“—andwith the trouble you went through to retrieve this,” he brought the page forth and held it above her reach, “it must be quite valuable.”
With a smug grin, Mr. Reeves slid the page into his chest pocket. “If I cannot be given a hero’s reward, I’ll settle for this.”
With a broad-faced grin and a mock salute, he ducked into the house, leaving her alone in the yard.
Chapter Two
He almost kissed her!
His heart raced, still! Seth’s steps landed hard as he forced himself to put distance between the two of them, to stop himself from turning around to finish what he started. Or wanted to start. Oh, how he wanted to startsomething.
He was a damned fool, that’s what he was!
Caught up with Cassandra, he forgot about the five men taking teain the receiving room, waiting to determine the course of his future. He forgot all about the whole blasted contest, and the one cardinal rule between male friendships. A man did not kiss his best friend’s sister! Especially when that sister was a well-born and well-behaved lady with the immediate goal of finding a husband that came with a title. Wealthy. Not some low-born commoner without a penny to his name.
But she hadn’t been well-behaved at all right then. No. She waswild. Wind-blown and red-cheeked, eyes aflame, glaring at him from the treetops. Ha! What a rush!
Outside the window to his left, individual blades of grass joined to form a rolling blanket of green extending into the horizon. Swathes of beech trees lay in the far distance, showing as dark smudges against an otherwise clear backdrop of sunlight and sky.
If he had any sense at all, he would have released her as soon as she was safely on the ground, taken a step back and turned from her. But with her in his arms, he wanted to hold her closer, to see how her mouth would fit against his. Everything about her was soft. Surely her lips would be the same.
Unbidden, images flashed through his mind of Cassandra reaching for him so sweetly, so trusting. It was an exquisite torture to feel her delicate curves press against his body, to smell the lavender scent of her soap up close. The flush of her cheeks and the warmth of her breath on his neck burned through him, even now. Her hushed voice, melodic and keening, pleading with him.Please don’t let me fall, please don’t let me—
—white agony rained upon his back, lungs filled with acrid smoke, black and blinding. A primal voice screamed in his head to getoutgetoutgetout! Coughing and spluttering, he struggled and flailed his arms, searching, searching—
Where was—he couldn’t find—
A tug at his leg.
“—aptain… please, don’t let me—”
Jerking his head violently, Seth staggered backwards. His shoulder connected to the wall with a thud. His hands were shaking, every part of him wasshaking. Nausea surged through him as the world fractured and reassembled itself. Chest constricted, he could hear his pounding heart as if it were outside of himself. Choking on shuddering exhales, he urged himself tofocus.
Focus!
His collar was too tight. He couldn’tbreathe. He wouldsuffocate. Seth tore his cravat from his neck and threw it at the ground. Breathing through gritted teeth, he forced himself away from the wall. Facing the window, he met his worthless reflection.
Weak.He ground his molars together.So bloody weak!
“Would you like me to fix that for you?”
Seth’s heel caught on the carpet as he spun to the voice. There stood a golden-haired sliver of a seventeen-year-old girl in a pale yellow dress, his cravat extended in her upturned palm. Her eyes were the same amber-brown color as her siblings, but her’s were rounder, owlish, blinking up at him with curiosity.
Caroline Cooper.
“Well?” She gestured to him with the cloth in her hand.
Seth slumped his shoulders. What luck. The hard part of his day hadn’t even started, and already what a mess it was turning into. Caroline led him to the windowsill and addressed him with the professionalism of a doctor directing their patient.
“Sit down. I’ll fix you right up.”
He complied and stared at the wall where he had all but disintegrated moments before.
“I hadn’t heard your approach,” he said, after he trusted his voice enough to speak. “You’re getting better at that.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I knew you would approve. Cassandrahas no patience for it, and I’m not sure if Matthew notices.”
“He notices,” he assured her. “How long were you standing there?”
