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I lowered Jasper’s brush and slumped against the wall. I was doomed. Thea did not look at me that way, and three weeks would make no difference in her affections. Just this morning, when we’d talked before I left to see Kellinger, I had asked her to be happy for me and she had been shocked, as if I’d requested the most ludicrous thing in the world. Did I need to accept that she and I were never going to be?
Or . . . or I could talk to her. Ask her why she turned away from me after the assemblies. Ask her why she thought it absurd that I would want her support.Ask herif I have a chance. It would certainly speed my suit along—or kill it at once.
Determination rose in my breast, and I hung the brush on a hook with the other implements and turned for the house. A brisk walk across the lawn in the cold refreshed me, though I still smelled of horses and sweat, so I would not seek her out now, despite how I wanted to. I stripped off my gloves and tucked them in my pocket, then shrugged from my coat and laid it over my arm. I would sneak through the side door, take the night to develop my plan, and then—
I stopped in the doorway of the house when I came face to face with Thea. Her wide eyes displayed her surprise at my sudden entrance, and I closed the door much more softly than I’d opened it.
“Dinner is over,” she said, looking from my disheveled hair to my dusty boots. “You’ve missed it entirely.”
“We ate in town.”
She nodded, her hand resting on the wall beside her. “I was heading to bed.”
“Through the servants’ corridor?”
“It is much faster,” she defended. One sconce on the wall behind me threw its light over Thea, and I could discern the soft blush warming her cheeks.
“I often use this route when I wish to avoid someone.” I tossed my coat on the table set against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest. “Doyouwish to avoid someone?”
“It didn’t work very well, now, did it?”
A playful scoff left my throat. “Whyever should you wish to avoid me? I thought we had a truce between us.”
“We did, but I’m not certain it’s done any good.”
“I would like to argue the opposite. It has been quite pleasant being your friend, Thea.”
She mimicked my pose, crossing her arms over her chest. “If there is anyone in this house who finds my friendship pleasant, it is most certainly everyone except you.”
“You wound me. I have done my utmost to prove the opposite.” I lowered my voice and took a step closer, hoping I would not scare her away. “In fact, I thought you appreciated my efforts.”
“If you are referring to the dinner with your awful cousin, then yes, I did appreciate that very much. Tell me . . .” She paused, looking to the side. I saw a flicker of uncertainty and my chest swelled with the desire to comfort her. “Was it you pressing your leg against mine during the whist game? The second round.”
Blasted Claverley. I wanted to take my clenched fists to his jaw without reservation, but I swallowed that violent reaction and breathed softly through my nose. “No. That was not me.”
She looked away. “I thought as much. Only, I had hoped—”
“That I had flirted with you?”
Her gaze hardened. I had said the wrong thing. “Not exactly. It is that I know you are harmless. Lord Claverley does not feel harmless.”
My entire playful smile slipped from my lips. “Has he hurt you?”
“No.”
I believed her, and it shot relief through my veins. “Notyet, you feared?”
She swallowed, her round blue eyes trusting me. “That is what I feared. His hands have a tendency to stray where they are not wanted.”
Fire swept through me in a swift rage. It was a good thing my cousin was not within reasonable distance, or I would not be able to control my anger. “You are so strong, Thea. Why did you not tell him to cease?”
Thea gave a low, throaty scoff. “I’m not as brave as I look, I suppose. I feared no one would believe me if I admitted to being wary of the potential of being hurt. That he had merely touched my ribbon and it gave me a sickening feeling. There was nothing to share except my fears, and I suppose those fears kept my lips closed.”
I did my best to temper my anger, but my voice was hoarse and raw. “I would never allow anything to happen to you, Thea.”
She looked up, her round eyes watching me carefully. This woman had been hurt before, and I would not allow her to be hurt again—not if I could help it. It was time. I needed to fight for her. I only had three weeks, and every second counted.
“Earlier, when I asked you in the stables to be happy for me—”
