Chapter 16
Alec returned to the city two days before the MacTavish’s ball. He had several business meetings he had taken on his father’s behalf, attended a boxing match, and had drinks with Daniel and a few other acquaintances at one of the popular gentlemen’s clubs.
“So, are you going to propose then?” Daniel asked as they walked out into the night. Daniel stumbled slightly and Alec steadied him with a low chuckle. Daniel’s own proposal had been accepted earlier in the week and the night had turned into a celebration in his honor.
“I would think it would be above the great Lord Kentworth to propose to whores,” a smooth, cold voice drawled from the shadows. Alec bristled and Daniel whirled around, squinting into the darkness.
“Astley? Oh sod off, what kind of thing is that to say?” Daniel complained, waving his hand wildly.
Alec ground his teeth and stared daggers as Astley waltzed towards them, the red ember of a cigarette shining in the darkness. He flicked it away and spat onto the sidewalk.
“Walk away, Astley,” Alec grated, voice cold and hard as ice. Memories of Henry’s hands on Elle rose behind his eyes, rage rising in his chest.
“I don’t take orders from you, Kentworth,” he snapped, peevish and petulant.
“This is one you probably should,” Daniel advised, looking worriedly between the two of them.
“He’s just jealous of my courting of Miss Montgomery, Daniel, not to worry.” Alec said, and then curled his lips in a cruel, knowing smile, holding Astley’s gaze. “Why did you stop coming to call on her, Astley? Did something happen perhaps? Maybe something a man would be embarrassed for anyone else to know about?”
Henry’s eyes blazed with fury, at the reminder of his encounter with Elle, or because Alec knew about it, he wasn’t sure. Both, perhaps. Alec smirked and Henry stepped forward, swaying slightly. Drunk bastard.
“I just realized I would never want to sully myself with someone like her. I’ll bet Eleanor Montgomery has been ridden more than any of the horses in London,” Astley laughed coldly.
Alec moved before he’d even made the conscious decision to do it. He punched Astley hard enough that the man’s head snapped backward, his entire body spinning from the force of the blow. Alec caught at his coat and forced him backwards, slamming him against the brick wall of the club. Henry tried to push Alec off, but Alec wrapped a hand around his throat, squeezing.
Alec leaned in close, almost nose-to-nose with Henry. He bared his teeth in a feral, animalistic way that honestly shocked even himself. Daniel squawked in surprise and distress, but knew better than to intervene. Alec squeezed the bastard’s throat harder and Astley’s eyes went wide with such fear that Alec wondered if he might piss himself. Blood trickled from his lip, dripping over his chin and landing on Alec’s sleeve.
“Call Eleanor a whore one more time, Henry. I dare you.” Astley coughed and clawed at Alec’s arm, but it was useless. “I beat you bloody when we were fifteen, again when we were twenty, and I will be happy to do it again because you’re a bastard, but I swear to God in heaven above that if you insult my future wife again, if you even think about insulting her, I will end you in ways you can’t even imagine.” He leaned in even closer and added in a low, menacing voice, “I’m a surgeon, Henry. I know exactly where to cut to make the pain last, to keep you alive for days while I take you apart piece by bloody piece…”
Utter terror flashed in Astley’s eyes, whatever he saw in Alec’s face making the man understand that Alec wasn’t jesting. Henry’s eyes welled with tears and his lip wobbled as he tried to keep them at bay.
“And don’t think for one second that I’m bluffing. You can say whatever you like about me, you always have, but you will not say another word about Miss Montgomery. Do. You. Understand?”
Astley somehow bit out a choked, “yes! I-I understand!” and Alec released him, stepping back and letting Henry’s body crumple to the ground. He coughed and gasped for breath, and Alec watched with a cold detachment.
“Keep this conversation in mind the next time you think about opening that rubbish bin you call your mouth. And you would do well to apologize to Miss Montgomery for anything untoward you may have said or done to her in the past. Understood?” Astley swiped at his eyes, but nodded. Leaning back heavily against the wall and breathing hard.
