She was touched that he remembered such a trivial detail. “It is.”
He handed her the cup and saucer, and she noted that he was careful to make sure their fingers didn’t accidentally brush. Through her grief, she had to mourn that slight denial of human interaction, for she couldn’t help but wonder if his touch still ignited her blood like it had that one blissful night so long ago…
“Have you heard from Triana of late?” Mentioning his sister ought to keep her thoughts where they belonged—firmly in the present.
“Not for a fortnight, at least,” he returned. “I imagine she’s too busy dragging Gabriel around to all the sights in Italy to do much writing.”
Or keeping occupied in other ways, Alyssa’s traitorous mind suggested. If she were married to Travell, she would make sure they didn’t leave their bedchamber for long periods of time, for she would, no doubt, be eager to return.
Stop it!Herconsciencehissed. Ithadonlybeena kiss shared in the midst of a hedge maze the night of her debut ball. It wasn’t as if he’d stolen her virtue.
And yet…
In the intervening years, she’d found it difficult to ignore the memory of his tantalizing lips upon hers.And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t had ample opportunity tomove on. She’d had a couple embraces with eager suitors since that fateful night, but nothing had compared to Travell and her first kiss. It had been something magical, something…spectacular, like the fireworks at Vauxhall that lit up the night sky.Combined with those ocean blue eyes and that thick brown hair thatconsistentlytemptedher to run her fingers through it, he’d been a difficult man to forget.
But since that moment of intense impulsiveness, whenever they encountered one another, which was often since she was good friends with his sister, he had treated her with a kind respect, an almostbrotherlyaffection, as if nothing had happened between them at all.
Alyssa stirred her tea and found that instead of this visit lifting her spirits like she’d hoped, they had effectively plummeted even lower.
***
Travellhated to see Alyssa looking so forlorn. She’d been a true confidante to Triana over the years, but he’d known long before then that she had a kind heart.For a woman who wasn’t yet five and twenty, she’d suffered more than her share of loss. First it was her parents when she was but a child, and now the death of her aunt, which had tossed her back into unfamiliar waters.
He noted her gaunt features, and that her green eyes had lost that teasing mien that he’d come to associate with her personality. Even her brown hair had seemed tolosea bit of luster. It was obvious that she needed a friendly face, and he wished with everything that he had that Triana were here to comfort her. In her absence, he knew it fell to him to become the hero she needed, but with his own personal demon to contend with upstairs, he didn’t have the time, or the energy, to expend on anything else even if he wanted to.
For years he’d fought against his attraction to Alyssa, as his work for the Home Office was too dangerous to bring a wife into the mix, not to mention that he had little time for much else. But now, as he looked at herin her black crepe, he had never felt like such an ass because he knew that he had no choice but to send her on her way.
However, she made the first move by setting aside her teacup. “I should be going.” Shestood,and he followed suit. “Thank you for seeing me, Lord Curdiff. I enjoyed our chat.”
So did I. More than you’ll know.“I’m glad you dropped by, Lady Alyssa.”
She inclined her head and had nearly made it to the door when chaos descended.
A harried footman came running down the stairs, but he skidded to a halt upon seeing a lady in the foyer. “My lord.” He swallowed visibly. “You’re…needed upstairs.”
Travell withheld a curse as a loud crash came from the second floor. Alyssa’s eyes widened, so he turned to her apologetically. “Good day. I’m sorry Ican’t personally show you out.”With that, he turned on his heel and raced up the stairs.
He walked in his father’s bedchamber where two more footmen were doing their best to get his father to eat, but as it had been all night when the earl was struck with one of his fits, there was no reasoning with him.He was twisting and turning his head, thrashing his legs, and growling the most terrible obscenities.
While Travell could tell that his father had lost weight during his travels to God only knows where, he was still a strong man, even when bound.But if they didn’t get some sort of food down him, he would waste away that much quicker. And at this point, an asylum wasn’t an option, for Travell knew how those horror hospitals operated. He wasn’t yet ready to subject his father to that sort of torture. It was bad enough that they had no choice but to pour laudanum down his throat just so he could get some rest.
He strode forward and tried to speak to his father, praying that he could reach his rational side, if only for a moment. “Father. It’s Travell. You must take some soup.”
“No!” The earl wailed. “It’s poison! They’re trying to kill me!”
Travell sighed heavily. “It’s not poison. It was prepared by Cook,who has been employed at Rosewood for nearly ten years—”
Lord Trenton’s eyes widened, almost crazed. “I know what I saw!” he nearly shouted. “She—”Abruptly, he stopped, his gaze riveted to something—or someone—in the doorway.
Travell turned his head and saw Alyssa standing there hesitantly. He withheld his own curse, for this was not anything he would have wished for her, or anyone else, to see—his father struck in the depths of madness while he was powerless to do anything about it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Travell snapped. He was about to instruct one of the footmen to escort her out, wondering why Ives had allowed her to elude him in the first place. But then, a miracle happened.
“Triana?”
His father had quieted as he looked at Alyssa, for some reason believingher to be his daughter. Travell would have laughed if he hadn’t been so surprised, for other than similar dark hair, the two women looked nothing alike.
Alyssa glanced at him, and dared to walkfarther into the room. “Yes, Papa. It’s me,” she said softly.
