“Very well, then why does it look like you’ve lost weight—”
“I have not lost one ounce,” Warrick growled.
Deerhurst chuckled. “What about your mind? Not lost that?”
“Fully intact.”
“Then it must be your heart.”
Dear God in Heaven. “The organ in my chest is beating just fine.” Warrick set the pistol case down. “What are you getting at, Deerhurst? That I’ve lost my heart?”
“Haven’t you?”
“It’s still very much in my possession.”
“Then why the hell did you admit to the kiss? You could have taken the truth to your grave. Both your graves.”
He had been questioning this as well. Maybe he’d admitted it so that Saville could keep them apart, keep them from crossing any more lines. Or maybe he admitted it in hopes he would force them together.
He couldn’t tell which.
He didn’t care to know either.
“Without a confession, speculation remains speculation,” Deerhurst went on. “He would have doubted his own imagination after enough time had passed. Perhaps a part of you wanted him to back you into a corner.”
“Perhaps I did.” Warrick sighed, letting his head fall back, shutting his eyes briefly before turning back to Deerhurst. “Perhaps I just wanted Saville to beat me to a pulp and come to his senses on trusting a friend to play guardian over his sister.”
“If that is the case, you certainly succeeded.”
Truthfully, he himself couldn’t get as far as believing his reasoning. But after he found Selena at that alehouse, embroiled in this club affair, agreeing to follow questionable a barman to an unknown location, he didn’t regret his choice in admitting to the kiss if it led to her protection.
Selena needed to be locked down. Not in the way one would cage an exotic creature, but more to save it from falling into the hands of the people who would. Maybe she wouldn’t see the difference, but he certainly could.
Christ, just thinking what could have happened to her set his heart in a wild frenzy.
The undeniable truth of the matter was Saville had the right to keep a tighter leash on his sister. So he would duel with his best friend. And then perhaps things would return to the way they were before.
Another lie. Nothing would return to the way it was before.
Warrick rose to his feet. “Let’s not tarry. I don’t want forfeit on account of being late.”
Deerhurst nodded. “My carriage is outside, ready.”
Warrick followed Deerhurst out the door and straight into his ride to whatever fate awaited him and his friendship with Saville. It wasn’t until the carriage lurched forward that the measure of calm he’d held onto started to crack.
I am doing this for her.
For her.
Selena Savage.
A woman who dared to challenge them all.
And it was all so she could search out, and potentially find, what she had lost amidst the aftermath of his mistake. Deerhurst hadn’t been wrong. Guilt still stabbed at him. But not as much anymore. And by his actions today, he hoped all would be forgiven and he could finally move on from this matter.
Of course, he had no intention of shooting Saville. Saville, no doubt, had every intention of putting a hole in his heart. If he survived, was it too much to ask—too selfish to hope—that he might receive a kind thought, perhaps even a bit of sympathy, from Selena?
Warrick’s lips lifted.
