She pulled her hands from his grasp. “You mean you love me like a friend, correct?”
“No. I love you, Delilah. Truly.”
She stood and pushed away from him and paced toward the fireplace. “Think what you’re saying, Thomas. It’s me, Delilah.”
“I know it’s you, and you’re beautiful and wonderful and smart and funny and perfect, and I love you.” His voice was husky, but there was a tone deep in it, one she’d never heard from him before. Gone was the laughing, playful Thomas. He was entirely serious. He thought he loved her. He was telling the truth.
She whirled to face him. “Remember the elixir I bought?”
“Yes, the ridiculous elixir that doesn’t work. I know all about it.”
“But it does work. I—”
“No, Delilah. It doesn’t. You weren’t meant to marry Branville. He doesn’t love you. I do.”
“But Thomas, I—”
He was beside her then, and her words were silenced as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. And instead of pushing him away, she, awful person that she was, rose on her tiptoes and kissed him back. She wound her arms around his neck and let her fingers thread through his soft hair. His tongue darted past her lips and she sucked on it. She was mindless from the kiss. She could go on like this all day. Their first kisses had been surprising, but this one, this one was purposeful and delightful. She didn’t want it to end.
She wassucha bad person. She was kissing someone she’d duped into loving her. She was obviously a harlot too, because she let the kiss go on for nearly another minute before finally taking a step back. “Thomas, no! We must stop.” But she was saying the words more to herself than to him.
He grasped her hands and held them to his chest, where his pounding heart thumped beneath his vest. “Think about it, Delilah. Is it so mad, really? You and I? We’ve been friends for an age. Why not us? Why can’t we be in love?”
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She had to get away from here. She’d done an awful thing to him. She had to make it right. First, she had to get to London and find Madame Rosa.
She pulled from his grasp and rushed toward the door, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I never meantfor this to happen. Don’t worry. I will find a way to fix this.”
She flew from the room and was halfway down the corridor before she heard Thomas’s voice calling after her. “Wait, Delilah. You must listen to me. I really do love you!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Delilah and Amandine had never packed her trunk so quickly. They tossed everything inside with nary a thought about the condition of the clothing and shoes and underthings. Two of Lucy’s footmen came to cart the trunk off to the coach, and Delilah and Danielle left for London that same afternoon. With Lucy’s assistance, Delilah ensured that she didn’t see Thomas again before she left. He’d sent a note to her room begging her to come back and finish their conversation, but of course, she refused.
As Danielle’s coach rattled away from the Claringdon estate, Delilah sat curled in a ball in one corner, tracing a fingertip against the velvet squabs. What in heaven’s name had she done? She’d ruined her friendship with Thomas, that’s what. She’d toyed with a blameless person’s emotions. She had no business playing God the way she had. She realized that now. Even her plan to make Branville fall in love with her had been awful andselfish. Who was she to dispense emotions to other people? She hated herself for the idiotic way she’d behaved, and for the fact that she’d introduced the elixir into the lives of so many people who didn’t deserve such trouble.
The entire ride back to London, all she could think about was Thomas and the wrong she’d done him. They were nearly to Mayfair before she even had a chance to think about the other implications of the elixir plot going so horribly awry. Namely that the Duke of Branville was hardly in danger of falling madly in love with her anytime soon, and she had not secured an offer from him by the appointed time. Her mother would be looking for her. She’d gloat when she discovered that Delilah had failed. She’d gloat, and she’d demand Delilah marry Clarence Hilton.
But none of that mattered at the moment. All Delilah cared about was ensuring that she did right by Thomas. She’d changed him, her closest friend, her confidant, the person who was always there for her and always would be. She’d done something to him that she shouldn’t have, and she hadn’t even been brave enough to admit it. Instead, she’d run away like a coward in search of a quick solution. The antidote.
Oh, she would explain it all to him. Eventually. She’d confess and beg his forgiveness, but first, first, she had to find a way to make him Thomas again. To make him her friend. Not some love-addled fool who thought she was perfect. He’d even said it. Those words tore at her heart. She was none of those things. She never had been, and she never would be. The elixir had made him say them. Tears stung her eyes, but she dashed them away with her fingers.
It didn’t matter if she was forced to become engagedto Clarence. Nothing mattered but making things right with Thomas. She had to find Madame Rosa. She had to discover how to clean up the mess she’d made.
They didn’t stop at Delilah’s house or at Danielle’s. Instead, Danielle instructed the coachman to drive directly to Lombard Street. It was dark by the time the coach pulled to a halt. Delilah flew from the carriage, Danielle close on her heels. They made their way down the street to the little gate they’d entered the last time. The footman accompanied them like before, but unlike before, when they reached the entrance, Delilah didn’t knock. She pushed opened the green wooden door and barged inside.
“Madame Rosa?” she called, desperation making her voice thin. “Madame?”
A strange, cold wind blew through the little shop and slammed the door behind them. Danielle jumped.
“Who’s there?” came Madame Rosa’s strained voice. A few moments later, the old woman hobbled out of the back of the shop, leaning heavily upon a cane. When she saw Delilah, her eyes lit with concern.
She tottered over to the same table where she’d sat the first time and took a seat, leaning on her cane and breathing heavily.
“Something bad has happened,” Madame Rosa said in an eerie, matter-of-fact voice.
Delilah swallowed and nodded. She approached the table and sat on the edge of one of the chairs in front of it. “Yes. Yes. We’ve come for the antidote.”
The old lady’s eyes crinkled in a frown. “Antidote?” She pronounced the word as if she didn’t know what it meant.
