Her breath caught.
He . . . he . . . She shut her eyes, her entire body going numb at those three words. “How . . .?”
“How do I love you? Simple. You bring me torment.”
She pressed the back of her palms against her eyes. “Torment is not love. Torment is torment.”
“A man can only be tormented by a woman he is madly in love with,” he denied. “And I love you.”
Selena couldn’t listen anymore. Her brain refused to digest his confession, could hardly form a sentence that made sense. “Let’s speak about this later, all right?”
“Selena.”
“Please.” She lifted a hand to stop him saying anything more. She couldn’t hear it. She didn’t have the heart to. She didn’t have themindto. “Goodbye, Phineas.”
*
Something was wrong.Very wrong. So wrong that the chill from their encounter hadn’t yet left his body. What had happened between the time she’d left his house and the time he’d found her in the warehouse? Whatever it was, it was something that she didn’t trust to tell him about.
A string of foul words flew from his lips.
He’d told the woman that he loved her, and she said they could discuss itlater?
Why had he ever thought he could unravel the shroud of distrust that shackled Selena? He couldn’t. Instead, he’d been the one to unravel, just as he’d originally feared. He was still bloody unraveling. The threads... he could feel them fraying as he lost his sanity, his heart, his very soul. What about her? He’d felt a palpable change in her that hadn’t been present earlier that day. Hadn’t even been present as she’d been dragged off by Saville.
Ah, Saville.
Even his closest friendship was on the brink of ruin.
Would this damn curse claim everything dear to him?
No, he refused to give that blasted word any more power. Curse? What curse? If Warrick were a cursed man, it was a curse of his own making. He had been so focused on everything that had gone wrong for him that he had been half blind to all that might go right. Had he even been open to anything but curses? The moment the first thing had gone wrong after he turned thirty, the idea of the curse settled into his mind, and he hadn’t been able to push it back out.
Everythingturned into a curse.
And some of the wrongs had clearly been his doing. Ridding himself of this so-called curse would not be accomplished by marrying, and marrying would not rid him of his problems. He needed to begin righting wrongs.
Selena wanted space, so he would give her space even if it killed him. He’d start making amends with Saville instead.
With an apology.
Hehadcrossed the line. Though he would not be badgered into marriage, he could have handled certain things differently.
The rain had stopped about the same time Selena had left him at the side of the road, but no one could escape the frosty nip this night brought. Despite the chill, he knew where his friend would be after a day like today, and he’d come straight here after following Selena from a safe distance to make sure she arrived home safely. Warrick jumped from the carriage the moment it drew to a halt strode over to his friend who sat on the bank staring off at the Thames River.
Saville didn’t glance over his shoulder at his approach, just growled, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Can’t I enjoy the riverside view?”
A snort. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“Did you forget we’ve been friends for years? I know the spots you go when you are near angered to death.”
“I didn’t forget anything. You are the one who forgot.”
“You are right.” He wouldn’t deny his wrong in this.
“What the hell do you want? I’m not in the mood to chat.”
