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Yet they had gone little more than a few steps when he realised they were dancing right towards Lady Daisy. It was too late to turn, feeling Jessica set in motion, allowing him to lead her. Set on a collision course with no way out, Philip tried to speed up a little only to realise his mistake all too soon.
Lady Daisy came to a most abrupt halt inches away from them, and as they passed, Philip couldn't help catching her eye. What he saw there horrified him. Though she was clearly trying to hold them back, her eyes glistened with tears.
What has Lord Bessington done to her?Philip thought angrily, his grip tightening on Jessica. His gaze followed Lady Daisy long after she had rushed past them, and he watched her hurry from the room through the open double doors that led out onto the patio and the garden beyond.
“Philip, whatever is going on, I know it has something to do with that young woman,” Jessica sighed, pulling them both to an abrupt halt less than a minute after Lady Daisy disappeared. “Were we not such good friends, I might be offended by your lack of attention on me, but as we are, I shall tell you this only once, go after her!”
The urge that Philip had been fighting all night long could no longer be ignored. He stepped away from Jessica, still holding her hand, hoping she might change her mind and demand they finish their dance so that the urge might dissipate again.
“You're sure? You don't mind me leaving you?” Philip questioned, raising a dark eyebrow at her.
Jessica scowled back at him, looking quite frustrated. She shook her head and sighed, “To be honest, my feet shall be relieved for the break. I am not used to you wishing to dance so much. Usually you avoid dancing at all costs.”
Philip laughed with her because he knew she was right. Usually, she had to force him out onto the dance floor with her whenever she was hoping to avoid some other nobleman's attention.
“I shall not be long,” he assured her, lifting her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles in gratitude.
“Oh, go on, off with you!” Jessica snapped at him, wafting her feather-tipped fan at him as he went.
Knowing that Lady Daisy lay just beyond the double doors, Philip almost couldn't walk through them. He hesitated only a moment before realising that no matter what happened, he had to know the truth; he had to know what had changed so suddenly between them.
Finding her standing beside the stone wall that cut the patio off from the rest of the garden, just within the light of the lanterns that hung upon the manor walls, Philip paused. She had not yet noticed his presence, and as he listened, he realised he could hear a gentle weeping over the sounds of the ball coming from behind him.
“Lady Daisy, why are you …” he began, wondering why she would possibly be crying, angry that he might have allowed something awful to happen between her and Lord Bessington without noticing, even though he had been watching her like a hawk every chance he got.
At the sound of his voice, Lady Daisy flinched and whipped around, her satin gown swishing as she went. Upon seeing him, her gleaming and tearful eyes widened, and she grabbed her handkerchief from her sleeve to pat her cheeks.
“Oh, Lord Philip, what are you doing out here?” she gasped, sounding quite distraught. Then her tone hardened, and she snarled, “Shouldn't you be inside dancing with your beautiful dance partner?”
Beautiful dance partner?For a moment, Philip was dumbfounded. Who could she possibly be talking about? Then it hit him.Jessica!
“My Lady, I think you have got the wrong end of the …” he began to defend himself but then suddenly decided against it. What exactly did he have to defend himself for? He had done nothing wrong. Steeling himself against the tears in her eyes, he straightened up and glared down at her. “I could say the same of you and your companion.”
For an instant, Lady Daisy looked just as confused as he had been. Then understanding dawned upon her face, and she shook her head. “You have no right to judge me for whom I have chosen to dance with, not after how you have treated me these last few weeks!”
“The way I have treated you?” Philip gaped at her, entirely astonished by her outburst. “What of the way you have treated me?”
Suddenly realising that he had raised his voice, he glanced over his shoulder to see that nobody had overheard him. When he saw no one, he wasted no time in grabbing hold of Lady Daisy's forearm. Dragging her down the stone steps of the patio and into the shadows of the stone railing where they had been standing moments before, he shoved her away from him, frightened that if he remained too close he would try to do something he would regret.
“How can you say that it is I who have mistreated you?” he demanded the moment he was certain that nobody had seen them. Though he was sure they were well hidden now, he was careful to keep his voice down in case anyone else exited the ballroom into the patio. “It is you who wrote me insisting that I not visit you on several occasions!”
Even in the heavy shadows, Philip could see how Lady Daisy's face twisted with astonishment and rage. Her gaze flashed with surprise before darkening, and she glowered back at him as she snapped, “I wrote no such thing! I only ever wrote to you requesting to know when I would have the pleasure of our tutoring sessions again!”
“My Lady, I do believe that you need further education if you believe that is what you wrote in your letters!” Philip snarled back at her, too angry to even begin to apologise when he saw the hurt that flashed across her face.
“How dare you? You ignore my letters, and now you insult me on top of it?” Lady Daisy exclaimed. She stood bolt upright, her gaze finding a chink of moonlight that caused her eyes to glow with anger. For a moment, she looked like an otherworldly goddess, an avenging angel intent upon smiting him.
Had he not been so angry and frustrated, Philip might have grabbed hold of her and kissed her. But instead, he snapped back, “I did not ignore your letters! I wrote back to every one of them, and even when you stopped responding, I continued to write because I was concerned!”
Lady Daisy opened her mouth as if to snap some sharp retort, but then she seemed to register what he had said, and her expression softened before becoming even more frustrated. “I did not receive any of your letters.”
The pain in her voice caused Philip's heart to clench, and he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from speaking too quickly or harshly.
“What do you mean?” he asked when her words had finally sunk in.
“What I mean is I have not heard from you since the morning you left me at the side gate with Bertha,” she cried out, her voice dripping with obvious frustration. “And I have been writing, requesting to see you for lessons and even for walking out together, and I have had no response. Why would you tell me that you have written to me when you clearly have not?”
The sob that erupted from her made it almost impossible for Philip not to step forward and pull her into his arms. He barely managed to stop himself, remembering the heartbreaking letters he had received and how he had caught her several times in public walking with Lord Bessington since that first day on the meadows when he had been unable to stop himself from eavesdropping.
