happened before with your prior engagement, will certainly create unpleasant talk. And so you must marry to mitigate the damage. Quickly.”
She folded her arms. “Wonderful. I’ll just move to the next name on my overflowing list of suitors. Let’s see…that would be…no one. Who would you two have me marry?”
“One of us,” Darrius said softly.
She stumbled a step and nearly put herself on her backside on the parlor floor. “One of you?” she repeated. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Why?” Darrius continued. “My brother is the one who wounded your future—I would be remiss not to offer a remedy.”
“And he was my friend,” Benedict added. “I ought to have been more aware of his dastardly plans. So I also must offer for you as a solution, as well.”
Must. Remiss. Not exactly romantic notions from what appeared to be not one but two proposals. She frowned and bent her head. “I’ve been nearly forced into two marriages. I won’t do the same to someone else.”
“Just because something is arranged doesn’t mean it’s forced,” Benedict said, coming to stand before her. He slid a finger beneath her chin and tilted it up so that she had to look into his dark eyes. “Or that it couldn’t be vastly pleasurable for all parties involved.”
She caught her breath and glanced at Darrius, shocked that Benedict would be so forward in front of him. But instead of looking uncomfortable or irritated, the other man was staring and for once she could read his expression. He looked…aroused. By watching her with Benedict.
Once again she thought of those wicked moments between Merritt, Egerton and Peter on the settee in the library. Why did she keep getting these men tangled in those ideas?
“You ought to be able to make this choice,” Benedict said. “Knowing all the benefits and disadvantages you will find in a future with either of us.”
She stepped back and he dropped his hand to his side as she shook her head. “And how exactly would I do that?”
“I know what you and Benedict saw last night,” Darrius said, pushing off the window ledge and coming across the room toward her in a few long strides.
Now she stopped breathing entirely as she stared at him, humiliation overwhelming her. She glanced toward Benedict. “How—how could you tell him that? Why would you?”
His lips pinched. “It wasn’t to hurt you, Vanessa, I promise. I…” He looked at Darrius. “Do you not know that both of us desire you?”
Vanessa’s ears began to ring at those words and she turned away from Benedict toward Darrius. “You—you don’t want me. You don’t even like me.”
His eyes went wide and there was a moment that stretched between them. Then he moved closer and reached out. His ungloved hand took hers and she shuddered at the warmth of him. The presence of him looming above her, holding her captive with the unending blue depths of his stare.
“If I have behaved distantly, that was not because I didn’t like you,” he said. “It was exactly the opposite. I coveted you, and I could not allow it when my brother was to be your husband. But he’s gone now, Vanessa. He’s gone and what is left is how I…how I burn for you.”
Her lips parted at that heated declaration from a man who had only ever been chilly. She heard Benedict make a soft noise from beside them and found he seemed as moved by this statement as she was.
“What you saw last night must have shocked you,” Darrius continued. “But Benedict told me that it also…interested you. That you told him you wanted to feel something similar. Could that be true? As an innocent, do you really know what that means.”
