Page 53 of The Earl She Once Saved

“He went after you last night,” Win reminded her.

“He followed me.”

“He waited outside.”

“He began by scolding me.”

“But he stopped when you told him he was wrong,” Win reminded her, as she had learned of the event already.

That silenced her. Win fastened another hook.

“Mr. Bellamy thinks well of him.”

“They are friends.”

“Mr. Bellamy does not strike me as a man who gives friendship carelessly.”

No, Verity thought. Ezra had defended Rafe without flattering him and guarded what was not his to tell. Nor was there anything careless in the way his attention settled upon Win.

“He is not coming tonight?” she asked.

Win’s hands paused only briefly. “No.”

“Why?”

“He does not care for balls.”

Verity waited.

Win sighed. “He said he had no wish to stand at the edge of a ballroom upon his cane while every fool in the county decided whether to pity him or pretend not to notice.”

The words hurt because Verity could hear Ezra saying them lightly, sparing whoever listened the discomfort of knowing they were true.

“He has a good heart,” she said.

“Yes.”

“He thinks first of what is best for others.”

“Yes.”

“And very little of what may be best for himself.”

Win’s gaze lowered to the hooks.

Verity watched her in the looking glass. “I have seen how he looks at you.”

The silence changed. Sergeant stirred in his sleep, one paw twitching after some imagined quarry.

Win bent to straighten a fold that did not require straightening. “Mr. Bellamy is kind.”

“That is not what I said,” Verity urged.

“He understands what it is to have one’s life altered without permission.”

“And you understand him.”

“There is nothing in that.”