“Yes, when we arrived.”
Althea glanced over at the silent sentinel with his hand resting reassuringly against her lower back. “Lady Kathryn is a dear friend, who recently offered some wise counsel.”
“Lady Kathryn, it’s a pleasure.” He bowed slightly.
“My lord.” Kat gave a small curtsy, before giving her attention back to Althea. “I was hoping you might come around for tea when you have time. In the parlor.”
“I’d like that very much.”
“Wonderful. I have to dash. My next dance is claimed. Do take care.” With that, she was gone.
Althea couldn’t help but believe that in time, she’d be welcomed into more parlors. But at the moment she had more pressing concerns. She looked up at the man she loved so deeply. “Will you waltz with me?”
He gave her the smile that made him so achingly beautiful. “I thought you would never ask.”
She laughed as he swept her onto the dance floor with so much grace that she knew she was envied.
“What you were saying to my mother earlier... You’ve spoken with her before.”
“Yesterday she came to see me. I don’t know if I would have come if she hadn’t, although I was seriously thinking about it. I’ve missed you so much.”
“You’ll never have to miss me again.”
“She didn’t tell you she’d visited with me?”
“No.”
“But you had your family waiting, even though you didn’t know if I would show. When you needed them to be with you in here.”
“Did you honestly believe I would have you face these people alone? I will always protect you, however I must. And if I can’t be there, my family will be.”
She was not going to weep in the middle of a waltz. “I can almost forgive my father—not for the plot against the Crown—but for the role he had in changing the course of my life. I might have never met you otherwise.”
“What a tragedy that would have been.”
His words held no teasing, just an absolute conviction. He meant them. She couldn’t imagine how unsatisfactory her life would have been without him to love. “We have each other now.”
“Now and forever.”
Chapter 32
Two nights later, lying in her bed, she listened intently for any sound at her window. That morning she’d gone to the address Griffith had left with her, delivered the message he’d told her would bring them to her. She’d been on edge ever since, whenever a floorboard creaked, a door was closed, a bump echoed somewhere. She’d left a candle burning in the window so they’d know which room was hers.
Then she heard a click. A pebble against glass. She scrambled out of bed, rushed to the window as another click sounded, and looked out. Only darkness greeted her. She blew out the flame on the candle, snatched up her wrapper, and slipped into it as she headed out of the room. Quickly, but silently, she made her way down the back staircase to the kitchen.
Opening the door, she stepped out onto the stoop. “Marcus? Griff?”
Two large silhouettes emerged silently from the darkness like wraiths in the night. She might have screamed had she not been expecting them. “Come inside. No one is about to disturb us.”
She’d learned only too well that voices could carry outside.
Returning inside, she waited. As noiselessly as fog rolling in, her brothers fairly crept over the threshold, Marcus closing the door in their wake.
She barely recognized them. Their features were the same, but they seemed more substantial than before. An alertness hovered around them as they took in their surroundings, a tight energy escaped them. They came off as powerful and dangerous, men to be reckoned with. Marcus, especially. He reminded her of a viper she’d seen at the zoological gardens, poised to strike at the smallest of provocations.
“Would you like some scotch?” She’d brought in a bottle earlier, set it on the table, in preparation of welcoming them.
Marcus met her gaze, his blue eyes icy, sending a shiver through her. His sable hair was long, almost as long as Benedict’s. The shade made his eyes stand out all the more. “No, thank you. It dulls the senses, slows the reflexes.”
