A wrought iron bench and several chairs were aligned near one of the far glass walls of the conservatory.
“I think I’d rather wander.” Evie’s cheeks were still flushed from the heat of all the bodies in the ballroom, and a kind of giddy lightness filled her chest when she remembered the way Gray had looked at her. Almost as if he’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room.
“Then we’ll wander.” Imogen walked beside her, saying nothing for some time. But eventually, she asked softly, “Do you know his intentions, my dear?”
“I must admit that I don’t.” A bit of the fizzing joy inside Evie ebbed. “Everything that happened in the ballroom keeps replaying in my mind.”
“I do understand.” Imogen offered her with a soft, sympathetic smile. “You deserve to have the kind of happiness I saw on your face in that ballroom, but can you truly have it with him?”
Evie couldn’t disagree with her friend’s doubt. The entire house party had been organized around one single purpose.
“I found you.” Gray’s voice sounded distant.
Both Evie and Imogen turned to see him emerge from the foliage of a wide-leafed plant so tall it arced over his head.
“May I have a word with Miss Granger?” He posed the question to Imogen but in a tone that indicated he wasn’t asking for permission.
Imogen studied him a moment, then glanced at Evie. “I’ll take another turn around the conservatory,” she said brightly. “But I’ll be here if you need me, Miss Granger.”
After Imogen stepped away, Evie pointed to the wrought iron bench they’d spotted earlier. She had no desire to sit, but it was in a corner where they could speak unobserved.
“What did my aunt say?” Evie tried to read anything in his gaze—some indication of whether her aunt had revealed the secret they both kept. She wasn’t certain Aunt Lydia had toldherthe whole truth.
Gray offered his hand, and Evie took it. His nearness made her feel safe, reassured, but it was only a momentary escape from what awaited them when they returned to the other guests.
“She told me that my desires are futile.” The emotion glittering in his eyes made her heartbeat speed. “That your life is with her as her companion and assistant.”
Evie nodded. She’d spent years telling herself she could be content with that fate, and it had worked. Or at least she thought it had.
Gray slid his hand up her arm, pulling her closer. “But Evie, I’m more interested in what you have to say.”
“About?”
He traced one finger across her lips, and it was as if something inside her broke free. She leaned into his touch and let out a moan when he stroked his fingers back into her hairline, cupping her nape.
Then he kissed her. Slowly, almost tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure whether what had happened between them in her room had been real.
Evie needed him to know that what she felt for him had always been real. Even if this was the last time they ever touched each other, she needed him to know the truth.
Pressing her body against his, she laid her hand against his stubbled cheek and poured all the feelings she’d never had the courage to express into a kiss.
Evie felt his body trembling as he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.
“I need to know if you feel as I do.”
The smile that curved her lips felt as if it had started in her heart, where an ember of joy warmed her from the inside out.
“Can you not tell?”
“Then will you consider another life than the one your aunt expects for you? A life with me?”
Mention of her aunt cut through the bliss she felt in Gray’s arms.
“I don’t know if—”
“Lord Rothwell!”
Gray still held her when the footman’s shout echoed to the high glass ceiling of the conservatory. He turned to the face the young man and then stepped in front of Evie, as if to protect her from view.