“You’re bleeding.” Alec tossed a handkerchief at him. “Let’s go, Daniel.”
Alec strode off, not looking back to see if Daniel followed, but a moment later, his friend caught up.
“I’ve wanted to do that for years!” Daniel said, slapping Alec on the back. “Christ, I thought he was going to piss himself!” Daniel laughed and Alec’s lips curled upward. He wasn’t exactly proud of how he’d just behaved, but he couldn’t find it in himself to regret it either. He ran a hand through his hair as they climbed into Alec’s waiting carriage.
Daniel settled back into the seat, a slow, drunken grin spreading across his face as he eyed Alec.
“Did you say your future wife?”
***
Elle knew she may be slightly biased, but the MacTavish ball was by far her favorite of the season. The decorations were an elegant mix of English and Scottish, a perfect representation of Jocelyn and Callum and the family they’d created together, the blending of cultures and love. Elle had surprised them with a portrait of the MacTavish family as a gift before the ball, and after gushing over it for a solid hour, Jocy gave it pride of place above the fireplace in the grand ballroom, insisting that it be the centerpiece of the entire shindig. Elle didn’t want to seem conceited, but she was proud of her work and could admit that it looked beautiful in the gilded frame Jocy had somehow managed to have made on a day”s notice. The woman was a force to be reckoned with, really.
The days leading up to the ball had been a storm of chaos, and Elle had mostly tried to stay out of the way. Every time she offered to help, the staff would politely, but firmly, shoo her away. People arrived in droves, and Elle assisted Jocelyn in greeting each guest warmly before a maid or butler showed them to their rooms. It was a good thing the manor house was so gigantic—Elle would swear at least a hundred guests had arrived and more seemed to be coming every few minutes. Chestwick Hall had been transformed into Chestwick Inn it seemed. The thought made her lips curl into a bittersweet smile. Her parents would have loved the idea of one of these old manor houses being transformed into a Montgomery Hotel.
Elle’s stomach soured when Henry Astley arrived. Thankfully, after their little altercation in the fountain garden, he’d stayed away. He’d shifted his sights to a different woman, Caroline Sinclaire, and from what the rumor mill was saying, he’d already been speaking with her father about an arrangement. Elle supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that he and Caroline would both attend the MacTavish ball, but she still hadn’t been expecting to see him. She plastered a brittle smile on her face as he neared to greet her and Jocelyn.
“Lady MacTavish. Miss Montgomery.” He bowed slightly. Was that a bruise on his cheek? A still-healing split lip? “Thank you for having me.” Elle ground her teeth and Henry seemed to be able to feel the tension rolling off of her. “Uh, might I have a quick word with Miss Montgomery? Please,” he added, when Elle probably looked like she would rather eat a live worm than go anywhere with him.
“Alright,” she said in a tight voice. They moved down the hallway and into the drawing room. Plenty of people were milling about, admiring the space and having lively conversations, but Henry ushered Elle towards one of the windows, slightly away from most of the crowd.
She looked around the room and smiled jovially at everyone before turning back to Henry, the smile gone and fire in her eyes.
“What do you want?” she spit.
“I wanted to apologize.”
“Oh, please—”
“No. I mean it. I’m sorry for my behavior. It was…unbecoming and it will not happen again. To you or anyone else. I swear it.”
Elle narrowed her eyes at him. He sounded…genuine. “What happened?” she asked, suspicious of this sudden change.
Henry cleared his throat. “I was…shown the error of my ways.” He looked over Elle’s shoulder and paled. Elle turned and saw Alec standing in the doorway, looking…dangerous. Not outright, not to anyone who didn’t know him as well as Elle did, but she could see it. He had on his customary mask of haughty indifference, but just below the surface, something dark was simmering. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were sparking with rage, the green looking like cold, glinting emeralds.
Elle looked back to Henry, who tugged at the collar of his shirt, revealing the hint of a bruise there as well. He looked terrified. Scared shitless, honestly. Had Alec beaten him up? Threatened him? And why? Alec’s hands were curled into tight fists at his side as he strolled over.
