Page 18 of The Earl’s Second Chance

Richard’s hand settled between her shoulders. He smelled of wool, cedar, and morning air.

“You are not difficult to value,” he murmured.

She lifted her face.

Their eyes met. The space between them narrowed without either deciding it should. His thumb brushed a tear from her cheek. Elizabeth felt the touch in every nerve.

Then he stepped back.

“I will take you home.”

At Grosvenor Square, she paused upon the steps. “Richard.”

It was the first time she had used his Christian name.

“Thank you.”

He watched the door close behind her before turning toward Darcy’s house.

He found his cousin in the library pouring brandy at ten in the morning.

“You arrogant fool.”

Darcy’s head snapped up. “You heard.”

“Every word that mattered.”

“Then you heard her cruelty.”

Richard crossed the room with no trace of a limp until the last step. “Cruelty? You weighed her family, announced that recent wealth had made her acceptable, and expected gratitude.”

“My objections were rational.”

“Your uncle is an earl, your aunt is the daughter of one, and your dearest friend’s fortune comes from trade. You employ reason selectively.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed. “You seem unusually invested.”

Silence answered.

Recognition dawned. “You have been meeting her.”

“Walking with her.”

“Without telling me.”

“She is not your property.”

Darcy set down the glass too hard. “You cannot support a wife on a colonel’s income.”

“There. Again. Money before merit.”

“And you imagine her fortune irrelevant?”

Richard struck the table with his cane. “I imagine she is not.”

They stood breathing hard, cousins who had been brothers in nearly every way that mattered.

“Do you intend to court her?” Darcy asked.