Laurence glanced back over his shoulder and laughed. “Oh no. Nothing left to interrupt. Could this have not waited?”
“No.” Alexander began to pace the room. “I’ve tried to keep my counsel about your impending marriage.”
“Have you? I think you’ve made your status as grandfather’s messenger quite clear.” Laurence shrugged. “But don’t worry. You’ll no longer need to act in that capacity very soon. I’ve just sent the old man a letter that will take care of it. You can thank me for freeing you.”
Alexander shook his spinning head. “Thank you? I don’t even know what you could possibly mean by that statement. You’re talking in riddles.”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Throwing up his hands, Alexander stepped toward him. “I cannot be silent on this anymore. What is going on with you?”
“I’ve no idea what you mean. You’re being overwrought.” Laurence moved to turn away, but Alexander caught his bicep and pivoted him back.
“I have observed you closely since this engagement. Yes, of course I was sent here in Grandfather’s stead, of course I had no choice but to act on his behalf to argue against the marriage. We both know how he is.”
“Intrusive? Controlling? Yes, we both know the game.”
Alexander continued as if Laurence hadn’t spoken. “Put that fact aside. My concerns are coming fromme, not him.”
There was the slightest flutter that came over Laurence’s expression and for a moment Alexander actually saw the boy his cousin had once been. The one who existed before his parents had been killed and he’d been taken in by the puppet master who was the earl. If that younger version of Laurence was still there, perhaps he could be reasoned with in the end.
“Then tell me your concerns,” his cousin said softly. “You clearly cannot be stopped.”
“You have linked yourself to one of the most beautiful women in this country. And more than that, she’s intelligent and witty, she’s…she’s kind. And yet I see almost no connection between you. Not even what you seemed to share when she was still your mistress.”
“Well, she refuses to fuck me anymore.” Laurence shrugged. “That will tend to sever a connection.”
“How?” Alexander asked, genuinely shocked by that statement. “You’ll have her back in your bed in a fortnight. One would think that would only make the anticipation stronger. Yet here you are, risking your reputation and your relationship with our incredibly mercurial grandfather for a woman you hardly seem to care about.”
“Care abouther.” Laurence tilted his head. “I thought you were sent here to protectmefrom her.”
Alexander folded his arms. He couldn’t deny the implication. He chose not to do so. “Perhaps I was, but I wonder now ifshe’sthe one who needs protecting.”
“From me?” There was such indignation in Laurence’s tone. Alexander flinched, for it felt like he was dancing far too close to the edge of revealing something damaging abouthimself.
“Yes.” He tried to make his tone calmer and more collected than he felt. “You were so cold to Julia at the picnic yesterday. You’ve been cold toward her for the entire time we’ve been here even as I watch her chase you, trying to catch your eye.”
“You’re suddenly so interested in my fiancée.” Laurence glared at him.
It was true, of course. Alexander knew that he was far too interested, far too drawn to her. That everything had become a tangle because he couldn’t stop watching her, wondering about her. Easing closer step by step like she was a flame and he some kind of ridiculous moth.
“This isn’t about me. What areyoudoing?” Alexander repeated through clenched teeth. “Tell me. Now.”
There was a long moment where his cousin only stared at him. Then he threw up his hands with a greatharrumph. “Fine. It will all come out soon enough, I suppose. If you refuse to turn from this outrageous line of questioning, I’ll include you in the truth. You’ve met Miss Garrington since our arrival in the countryside?”
Alexander blinked at what seemed to be the change of subject. “Er, yes. Isn’t she the solicitor’s daughter? The one you sat with during the picnic yesterday. Red hair, dark eyes, blue dress.”
“The very one.” Laurence said with a chuckle. “You and Grandfather won’t have to worry about Julia or the reputation of our name very soon. Because I’m not marrying her. Ineverintended to do so.”
Those words were like a shotgun blast to the chest and Alexander staggered backward a long step, barely keeping on his feet. “I-I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. You never liked playing chess with the earl.” His cousin’s smile was now thin and cruel. Whatever hint of the boy was gone again. Buried or long ago killed and only reflected by what Alexander had wanted to see.
“Tell me,” Alexander whispered.
Laurence let out a long breath and paced a few steps away. When he turned back, he was smiling. He looked proud of himself. “For almost a year I have been courting Miss Elizabeth Garrington in secret. I’ve been watching her for an age, and sheappealsto me. But our grandfather refused to allow the match. She isn’t elevated enough.”
The world felt like it was spinning now. Alexander swallowed hard before he said, “So you turned to yourmistressas a replacement?”
