Sebastian tilted his head back to laugh but didn’t deny the charge. As he did, Marianne returned to the room and her face lit up to see them laughing together. “Oh, a joke! What is it?”
Finn snorted. “I’m sure Ramsbury will tell you later.”
She wrinkled her brow but didn’t press. “I admit, I’m happy to see you two at such ease with each other. I know our engagement, the circumstances that created it in the country, they strained your friendship. It has been the only mar on an otherwise joyful time.”
Finn pushed aside everything else he felt and moved toward his sister, catching her hands in his. He looked down into herface and saw her joy and also her love for him. “Marianne, I free you from any worry about me when it comes to your union. No, I wasn’t happy with…er…discovering you two in such a delicate situation at the country estate.”
Marianne blushed and ducked her head, so Finn hastened to continue. “But I can see your happiness and that of my dearest friend. And as I was speaking to him a moment ago, I had this realization that your union will make Sebastian, a man I’ve always seen as a brother, into my brother in truth. When added to your own joy, how could I ever be anything but elated at that future?”
Marianne’s eyes misted with tears. “Oh, Finn!” she gasped, and then tugged him in for a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Oh, thank you for saying that.”
He squeezed her back. It had always been just the two of them. They were each other’s only true family. He never wanted to risk that, to harm that. And being able to finally fully accept the union, to celebrate it, it lifted a weight he’d been carrying.
It also put into stark contrast Esme’s situation. She, too, had only had one person in her life. And with her father’s death, she’d lost everything. He grieved that on her behalf.
Marianne stepped away and then moved toward Sebastian. The earl had been watching the siblings interact quietly, but he smiled broadly as he wrapped an arm around Marianne and tucked her to his side.
“If you two are quite finished with this highly emotional display,” Sebastian teased. “I think I must whisk the future countess away, for we have a dozen errands to run when it comes to wedding plans today.”
Finn motioned toward the door and followed the couple into the foyer where the carriage was rung for. “You are assisting with the wedding plans, then? That is progressive thinking for a groom.”
“There would be very few ladies I could plan with,” Marianne said with a sad expression. Finn frowned. She had lost her closest friend a little over a month prior. He hadn’t thought of how that must affect her joy as much as his previous attitude had.
Sebastian took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “And I like being involved. Watching Marianne’s face light up when she finds the perfect fabric or some exquisite bauble for a table is my current greatest pleasure.”
Marianne smiled up at him. “You tease.”
“I do not,” he said as the carriage arrived.
She said her goodbyes to Finn and Sebastian handed her up into the vehicle. She slid to the other side and began to look through her reticule for something. He was about to join her when a messenger rode up the drive. The young man swung down and looked between the two earls.
“Delacourt?” he asked.
“That would be me,” Finn said, and held out a hand for the missive. It was in a very pretty hand, his full title written carefully above his address. He hadn’t ever seen Esme’s writing, but he knew it was hers and his heart began to pound into his throat.
Sebastian arched a brow and spoke quietly, so Marianne wouldn’t hear him. “From the way your expression just lit up, I would wager your conundrum isn’t always frustrating.”
Finn glanced up. “No. She is not.”
“Well, happy hunting, my friend.” He stepped up into the carriage and leaned out. “I’m always here.”
With that he shut the door and the carriage pulled away, leaving Finn still staring at the letter in his hand. He returned to the house and back into the parlor where his tea was going cold on the sideboard next to the scotch Sebastian had poured. Hetook a long sip of the second before he broke the wax seal on the back of the pages.
I’d like to see you to discuss your offer. I’m certain you must have had your driver pay attention to where I was delivered. You’re too clever not to do so. Send me word as to when and where is convenient. Esme.
Finn read the three sentences over and over, marking every shiver in the handwriting, every swirl of each letter. It was direct, with nothing flowery to it, but he could almost hear it being read in Esme’s throaty voice. Whispered like a caress against his skin. He would see her again. As soon as he wished to do so, and however privately he wanted to make it. That was the thrill, even more than knowing she might allow him to help her uncover the truth about her father’s death.
And that was dangerous. If he was intelligent, he’d turn this entirely toward his old friend. He owed Chilton this, he owed him more than panting after his wayward daughter, certainly.
And yet he knew, as he walked to his study to reply to her message, that the moment he saw Esme, he wouldn’t be able to resist the electric current that bound them together. It was just too powerful.
CHAPTER 12
Esme felt nervous. It wasn’t a sensation she often allowed herself to have. A lack of confidence, at least outwardly, could be dangerous in the world of boxing, even deadly on the streets. But at that moment she couldn’t stop pacing up and down Finn’s fine parlor carpet, clenching and unclenching her hands before her as she waited for his arrival.
It had been a day since she sent her note. He’d responded immediately, even though he’d asked her to come the following afternoon. There had been something disappointing about that. That he hadn’t arranged to meet her the same day, same hour, same moment, she’d sent her letter.
But then again, they weren’t courting. They weren’t falling in love. They were in an awkward dance of passion and long-kept secrets. Nothing more.
