Watching her walk back to the house made his fists clench. “I love you,” he husked through his teeth. “I cannot tell you how much I love you, Thea. And it is breaking my heart.”
* * *
True to his word, Liam maintained a strict, stony expression as he performed his duties in the Willowdale household. When Thea was near, he yearned to follow her with his eyes but did not. Naturally, she ambled past him with her nose tilted up, as though she passed a statue and not a living, breathing human being. Though he tried desperately to avoid dining room duty, Mr. O’Bannon crooked a firm finger at him and set him to laying the table.
Thus, as Thea and her brother, Lord Willowdale, ate their midday meal, Liam positioned himself in a location where he could watch both their faces. If Lord Willowdale’s gaze chanced to cross Liam’s, he saw nothing out of the ordinary – a simple footman awaiting the chance to serve.I wonder if he even recognizes me among all the footmen in his household.
But when Lord Willowdale’s eyes lingered on his for a long moment, Liam knew he did, as it could not be mere happenstance that his lord’s eyes caught his in that fashion. Half expecting to be dismissed, Liam changed nothing in his expression or stance to indicate he knew Lord Willowdale had just sized him up.
“Once the new dock is finished,” Lord Willowdale said to Thea, “I plan a little fishing excursion. We have not had fresh fish in a long while.”
“When will it be done?” she asked.
“Charles thought later today. I suppose you are waiting for it to be finished as well? So you may go out there at night?”
“Of course. You know how much I like going there after supper.”
“And if I were to forbid you, given the attempt on my life, to go out at night, you will anyway?”
Thea smirked. “You know me too well.”
Lord Willowdale merely shook his head. “How would you like to start making plans for the party? I have decided it will be in two weeks from today. We will need invitations written, a menu planned, that sort of thing.”
“Do you have a list drawn up?”
“I will have Charles bring it to you.”
Thea shrugged. “Then I suppose I can help you with it. I will write out the invitations and get them into the Royal Mail. As far as a menu, I will consult with the housekeeper, Mary. She used to assist Mother with that.”
Lord Willowdale nodded. “That is fine. And be sure to include Robert Cartwright. I promised him an invitation as well.”
Liam forced himself to remain stock still, impassive, neutral, unseeing, not listening. He hated that name, the child Cartwright once was and the man Cartwright had become. Even seeing him in this house the other day brought back the memories, the desire to throttle him and choke the life from him. It had seemed to him that Cartwright had recognized him that day – something akin to fear had crossed his smiling, happy countenance as he passed Liam.
Calming his inner, silent rage, Liam focused his attention on Thea as she made no effort to hide her revulsion. “Why did you do that, Freddie?” she demanded. “I told you I willnotmarry him, so why did you promise he could attend?”
“I have no wish to insult him, Thea,” Lord Willowdale replied his own tone calm. “Having him there is not a promise of matrimony.”
Cartwright wants to marry Thea?
Of course, he would, Liam realized. Robert had been infatuated with Thea almost as long as he had. And it was clear Thea had already made up her own mind about marrying that weasel.
“Just you make it clear to him he is to stay away from me,” Thea snapped, stabbing her fork into her meat like a hunter performing the coup de grace on her kill.
“I will tell him nothing of the sort,” Lord Willowdale said easily, sipping his wine and smiling. “If you do not wish him near you,youtell him thus.”
“I most certainly will.”
“You can express your every sentiment to him in an hour, sister dear.”
Thea eyed him with suspicion. “What are you talking about?”
“I received a message from him just before we sat down to our meal. He is on his way to begin his formal courtship of you.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
Liam felt Thea’s need to look to him for support, for comfort, for encouragement, but knew why she must refrain. To do so would risk Lord Willowdale realizing there was something between them. That she was fond of Liam was a secret that must be kept above all things. “Did youinvitehim?” she all but screamed.
