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The woman fell back against her seat. “Fiveyears! Oh, the separation must have been sodifficult for you, my dear.”
Lottie glanced at him from under her lashes. His expression had taken on that unfathomable quality once again. “Yes,” she answered, pushing past the burn in her throat. “But it was the silence that was hardest to bear.” He turned the full weight of his gaze on her then and Lottie’s cheeks flushed under his heavy scrutiny, but she continued. “I came to believe he had forgotten me. Long ago.”
Mrs. Huntington was scandalized. “Sir, did you notwrite?”
But his eyes never left Lottie. “I had nothing to offer her back then. No fortune, no future.”
Her heart turned over. He couldn’t truly believe his lack of fortune stood between them. With her inheritance, she had no need to marry a wealthy man. They could have built their own future. Together.
“And her parents did not approve.”
Lottie’s breath caught. No. It was only for the story. Ithadto be. Uncle Alfred had no reason to stop them from marrying. Alec had left of his own volition. Because he had been determined to serve. Because he wanted to live a life beyond anything she could offer. She searched for the answer in his eyes, in his face, but he only stared back as solemn as ever.
Across from them Mrs. Huntington clucked her tongue. “Still. Not one word infive years?”
Alec finally gave the woman his full attention. “I did not want to give either of us false hope. It seemed cruel to do so.”
“But you weretorturingthe poor girl!”
“I know that now, Mrs. Huntington,” he said with a rueful smile. “But I was an ignorant youth at the time. Blinded by pride. When I had finally made something of myself, I returned to the house she had grown up in, but she was long gone. No one would tell me where she was, so I searched far and wide, crossing countries and then continents looking for the girl with the russet hair and emerald eyes. But she was not anywhere a fashionable young lady of means might travel to—not in Paris, nor Rome, or Zurich. Then, it finally came to me. I hurried back to England. To the secret place only we knew about, an old fairy cottage not one mile from our childhood homes. And there she was. There she had been the whole time.”
Lottie couldn’t speak. Couldn’tbreathe.
Every limb vibrated as she wavered between wanting to slap Alec and kiss him senseless.
“If I hadn’t been so blinded by my ambition,” he continued. “By being the man I thought she wanted, I would have found her that much sooner. All I had to do was look inside my own heart.” Then he turned to Lottie. “Luckily she forgave my ineptitude in the end. Didn’t you, my darling?”
She hated how easily he manipulated her, and how very much she ached for all of it to be true. If only she could forgive him. If only he would ever ask her to.
Alec reached out and gently brushed his thumb across her cheek, catching the lone tear that had escaped.
“Yes,” she whispered, closing her watery eyes against the rest. “Yes, I did.”
And in that moment, it was indeed the truth.
The wine Alec had shared with Signore Cardinelli in the dining car must have gone straight to his head. He was used to spinning tales at the drop of a hat and had a reservoir of stories to draw from, but most of what he had told Mrs. Huntington was true. As was the pain in Lottie’s voice when she spoke of his long silence. And her forgiveness.
How easy he made their reconciliation sound. If only that was all it took. If only uttering a few words could be enough. But they weren’t those people.
Lottie’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked down. He had taken her hand in his, where her single tear had stained his glove. His very soul burned with the need to kiss away the rest still brimming there, but he merely gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he turned to Mrs. Huntington.
The woman was looking between them with something akin to awe. “My, that is quite a story.” Then she glanced out the window. The train had begun to slow down as they approached the station. “Oh! I must go find Miss Abbott. I told her we would depart together. Her mother will never forgive me if I lose her to aVenetian.” She gave them a genuine smile as she rose. “It has been a most sincere pleasure to meet you both. I hope you enjoy Venice and wish you every happiness on your marriage. I daresay you’ve earned it.”
“Thank you,” Alec said, while Lottie gave her a weak smile.
Alec had uttered a thousand lies and pretended to be a dozen different men over the last few years, but never had he wanted something so much to be true.
As soon as the door shut behind Mrs. Huntington, Lottie tore her hand from his hold and moved to the now-empty seat. Alec tried to catch her eye as she busied herself with smoothing her hat brim.
It wasn’t a lie. I meant every word.
“Lottie.”
Did my silence really torture you so?
Her fingers curled ever so slightly, but she didn’t look up.
Forgive me.
