She got between him and Phineas.
“Me!” she screamed again.
Edmund looked at her and lowered his arm.
“Me. I k-k-k-k—” She took a deep breath. Would the floor swallow her up and deliver her to hell so she didn’t have to go through this? “I k-k-kissed him!”Kithed him. “He . . . n-n-n-nothing.”
“You’re saying the Earl of Burchester, whom I personally know to be a debauched libertine of the highest order, didn’t touch you?”
“Edmund—” This was from Phineas, behind her.
“Shut up, Burchester.” Edmund did not even spare Phineas a look.
“I . . . I . . .” She had no breath to say anything.
Edmund folded his arms and waited. He was very angry and she could tell he was getting impatient, and her father’s impatience had always made things worse for her.
“He-didn’t-touch-me-I-kissed-him-so-leave-him-alone-Edmund.” She had got it all out in one breath.
“What were you doing alone with him, Caro?”
“I . . .”
Phineas spoke up again, “If I might interject here—”
“Shut up, Burchester.”
“I . . . d-d-didn’t kn-kn-kn—”
“You didn’t know he was in the library?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you leave immediately when you found him here?”
“Lady Caroline was on her way out of the libr—”
“Shut up, Phineas.”Phineath. That was her.
Edmund guffawed. “Caro, Caro. You—” He could barely speak through his chortling. “You told him to shut up. Ha! I never thought I would ever hearshut upfrom you.”
Caroline turned around and Phineas was not laughing, but he was smiling. How could he smile? Didn’t he know how dreadful this was?
She turned back to her brother who was still snorting.
“I suppose if a kiss gave you the pluck to tell him to shut up, it’s not a bad trade.”
“P-p-p-p-p-p—” She gulped. “P-p-p-p-p-p-p—” She would have to give up.
“I think Lady Caroline is trying to say she has plenty of pluck, just maybe it isn’t easy to say all the right words all the time?”
Well, actually, she had been trying to sayplease leave him alone. But she liked what Phineas had imagined she was going to say. Quite a bit. Damn him.
Edmund’s brows suddenly beetled with anger and he pushed Caroline out of the way and stood over Phineas who kept his arms at his sides, relaxed, still smiling.
“Are you presuming to tell me what my sister is saying, Burchester?”
Phineas held his hands up and shrugged.
