“Dorothy—”
“Stephen!” a familiar voice shouted.
Dorothy leaped back, this time tearing her hand out of his as he spun around.
The carriage that had been pulling up the drive before had now come to a stop. The door was flung open before a footman could reach for it, and Allan stepped down from the carriage.
CHAPTERTWELVE
“Allan?” Dorothy stepped as far back from Stephen as she could, then turned her body, making it look as if she had been running toward Allan all along. She sniffed, suppressing the urge to cry, thinking of what Stephen had said.
He only nearly kissed me because he lost his mind for a minute. Oh, God’s wounds, am I so awful?
She embraced her brother with sudden fervor, needing to be near him. For a minute, she didn’t care about any of their arguments this past year. She just wanted to be with someone who truly cared for her.
“Oomph! Trying to knock me over?” Allan laughed and held her close, rocking her from side to side as she buried her face in his shoulder.
At Stephen’s rejection, she had known exactly what she felt. All these flutters in her stomach, all her addiction to his presence, she was in danger of finding that her heart belonged to him.
Perhaps a part of it had always been his and she had never wanted to believe it, and that was why she argued with him so much.
Meanwhile, he had never considered her in the same light—only for the briefest moment, when he had gone mad for a minute.
“Everything well, Dorothy?” Allan whispered as he released her enough to look at her face.
“Yes.” Dorothy nodded. “I am just glad to see you. I did as you asked, and I came, but I cannot pretend it is my favorite place in the world,” she whispered.
“Ha! I thought it wouldn’t be but thank you for coming.” Allan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and turned her to face Stephen as they walked toward him. Dorothy kept her eyes on her brother, refusing to look at Stephen. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you did come.”
She nodded, finding her throat constricting tightly as they moved near Stephen.
“Allan, I didn’t know you were coming so soon.” Stephen stepped forward, his tone buoyant and holding none of the tension that had been there a few seconds ago. “I am glad you’re here at last. How did you finish with your business?”
“It’s all done, thank God.” Allan whistled in emphasis. “Now, I am here to enjoy myself. Take me to our hosts, then. I feel somewhat behind and have been very lonely in the house without the two of you. Never did I think I would miss listening to the pair of you arguing with one another, but I stand corrected. I have missed it greatly.”
Dorothy shot Stephen a glare. “You won’t be missing it for long. We have scarcely drawn breath between our arguments since we arrived,” she said in a low tone.
Stephen’s expression was unreadable, his lips flattened together.
Allan tipped his head back and laughed warmly. “I didn’t doubt it, not for a moment.” He looked at Stephen again and started as if someone had burned him with a candle. “What happened to your head?” He pointed at the rather small bandage now stuck to the side of Stephen’s temple. “You two are hitting one another now?”
“No!” Stephen and Dorothy both said hurriedly.
Allan laughed again. “I’m joking.” He led their path toward the house. “What did happen?”
“It was—”
“My fault,” Dorothy cut in, determined to be honest with her brother before Stephen could say anything more. She told Allan the story as they walked into the house. The butler took Allan’s frock coat and hat as he listened attentively.
“She keeps trying to feed me up,” Stephen said when she reached the end of the story. He was leaning against the wall nearby. For all that he claimed about no longer feeling dizzy, she wondered if it wasn’t completely true. “Says I need my strength to recover.”
“She requested lamb and treacle tart for you yet?” Allan asked with a laugh.
“What?” Stephen pushed off the wall.
“The number of times she asked our cook to prepare them when she knows you’re coming is laughable.” Allan reached for Dorothy again, and she was all too happy to take his arm and walk with him, avoiding Stephen’s gaze as much as she could. “She knows what you like, for all your arguments.”
Dorothy bit her lip so hard, she drew blood. It was true. Since taking over the housekeeping duties from her mother, working with the housekeeper to run the house to her preferences, she had paid attention to ordering the food she knew both Allan and Stephen liked. She hadn’t wanted Stephen to know that, though.