“Astley,” Alec said in greeting, voice cold as ice.
“Kentworth,” Henry replied, voice shaking subtly. “I was just leaving. I will see you at the ball.” With that, he bolted from the room.
“Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you mean,” Alec replied innocently.
“You are full of sh—you’re a liar,” Elle corrected, catching herself. Alec gave her one of his most rakish smiles.
“How you wound me, Miss Montgomery.”
“I mean it,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, “tell me.”
Alec glanced around, smiling and inclining his head in greeting to those walking past the room. He returned his gaze to hers and whatever he saw there must have made him realize she wasn’t going to let this go.
He exhaled a little roughly. “Henry Astley is a bastard who gets even more bastard-like when he drinks too much. He needed to be taught manners, that’s all.”
“Alec,” she said in warning. Alec’s jaw clenched and his body went tense, as if the memory was enough to make him want to track Astley down and repeat whatever he’d done the last time.
“He was speaking…unfavorably about you within my hearing,” he nearly growled. He pinned Elle with a look that was all fire and passion and a fierce protectiveness that made her pulse race and her stomach clench. “And that is not something that I will allow. Ever.” His voice was low and rough, an edge to it that she’d never heard before. Call her crazy, but it was…hot. Very, very hot.
“Oh,” she breathed, unable to think of anything else to say. Later she would get to the bottom of what exactly had been said, what exactly he’d done to Henry, but for now, she let it go because if Alec didn’t stop looking at her like that, she was going to jump him right here in front of God and half the Ton. She cleared her throat quietly. “Alright then.”
He quirked a brow, but they were interrupted by Lord-Something-or-Another coming to greet Alec. Elle slipped away and tried to regain her equilibrium. Alec had punched Henry at the very least—though she suspected it was more than that—to defend Elle’s honor. The look he’d just given her…She shivered at the memory. It said “mine” loud and clear. And fuck if she didn’t want to be his. She wanted it so badly she could barely breathe. She hadn’t set out for it to happen, had tried her best to stop it once she felt it starting, but it was useless. Just like with Jocy and Callum and Rose, her walls refused to come up when it came to Alec. It was like the part of her that was an expert at keeping people at a distance had gotten lost along the route to the 1800s.
But she couldn’t be with him, she just couldn’t. Not when there were so many lies and secrets between them. It wouldn’t be fair to him, and he deserved much better than that. The kicker was that she wanted to tell him, she wanted to share everything with him in a way she’d never shared with anyone else before, even Ash. She wanted to crack her soul open and let him see everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly, to see her sharp edges and her fears and insecurities. She wanted him to know her in every way possible, to share her entire life with him.
But she couldn’t. He wouldn’t understand. He would think she was insane or worse, and would turn away from her.
And Elle was pretty sure that seeing him do that might just break her heart for good.
***
The ball itself went off without a hitch and as they danced together at the end of the night, Elle could barely remember why she couldn’t be with him. She had fallen for him, hard and fast, their brief friendship transforming into something so much more than she could have imagined. She knew it couldn’t be, but she let herself pretend, just for tonight, that things were different, that there were no secrets between them and that they were going to be happy and whatever the future held, they would face it together.
She met his gaze and in that moment, she would swear that he knew exactly how she felt. His breath caught, his eyes darkening as something heavy settled over them, more so than ever before. God she wanted to lean in and kiss him, she wanted to tell him she loved him, she wanted so much more than that.
“Elle,” he whispered, the word coming out like a benediction.
“Alec, I…” She swallowed hard as the rest of the room seemed to fall away around them. Fuck my life, I’m in a romcom. She wished it could stay that way, that it was real, that were truly alone and the rest of the world didn’t exist.
A scream rang out, breaking the bubble around them. Elle quickly pulled away to see what was going on. Alec tensed beside her before sprinting across the room, leaving her standing on the dance floor alone, her blood turning to ice as she realized what had happened.
Jonathan had collapsed.