Her grip on my hands tightened just a fraction. “You don’t know?”
I frowned. “Don’t know what?”
“Eliza called off the wedding.”
For a second, the room went so quiet, it was like the sound had been pulled clean out of the air. “She did what?”
“She told her father quite definitively that she wouldnotbe getting married,” Miriam explained. “She’s about to have everything taken down and sent back to London. Then we’ll need to alert the guests, and?—”
“Don’t.” The word came out sharp, but Miriam didn’t look surprised or offended by it.
In fact, a small smile spread on her lips as her eyes flicked from one of mine to the other. “I don’t take instructions from you, Mr. Westwood.”
“I know,” I said, squeezing her hands a little tighter in turn. “Just hold off for now. Please.”
She paused for a long minute before finally nodding. “Alright, I suppose I’m due for a break anyway. A cup of tea would be nice.”
“Thank you, Miriam.” A renewed sense of urgency raced through me. “Where is she?”
When Miriam hesitated again, I considered just dropping her hands and running, but I knew it would take me hours to find Eliza if she didn’t tell me where to go. These grounds were massive and I still wasn’t even familiar with half of the castle, let alone the property as a whole.
As she stared up at me, I swiped my tongue across my lips and leveled with her. “Please, Miriam? I know I hurt her, but I’m here to try and make it right. I just can’t do that if I’m on the clock and I don’t have the faintest idea where to even start looking for her.”
CHAPTER 46
ELIZA
Driving sheets of rain obscured my view of the water, coming down so hard that I couldn’t even see the castle anymore. I stood in the stone gazebo overlooking our lake, wrapped in a coat with my hands braced on the cool edge of the railing.
This part of the grounds had always been my favorite. It was quiet and slightly removed from the hum of the house and gardens, a little sanctuary few other people ever visited.
Ironically, I’d run here to feel like I wasnotrunning. I needed to tell the people who had been working so hard to set up the wedding to take it all down again, and the thought of it had been too daunting. It made reality feel too real.
So instead, I was simply watching the rain, bracing myself slightly against the cold air as I stood as close to the edge of the gazebo as I could without getting soaked. Rain splattered steadily against the stone roof above me, the familiar sound soothing as I tried to pull myself together.
I’d really gone and done it now, telling Dad I wasn’t going through with the wedding. Sooner or later, all hell was going to break loose. I wasn’t so naive as to believe that this wouldn’t cause a stir.
“Eliza?”
I had been alone since I’d gotten out here, so I jumped a little at the sound of a voice speaking from so close behind me, but the shock of who that voice belonged to did far more dangerous things to my heart than just give me a bit of a fright. It was suddenly racing, pounding, and trying to soar.
Afraid I’d imagined that particular voice, I spun around and nearly fell over when I realized it hadn’t simply been my mind playing tricks on me. Will Westwood really was here. In the flesh.
Standing at the other edge of the gazebo, he was completely soaked, his dark hair plastered to his forehead and his clothes clinging to his body in a way that would have been objectively distracting if I wasn’t currently trying to remember how to breathe.
He looked slightly desperate, those blue eyes just a bit too wide and the expression in them just a bit too wild. It didn’t suit him, but at the same time, that was part of what assured me this was, in fact, Will.
I doubted Jesse Westwood had ever been desperate for anything. Besides, this man was far more familiar, but I couldn’t logically explain why. There was just something about him that instantly made me feel like I was home.
“Will?” I wasn’t sure he’d heard me over the rain hammering against the roof, but I couldn’t stop myself from continuing anyway. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“I needed to see you.” He took a few more steps toward me, stopping close enough that I could see the rain on his long, black eyelashes, but not so close that he was invading my personal space. “I’m sorry, Eliza. I know it’ll never be good enough, but I’m so, so sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said suddenly, remembering that his entire family were about to receive the news that theywouldn’t have to make the trip after all. “I’m serious, Will. You should not have come.”
“I know.”
“You do?” I frowned. “Then why are you here?”
