“Nothing important.” Eliza gripped her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
“It seems that it must be based on how serious you both are,” Winston countered, his eyes narrowing. “Trentworth, what favor?”
Philip hesitated, trying to think of an explanation.
“I asked Philip for a favor,” Eliza said before he could respond. She turned to face her brother. “To pay a little attention to me at events.”
“Whatever for?”
“So that I might catch the notice of...someone.” Eliza’s voice faltered on the last word.
“Ah.” Winston nodded with a knowing smile. “This is part of your book group, isn’t it?”
“No,” Philip answered on her behalf. But something niggled at the back of his mind. A forgotten bit of information that was trying to resurface in the pool of his jumbled thoughts. He looked at Eliza in question.
The guilt on her face sent an unpleasant jolt of surprise through him.
“Eliza?” he asked.
“Aren’t you the one who told me of it?” Winston asked Philip. “At the club one evening, you mentioned there was a book group whose members were trying to snare husbands. That was before Eliza’s arrival.” His attention shifted to his sister. “Aunt Frieda was going on about your reading league a few days ago, saying how she thought it was inappropriate of them to do anything to sway a man’s opinion. That it was unladylike.”
“Philip, I can explain,” Eliza began, reaching out a trembling hand only to let it fall.
“Lady Bolton’s book group is that one?” Philip shook his head. “What man were you trying to catch?”
“I wasn’t. I mean...that isn’t how it works.”
The sinking feeling in his chest was taking his heart down with it. “So you didn’t really want my help.”
“Of course, I did.”
“You were setting some sort of trap?” Winston asked.
Philip couldn’t believe it of her. “For who?”
Her mouth opened and closed several times before she at last held out a hand toward him. “Philip, surely you don’t think there is anyone but you who holds my regard.”
“Me?” He couldn’t take it in. Not with the other information that had just been revealed. “You were trying to trap me?”
“It wasn’t a trap at all,” she said with a shake of her head. “You can ask Phoebe. That’s not how theFor Better or Worseagenda works.”
“That’s quite the name for it,” Winston said in disbelief. “It certainly sounds as if you’re trying to catch husbands.”
“Only a man’s notice. Nothing more. To help them see us differently.”
Philip laughed but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. Not when his heart ached that she hadn’t told him the truth. Instead, she’d tricked him. “You certainly accomplished that much. I see you much differently.”
“What does that mean?” Winston asked, his outrage obvious.
He had no answer. Unable to believe what he’d just learned, Philip turned to leave. He needed to go before he said something he’d regret. Or told Eliza just how much she’d hurt him.
Marrying out of duty was clearly a safer choice than allowing emotions to affect his decision about the future and who would stand at his side.
“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Winston said as he glared at Eliza. “What were you thinking? Did you hope to trick Trentworth into marriage? Snaring a husband by tricking him seems a little extreme, don’t you think?”
Eliza pressed a hand to her mouth, hoping to hold back her tears as she heard Philip’s steps on the stairs, the sound echoing through her empty chest. “It wasn’t like that.”
“He’s my friend, Eliza.” Winston shook his head. “To think you’d try to take advantage of him is unbelievable.”
