Selena jolted. “What new list?”
“Yes, do tell,” Theodosia murmured.
“A list of the most eligible bachelors,” Saville said, adding in a sour note, “and their flaws.”
“What about their best attributes?”
A grunt. “If you could calltitleda best attribute, then yes,” he said, “but I do understand your past resentment better now.”
“How intriguing,” Theodosia said. “Are we to assumeyourname is on the list? What’s your flaw? Shall we take a guess?”
“Infantile,” Saville said without preamble. “They called me infantile.”
Selena did laugh at this. She wanted to kiss whoever compiled the list. “They must know you quite well.”
“I already know who created the list. Your lover.”
Her lover? Did he mean Warrick? Selena refused to fall for such a paltry trick. “I do not have a lover.”
A snort. “Kissing friends, then.”
“There is no such thing.” And if there were, she’d be supremely intrigued. But kissing never stayed at just kissing. It evolves. Into dreams. Fantasies. Longing.
Theodosia shook her head. “I never took you for a prude, Saville.”
“Whose side are you on? Or do you also believe there is nothing wrong with walking around and kissing people?”
Selena rolled her eyes.
“You truly have to ask that?” Theodosia responded. “Well, I shall answer in any case. I am on the side of independence and free will.”
“The side of rebellion, then.”
Selena wanted to boot her brother from the carriage. However, like a stubborn barnacle attached to the bottom of a ship, it would be near impossible to brush him off. It didn’t matter anyhow. The only thing that did matter, the only thing that was a true bother...
Her heart constricted.
He hadn’t come.
*
Warrick lowered thecap over his brow as he watched the carriage pull away and disappear into the distance. He waited until he could no longer see them before entering the alehouse. She had tested him today, and she would have been happy to discover that her ploy had worked.
Only, perhaps not in the way she would have wanted. Had she entered the tavern on the other hand...
“Why didn’t she enter?” Warrick muttered in thought. That day should have left an impression on her, supported her confident belief that he would show up when he was needed. But today she hadn’t entered. Realization struck. She hadn’t been certain he would follow her.
Doubt had already formed in her mind.
He sighed.
Six days.
Six days he had painstakingly avoided her. Emphasis on the pain. He remained uncertain where, how, or when he had become so attached that he’d had to resort to full out avoidance yet still lurked in the shadows to catch a glimpse of her.
When had he turned this pitiful?
That look in her eyes before he’d walked away... Lord above, that look haunted him. Followed him around like a damn ghost refusing to enter the light.
