Chapter 8
Theo leaned against the door frame just inside the parlor at Lyndham House, watching his cousin, Isabel, opening her birthday presents. His gaze didn’t linger on the young woman as he shifted his attention to Genevieve’s profile. She was speaking with their cousin, Amalie, and Theo’s jaw tightened.
It had been more than a week since the night the an dara sealladh had allowed him to speak with Peter in the carriage as he’d escorted Genevieve home.
In all that time, he’d only seen her twice, once at the Metcalf party, and last night at the Buckstones affair.
Both times she’d succeeded in avoiding being alone with him.
It was frustrating as hell when he wanted to apologize for his harsh words that night in the carriage.
On both occasions, Genevieve had looked wan and listless.
Even Count Ansbach had noticed her sickly manner and promptly made it his mission to try and lift her spirits.
According to Fanny, the count had called on Genevieve at least three times in the past week.
Now as he studied Genevieve from across the room, he was relieved to see the color had returned to her cheeks.
Although it didn’t make him happy that Ansbach might have played a role in aiding her recovery.
“Why don’t you join Harry, Rufus, and me in the library for a game of billiards, instead of ogling the woman like a lovesick swain?”
“I’m not ogling her,” Theo bit out as he turned his head to glare at Jamie, who’d sidled up next to him. His fierce look did little to dampen the other man’s cheerful grin.
“No?” Jamie arched his eyebrows in mocking disagreement. “That’s not the way my mother sees it. I overheard her mention to Aunt Rhea before dinner that you seemed quite taken with Ginny.”
“She’s looked ill for the past week or so, and I’ve been concerned because I’m partly responsible.”
“Responsible? What happened?” The curiosity in Jamie’s voice made Theo’s mouth thin with self-disgust as he cleared his throat.
“Last week, I experienced the an dara sealladh while escorting her home, and Peter showed himself.”
“Damnation,” Jamie muttered as he glanced in Genevieve’s direction before meeting Theo’s eyes with a look of bewilderment. “But I thought you didn’t possess the gift.”
“So did I, but Peter must have realized how important it was to appear. I think he’s been watching over Genevieve, because he said she’d been wanting to talk to him.”
“And did she? Talk to him, that is?”
“What do you think,” Theo bit out between clenched teeth. “I could tell she wanted—needed to talk to him, but she didn’t trust me enough to speak to him.”
“Has it occurred to you that if she has feelings for you, there’s not a chance in hell she’d open up to Peter with you being the one to relay her every word.” Jamie’s words made Theo jerk slightly as his back became ramrod straight.
“What the devil are you talking about?”
“Christ Jesus, I’ve never seen two people so blind as to what’s right under their noses,” his cousin said with a sardonic arch of his eyebrows. “Although it might have taken me longer to see it if Peter hadn’t mentioned something a couple of weeks before he died.
“Exactly what did he say to you?” Theo frowned with annoyance.
“Not much, but I know he was extremely irritated at how long it was taking you to grab the bull by the horns and woo her.” Jamie eyed him with frustrated disappointment as Theo stared at his cousin in speechless disbelief.
With a disgusted twist of his lips, Jamie released a small sound of annoyance.
“You truly are an ass, Selbourne. Now, either come play some billiards with us, or remain here looking like a besotted idiot.”
With that, Jamie disappeared through the parlor doorway.
Theo returned his gaze to Genevieve, his throat closing up.
A beautiful smile curved her lips as she said something to Amalie, which resulted in the two of them laughing.
Even the sound of Genevieve’s laugh was enough to make him happy.
As he continued to drink in the sight of her, his collar grew snug around his throat, forcing him to resist the urge to tug at the starched material.
Almost as if she sensed him watching her, she turned her head toward him, and their eyes met.
Her cheeks grew rosy beneath his gaze, and a split second later, her lovely features softened into a sultry look, as he saw awareness flicker in her gaze.
In that instant, he realized the truth. Peter had been right, just as Jamie had pointed out a moment ago with astute perception.
He was in love with Genevieve.
The stiff material around his neck grew even tighter, and he suddenly found it difficult to breathe.
Puzzlement swept across her face, and his throat closed with a sense of desperation.
