Comfortable? That made it sound too staid and boring. Yet he couldn’t help but feel as though that encapsulated the thrumming in his heart. Despite the initial awkwardness, there was something so comforting about her embrace. Something right and proper.
What he felt for Miss Leigh was no inferno, bound to consume him. No, it was the light and warmth that sustained a man through the darkest and coldest of nights.
When so many ladies looked like explosions of muslin, flowers, and curls, Miss Leigh’s simplicity was quite refreshing. A gentleman needn’t worry about being jabbed in the eye by feathers or about his hands getting caught in braids and dangling loops. The feel of a woman in his arms, rather than puffs of fabric.
There was something truly appealing about Miss Leigh. Even if that thought made the world tilt around him.
“…if you had to choose, which lady would you pick?”
Mother’s question added to the cacophony in his heart, and the more he considered it, the larger its meaning became. There was no scenario in which he could maintain ties with both women. A man didn’t have female friends. Though some believed such relationships innocent, David knew of too many similar situations that ended in heartbreak; he wouldn’t risk his and his future wife’s happiness.
No, to choose the Mystery Lady would be to say farewell to Miss Leigh. Not merely a few days or a sennight apart, but to never see her again. To lose her forever.
David’s chest constricted, his footsteps moving quicker as he imagined this fracture between him and Miss Leigh growing until they were little more than strangers. If he continued his hunt for the Mystery Lady, it only made sense that he ought to simply let things lie. To pester Miss Leigh any more would do no good.
“What does this fantasy lady have that is so much better than a lady whose company you crave and whose opinion you value?”
A man must choose, and when considering the whole of the question before him, the answer seemed so clear that David struggled to understand how he’d overlooked it for so long.
As he frowned to himself, his feet carried him through the streets of Greater Edgerton, his mind churning over his past, present, and future.
***
Blast this wretched trunk! Katherine was not one to blacken her tongue with profanity, so she did not speak the words aloud, but after having spent the past half hour battling the gargantuan thing, the epitaph was perfectly suitable in her thoughts. Tugging at the handle, she heaved, and it slid a few inches along the floorboards of the attic—and stopped.
Wiping at her forehead with her forearm, Katherine was certain she looked a fright, with a pink and shining face whilst her spectacles kept slipping down her nose. Thankfully, she didn’t care in the slightest. Though she did not like the way her underthings clung to her dampened back.
She moved behind the trunk and bent over, pushing it along, but had no greater success with that effort than the first. Drawing in a deep breath, she gathered her strength and shoved, though even if she had the strength of Hercules, her slippered feet found no traction on the floorboards, leaving her unable to shift it.
“Move!” she groaned before dropping down beside it with a sigh. Leaning heavily against it, Katherine propped up her chin on her hand and stared at the tiny window that provided the only light in the small room.
“What are you doing?”
Katherine stiffened at her brother’s question and glanced over to find him standing in the doorway, his hands on his hips for a brief moment before he held them up in surrender.
“Peace, dear sister,” he murmured.
Teeth clenching together, Katherine narrowed her gaze. “Do not call me that.”
Benjamin straightened, his brows rising. “Sister?”
“Dearsister,” she replied with a frown. “I am done with hearing our family spouting that hypocrisy.”
“Did it ever occur to you that we mean it?” There was a slight hint of humor to his tone, and Katherine forced herself not to do something childish, like slam the attic door in his face.
“Oh, I assure you I feel Mama’s meaning every time she tacks it on after some derogatory statement concerning my looks, talents, or intelligence. They say actions speak louder than words, and I would add that her insults speak louder than the shallow affection in ‘dear.’”
“I am not our mother,” he replied, crossing his arms.
Drawing in a deep breath, Katherine sighed. “Did you come here to argue with me?”
Benjamin loosened his stance and winced. “I didn’t. I was curious. What are you doing?”
“What does it matter?” she asked, her chin lifting a touch.
Holding up his hands in surrender again, Benjamin scowled. “It sounded as though you required assistance, and I wish to offer it.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “I can manage—”
