Christ, what a mess!
He swept his palm across his forehead and turned to find her standing a few feet away, beautiful as ever in her blue silk gown. The wind tugged playfully at the sheer fabric layers and at a few stray strands of her hair.
“Yes,” he lied. “Everything is fine.”
He couldn’t even confide in Henry, he realized. Florian knew what it was to have the comfortable life you knew snatched away in an instant, and he refused to do that to his brother.
“You don’tlookfine,” Lady Juliette said, her voice dragging him out of the faraway place his thoughts had gone back to.
“The heat was too much.” Another lie, but what else could he do? “It made me feel ill.”
She studied him for a drawn-out moment and he realized he was holding his breath in anticipation of her response.
Eventually she took a step toward him and said, “Yes, it is a bit stuffy in there.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and strove to be the gentleman he ought to be in her presence. “I hope you can forgive my hasty departure. It had nothing to do with you.”
She smiled then, wide and lovely and without any pretense. “Thank goodness for that! For a moment there I feared you might have tired of my company, which would have been a pity since I’ve really been enjoying yours and—”
“Here you are,” Henry said, announcing his arrival as he crossed to where they were standing. “Took me a while to acquire this. It’s not as readily available in there as one might expect it to be.” He handed Florian the glass of brandy.
Thanking him, Florian took a long sip, savoring the calming effect and the heat spreading out through his chest. And yet, as good as it felt, part of him regretted asking Henry to bring him the drink, because if he hadn’t, he might have been able to enjoy his conversation with Lady Juliette a little while longer without interruption.
Her comment had squeezed his heart and made him feel...more. As strange as that was, it was really the only way he could think to describe it. And then there were her unspoken words, the ones she’d been about to say when Henry had arrived. Florian knew he would wonder about them later tonight and perhaps even for a few days after.
“Better?” Henry asked when Florian lowered his glass.
He nodded. “Yes. I think it was just what I needed.”
His brother appeared on the verge of saying something more, then glanced at Lady Juliette and kept silent, for which Florian was grateful. He really didn’t want to discuss what had happened. Not when he couldn’t be honest about it.
“Will you be attending the Wilmington Ball on Friday?” Henry asked.
Florian shook his head. “I don’t think so. The only reason I came here tonight was because our parents insisted on it.”
Catching the fleeting look of disappointment in Lady Juliette’s eyes, he shifted and straightened his spine. Whatever fanciful thoughts she was having, it was best she rid herself of them right now. He wasn’t interested in courtship or marriage, no matter how compelling he found her. It was best if she realized that, so she didn’t waste any more time on him.
“There are more important matters for me to attend to,” he added while telling himself he felt no guilt over Lady Juliette’s crestfallen expression.
“I see,” she muttered, then turned her full attention on Henry. “Do you plan on going, Mr. Lowell?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Henry declared. “Least of all if it gives me the chance to dance with you, my lady.”
Lady Juliette chuckled in response to the easy flirtation while Florian dug his nails into the palms of his hands and forced down a growl. He would not be possessive. Not when he had no right to be. And yet there was no denying the way his muscles flexed and strained beneath his jacket and shirt or the way his heart ached in response to the emptiness stealing straight through him.
“She dances exceptionally well,” he forced himself to say. “And Lowell isn’t bad either, so I’m sure you’ll both enjoy yourselves.”
Henry gave him an odd look while Lady Juliette frowned, no doubt because he’d failed to keep the bitterness he felt from seeping into his voice.
“Considering how gracefully you executed the waltz with Florian,” Henry told Lady Juliette, “I do believe I would like to try that particular dance with you myself. If you agree?”
“I’d be delighted,” Lady Juliette replied without the slightest bit of hesitation.
Florian stared at her, the violent urge to step between her and his brother, to keep them apart somehow, so overwhelming it caught him completely unawares.
Thankfully, Liverpool arrived at that exact moment, ridding Florian’s mind of the elemental compulsion to hit something. Like his brother. Which wouldn’t do at all.
The prime minister’s expression was bleak, his eyes filled with the burden of too much responsibility. The look did not bode well. It made Florian’s heart rate escalate and his nerve endings scream with trepidation.