He was in love with a woman who desired him, but steadfastly refused to marry him.
She’d not even hinted she had feelings for him other than desire.
Agony sliced through him as if the Prussian bastard they were hunting had cut him open.
The sensation made his muscles harden and grow taut until he ached as if someone had taken a heavy stick to his body.
Swallowing hard, he turned and headed toward the billiards room.
Inebriation wouldn’t solve his problem, but a couple of stiff drinks would most likely dull the sharp edge of frustration biting into every part of him at the moment.
The moment he entered the library, he saw Rufus bent over the billiards table, preparing to take a shot.
Harry stood close by, holding his pool stick in front of him, while Jamie was at the liquor cart with its varied assortment of alcohol.
After a nod to the two men at the billiards table, Theo met Jamie’s gaze.
Almost as if knowing Theo wanted to get soused, his cousin lifted a glass filled with amber liquid in a silent invitation for Theo to join him.
Without hesitating, Theo crossed the floor and accepted the drink, which he threw down in one gulp.
Jamie had already filled a tumbler for himself, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise at how quickly Theo had finished his drink.
Before Theo could ask for another, Jamie pulled the glass from his hand and refilled it.
“I take it you’ve realized the truth,” his cousin murmured as he handed a full glass back to Theo.”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Force her hand, I suppose.” Tossing down a deep swig of the Scottish whisky his Uncle Lucien kept on hand, Theo scowled down into the golden liquid that remained.
“Force her hand?” Jamie’s eyes widened in surprise, and his eyebrows shot skyward. “Don’t you mean wooing her, and then ask for her hand?”
Theo stiffened at the question in his cousin’s voice.
Christ Jesus, that had been a bloody stupid thing to say.
Jamie was a fast thinker. If he didn’t take care, it wouldn’t take the man long to figure out Theo had made love to Genevieve.
The realization caused his brain to erupt with a whirlwind of possible explanations that would allow him to walk himself back from the edge.
Each idea that slid into his head had to be discarded until he settled on a vague response. A muted crack from one of the billiard balls being hit with a pool stick made Theo glance over his shoulder at his cousins before he reached for the decanter of whiskey to fill his glass a third time.
“It was hard enough forcing her to accept the fact I was going to be her partner. The minute I begin to court her, let alone mention the word marriage, she’s apt to get it into her head that I’m viewing marriage as a way for me to control her.”
“So when you say forcing her hand, are you suggesting you compromise her?”
“No, I’ve already—”
Decanter in mid-air, Theo froze as he realized how close he’d come to confessing he’d bedded Genevieve.
Out of the corner of his eye, Theo saw Jamie studying him with a thoughtful expression.
As he stood pinned beneath the assessment of his cousin’s gaze, Theo remembered why Val always picked his cousin to interrogate suspects that were brought in for questioning.
Jamie narrowed his eyes, then leaned toward Theo to appraise him for a long moment. The intensity of his cousin’s gaze made his stomach knot tighter. He was about to be grilled and needed to guard his tongue.
“When we were at Callendar Abbey for Aunt Matilda’s birthday, I remember the afternoon when everyone was asking where the two of you were,” Jamie murmured, a thoughtful expression on his features.
“Wills told Uncle Percy and Aunt Rhea that Ginny had gone for a ride, and that you’d followed to ensure she was all right. ”
“Yes, I was worried about her.” Theo’s sharp reply made Jamie arch an eyebrow.
“That was only a day or two after she was stabbed in Whitechapel, too. I remember you and Wills with your heads together after lunch, only to learn later he’d been the one to tell you Ginny was attached to the foreign section and had been injured.”
“Something you and Val should not have withheld from any of us. Even Peter should have told us before his death. We would have watched out for her, even possibly keeping her from being injured.”
Theo’s words were harsh as he condemned his cousin for failing to alert him as to what Genevieve was up to. She might never have been injured if he’d known she’d been going into the East End on her own. He would have followed her to ensure her safety.
His stomach twisted with the same sickening feeling he’d experienced when he’d pulled the bandage off Genevieve’s wound. A voice reached out from the depths of his consciousness with the reminder of what had happened moments later. Jamie met Theo’s eyes with frustration and anger.