“There’s someone in the kitchen, and I wasn’t certain if you’d want to be found in here with me,” he said quietly.
“You stayed all night?” she whispered, her voice rough.
He nodded. “I hope you don’t mind. I was too tired to even think about trying to make it home.”
She flushed, thinking of the way he’d touched her last night. She’d never been so relaxed in all her life, never felt so cherished and taken care of, which was ridiculous, because she knew he didn’t care for her at all.
He called me darling...
She shook her head at her own silliness and pushed away, putting some distance between them. “I don’t mind,” she assured him. “But thank you for waking me. You’re right. It wouldn’t look good if we were found together, even though nothing happened.”
But in her heart, she felt as though somethinghadhappened. Something so deeply meaningful that she wasn’t quite sure how to express it even to herself.
He scrubbed a hand over his face, drawing attention to the beard stubble that had grown in during the night. That seemed incredibly intimate, more so than anything she’d ever experienced. Almost as though they were a married couple...
“Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “For everything you did last night. I was very badly in need of a friend.” The moment she said the word, she regretted it. How presumptuous of her, to call herself his friend. He was of the nobility, and she was nothing.
“I was very badly in need of a friend as well,” he said, surprising her. Then he leaned forward and tenderly pressed his lips to her forehead. The warmth and tenderness of his kiss seared into her, making her realize with a sense of complete consternation that perhaps a mancouldbe kind and gentle. For so long, she’d thought she would never find someone like him. In fact, she’d been so certain of it, she’d never even looked.
Before she could react, he pulled away and got to his feet. “I should be going. I need to clean up, and I like to be there when my children wake up. But I’ll be back later, to continue working on the murals.”
“Yes,” she mumbled. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon then.”
“Goodbye, Fiona.” He smiled and left the room, leaving her with her fingertips pressed to her forehead as though she could hold the warmth of his kiss there forever.
* * *
“TELL ME EVERYTHINGyou know about Fiona Bohannan,” Morgan said without preamble, once he was shown into Adrian’s study later that morning.
His brother glanced up from the notebook he’d been scribbling in, a wary look in his eyes. “Why?”
Morgan collapsed into the chair in front of his brother’s desk, both exhausted and oddly exhilarated by the strange events of the night before. “Because I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, and I’m curious.”
Adrian frowned, obviously unconvinced. “Then why don’t you ask her? I don’t feel like her secrets are mine to tell.”
“So, she does have secrets,” Morgan said quietly. Perhaps he truly didn’t want to know everything that had happened to her, what had given her such passion for Brookhaven and the children.
Adrian sighed. “As I said, they’re not mine to tell.”
Morgan held his brother’s knowing gaze for a few moments then looked away. “I’d like to think we’re becoming friends.”
“Friends?” his brother said doubtfully. “She’s been my friend for years, and I’ve never thought about her the way I’m pretty sure you do.”
“What do you know about it?” Morgan snapped, shocked as always by how clearly Adrian could read him. He forced himself to calm down. “I just want to help her with the orphanage. Coax her to tell me who the new Prometheus is.” But even as he said it, he knew it was a lie. He’d been thinking of her exactly the way Adrian had inferred, even though it seemed incredibly wrong to do so.
“She’s very beautiful. Very sensual,” Adrian observed. “But she’s like no woman you’ve ever been interested in before. She’s far beneath you in station, and I’d really hate for you to think of her as someone you can take advantage of without consequences.”
Morgan glared at him. “I don’t deserve that. I’ve never been one to take advantage of women, and you know it.”
Adrian pushed back from his desk and gave Morgan his full attention. “I’m sorry. You’re right. That was uncalled for. I just feel incredibly protective over Fiona. She’s like a sister to me, more of a sister than Allison has ever been.”
Their half-sister Allison, whose father had been the Earl of Winters, was much younger than her three half-brothers. She was spoiled and petulant, and none of them had ever felt much of a connection with her. Last year, she’d been kidnapped by the current Earl of Winters and taken to the Continent as a hostage to keep them at bay. Luke’s search for her had led to him finding his first love and the child that had been stolen from them. Allison was home now, and she’d finally realized her half-brother Roger was not someone she should look up to, but her brothers’ affection for her had not grown.
But no matter how they felt about Allison, Morgan knew he could never think of Fiona in the sisterly manner that Adrian did.
“I just want to help her,” Morgan admitted. “I went to one of those horrible auctions last night. They were bidding on the virginity of an eight-year-old. The new Prometheus managed to make off with her and brought her to Fiona. She wouldn’t let me talk to the child, which I understand, and she refuses to give up the name of the impersonator.” He scrubbed his hand over his face, realizing how much things had changed for him. “But none of that matters. I never knew why you risked so much to help, but now, I do.”
Adrian gave him a sympathetic look. “Are you sure you want to go down this road? Once you see all the ugliness, it’s really hard to walk away. And I’ve finally realized that I can’t save them all. I have to focus on my own family.”
