Chapter Six
“He what?” Annabelle spluttered at Alyssia’s admission. Knox had left?
Alyssia shrugged, setting her teacup upon the table. They were in the drawing room, waiting for Rosilee so they might go for a walk now that the rain had cleared. “According to the servants, he left in the wee hours of the morning and returned to London.”
Knox, that rogue.
He truly . . . left?
Annabelle stared at her friend in shock. She hadn’t thought much about his absence when she’d woken to an empty bed. That was to be expected. After all, they couldn’t be discovered together, even though she’d been a touch disappointed not to be able to wake in his arms.
“Is something amiss?” Alyssia asked. “I thought you would rub your hands in glee at the prospect of him gone.”
Before the cottage, she might have. Before they’d spent a passionate night together. Before she’d realized the man had sneakily stolen her heart with every encounter since the moment they’d met.
And now he’d left? Just like that?
No.
He hadn’t just left.
He’d fled.
Anger sparked at the memory of his promise last night.
Had he not expressed that he’d not avoid her again?
Leaving the party was the ultimate blasted avoidance!
She should have known better than to trust the man.
Her a siren? Stars, no, he was the siren!
Bewitching her and luring her to her death!
What infuriated her even more was they had talked about her loathing for feeling like a fool.
Had the man no conscience? Did he not care that by fleeing, he had rendered her precisely that?
Foolish.
Annabelle had prided herself on never misjudging a man. And yet here she stood, heart smarting like a green girl’s, replaying words that had clearly meant more to her than they had to him.
She had never felt smaller.
Blazing perdition.
Had she done something to send him off like this, or had he simply regretted the night they’d shared?
She hadn’t wanted to discuss what their night meant because she hadn’t wanted to break the spell.
She also had no desire to pressure the man into a state of duty and obligation.
She didn’t want that for herself either.
While she’d not been certain about their relationship or future, she hadn’t thought she would be so easily dismissed.
She’d believed they’d decide together today.
Had she been no more than a conquest concluded?
“I simply do not understand the man,” Annabelle complained. “He cannot seem to keep to a single course.”
Alyssia’s brow furrowed. “Did something happen between the two of you that I’m missing?”
A great deal.
But admitting this to her friend would only reaffirm her own foolishness, wouldn’t it? And while she had no problem airing her grievances, this one laid bare just how far she had strayed from her own good sense.
“Yes, but I do not wish to speak about it now.”
Alyssia nodded in understanding. “I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She considered Annabelle for a moment, before adding, “Knox, from what I understand of the man, despite all the whispers about him, is very steadfast on the course he sets for himself.”
So then, she simply wasn’t on his course.
Splendid.
Now Annabelle felt even more foolish.
“Good for him,” she said begrudgingly, cursing the man.
If this was how he was going to be, he should have left before coming to her blasted room.
On second thought, she should not have been surprised.
The man had a talent for shifting between frost and fire with infuriating ease—burning her one moment, freezing her out the next.
“That being said,” Alyssia went on, “the man guards his affections so fiercely one might mistake him for unfeeling. If there is something bothering you, you should talk to him.”
Annabelle grimaced. She’d missed her chance last night. Could that have been the cause? She pinched the bridge of her nose. “The man is already gone.”
“And?” her friend urged.
And? Annabelle fixed her with a suspicious look before her spine slowly straightened. Right. And? So what if he was gone? She could just hunt the rogue down and demand her answers! Annabelle launched to her feet, prompting a grin from her friend. “Then I shall take my leave.”
They were a mere hour or two outside the city, depending on the mode of travel. Close enough that distance could not serve as his shield.
“London?” Alyssia asked.
Annabelle nodded. “I have an animal to skin.”
*
Knox stared in bewilderment at Bishop, rubbing down his horse.
He’d returned to the estate only to find the two duchesses were resting, and a certain siren was nowhere to be found, so he’d set off in search of the men to learn her possible whereabouts.
Restlessness itched between the soles of his feet.
He wouldn’t be able to stand still until he found her.
“She left?” Knox demanded. “What do you mean she left?”
Bishop shrugged. “She returned to London.”
He raked his fingers through his hair with a muttered curse. Had he been mistaken? Had she come to her senses? Decided she deserved better? Or had she woken to an empty room and assumed the worst? Damn it. He hadn’t considered how his absence might look.
Of course she must have assumed the worst.
What else was she meant to think?
Everlasting hell.
He should have left a note. He should have done a thousand things differently.
“Did she offer a reason?”
Annabelle was, after all, vocal about the grievances she suffered. And he had always been a grievance to her. After treating her like an arse, being distant one moment and on her heels the next, he deserved her rejection.
“She mentioned something about an animal to skin.”
Knox flinched.
An animal to skin? He was pretty sure he was that animal.
Damn it, he should have left a blasted note.
He’d set off on horseback to return home to retrieve his grandmother’s ring.
He hadn’t even stopped to fill his stomach.
In fact, he was a disheveled mess. However, he needed this ring.
It was the only object in his possession that carried any sort of importance.
Everything else he could lose, trade, or do without.
The ring, however, came attached to a vow.
A sworn vow that he’d only ever offer it to a woman he loved.
And Knox hadn’t believed that would ever happen.
And yet Annabelle had woven her way into his heart without him being the wiser.
And lodged there.
He’d really been a damn fool.
“You wouldn’t be the reason she left, would you? The animal she wants to skin?” Bishop asked.
“I might be.”
On the other side of the stable, Crane gave a rare chuckle.
Knox didn’t pay any attention to the man. “When did she depart?”
Bishop tossed the brush aside, patting the flank of his horse before turning to him with his arms crossed. “You’d have to ask my wife.”
He didn’t have time for that. “No, I’ll just go after her.”
“Are you sure you won’t miss each other?” Bishop asked. “If she’s hunting you down, it might be best to stay put and allow her to find you.”
No. What if she didn’t return? If she believed he’d abandoned her after their night together, she might simply want to skin him and wash her hands of him.
He’d be reduced to his knees to grovel, and he’d damn well grovel if that was what it took to win her over.
“Damn it, I’m no good at this. I’m bloody useless. ”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Bishop said. “If what’s happening is what I think is happening, you are in uncharted territory, old chap. Mistakes will be made.”
“It’s the mercy I’m worried about.”
Bishop studied him for a long moment. “Does Lady Annabelle strike you as a woman incapable of mercy?”
“She strikes me as a woman who will not tolerate being made a fool.” That was the one thing she loathed above all else.
“And did you make her one?”
“Not intentionally.” Did that even matter?
“Well, there you have it.”
Knox’s brow furrowed. Could it be that simple?
Crane approached, leaning against a stall. “If she’s wise, she’d run for the hills.”
Knox glared at the man. “That’s not helpful.”
Crane shrugged. “Wasn’t meant to be. If any of our women were wise, they’d run.”
Bishop arched a brow. “You do realize you’re calling my wife, your wife, shortsighted.”
“And thank God for that.”
Bishop snorted.
Knox merely shook his head. As a matter of fact, those words weren’t completely unhelpful.
Annabelle Swanley was most certainly not shortsighted.
None of the women were. However, when it came to matters of the heart .
. . all of them just might be. So now he only had to pray that she might have enough affection for him to forgive his misstep.
He turned on his heel and headed for his horse.
“Where are you going?” Bishop called out after him.
Knox tossed over his shoulder, “I have a huntress to offer my hide to.”