AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 66
This was the moment that he had been waiting for all evening. No one was paying either of them any mind. The combination of steadily flowing alcohol and plentiful, rich food made everyone less attentive, so it was the perfect time for Silas and Lucy to disappear for a little while.
“Come,” he said to her in a low voice. “They won’t notice that we’ve slipped off. Not when they’re so engaged in their card game.”
They were—everyone was gathered around the card-tables, interested in their full hands. Others were gathered at the pianoforte, and the ladies had begun to have a little concert. It seemed that no one had noticed that Lucy and Silas were not among their number.
She smiled at him, her eyes seething with passion. It caused a flutter in his stomach. He hungered for her, and her alone. There would never be anyone else for him, as long as he lived. He found himself to be content. He knew that he was lucky to have her, having nearly lost her entirely.
Hand in hand, they slipped from the room. They waited in the hallway for a moment to see if anyone missed them. A few minutes passed, with no one coming to search for them. Satisfied, he took her hand and led her to the library that he had built for her. He watched as she looked around at all of the books, smiling blissfully.
He wanted to make sure that she was always this happy. The evening had been a success, thanks to Dinah’s expert planning and Silas’ large bank account.
“Are you happy?” he asked. If she asked anything of him, he would gladly give it to her.
“I’m very happy,” she said, sighing, though her brows knit together and she looked troubled. “There’s something that I haven’t told you, and I feel that you should know.”
He felt a little worried, but he nodded. If it was something that concerned her, then he wanted to help her through it. “Tell me,” he told her, willing to accept anything that she needed to say. “There should be no secrets between us. You know about all of my past dalliances.”
She laughed. “I do, at that.” He had told her everything—all about his philandering, so that she was never blindsided again. After all, any of his old flames might show up and want to take revenge on him for whatever imagined slights. He wanted Lucy to be prepared for this.
He had been sure to tell her, over and over again—in falling in love with her, Silas would always be true to Lucy. No other woman could tempt him ever again. He had sworn it and meant it.
He raised her hand to his lips. “Tell me,” he said, gently. Whatever it was, he could see that it weighed on her. She seemed to gather her thoughts, taking in a deep breath and then letting it out. She folded her hands in front of her.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever told you about the man that I was planning on marrying, back when I was eighteen.” She looked over at him.
“No, you have not,” he replied. “Dinah mentioned that you had been hurt before, but she didn’t tell me any of the specifics.”
She began to pace slowly past the shelves, running her fingertip along the leather spines of the books.
“His name was Edward Russ,” she began.
Silas knew of the man, but he kept silent. He wanted her to unburden her soul so that they could both turn their focus to their future, and what they both wanted.
“He wanted for us to keep our courtship a secret,” she went on. “I cared for him, and I believed him when he said that he loved me and wanted nothing more than to marry me. He broke it off not long after and then married another, a woman who would have more money.”
“What an insolent bird-wit.” Silas, should he ever run into this Edward Russ, would make sure that he knew just how low of an individual he was. He was angry, for Lucy’s sake.
“It was years before I could ever consider letting another person in, not until you.” Lucy turned towards him.
He was glad that she had. For if she hadn’t, then maybe he would have never met her. She would have been married before she’d ever come to Thornbridge Manor. And that was something that Silas could never have borne.
“You were meant to be free to meet me,” he said, taking her hands in his. Their story had not always been an easy one, but it certainly was one that looked like it was going to end happily.
“I hate that I let my heart grow so cold after one bad experience, and I’m so grateful to you for never giving up on me,” she told him, her eyes shining with love. “Thank you for showing me what real love is.”
He smiled, touched by her words. “I should really thank him,” he said. “Or you wouldn’t have been available by the time we met.”
“You’re horrible sometimes,” she teased, though she shuddered. “Being married to him wouldn’t have been a good life at all. I certainly would have suffered. Especially when it turned out that he only wanted my money.”
“You know, I’ve heard of Edward Russ,” he commented. “Though I don’t know him personally.” He reached up, caressing her cheek with his fingertips. She leaned into his touch, her eyes on his as he ran his thumb over her bottom lip.
“From what I’ve heard, however,” he went on, “he was caught having an affair with his wife’s sister. His father-in-law, though very ill almost unto death, kicked him out of the family home. The last I heard, he was penniless and staying with relatives.”
Oddly enough, he had heard about Edward Russ from none other than Percy Stalton. Percy had mentioned him in passing sometime the previous summer. The two of them went gambling together, as Silas recalled. It seemed rather apt that they were friends. They both deserved one another’s company. They were selfish and mean—out to take advantage of others.
“I cannot take any pleasure in someone else’s pain,” Lucy said thoughtfully. “But I have to admit that it sounds like Edward has made his own bed and is now lying in it, for better or for worse.”
