“Ah, both.” Connor ran a hand through his hair in consternation. “What have we done?”
She gave an indignant sniffle. “Oh, plenty!”
Connor still had no idea what she was talking about. However, she was the last person on earth he ever wished to hurt. “For pity’s sake, Eden. Just give me a hint, will you? And do not tell me that I ought to know what I did, because I don’t have an inkling. Consider me dense and too stupid to figure it out on my own. Tell me what terrible thing it is that I have done and I will apologize and promise never to do it again.”
“You are not stupid.”
“All right, then, I am dense.”
She sat up again, turned to face him, and spared him no more than a glance before bursting into tears again.
“Oh, Eden,” he said with a wrenching ache, and drew her onto his lap. “Do not fight me. Just let me hold you.”
He thought it might have been the wrong thing to say, because she moaned and cried some more. But she also leaned her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck as though holding on to him for dear life. Was this not a sign of trust on her part?
“Love,” he said gently, his heart truly aching because he had never seen her looking so frail or hurt, “tell me why you are so sad.”
“How can you not see it, Connor? Is the truth not obvious?”
He wrapped his arms more securely around her. “No, love. As I said, I am dense and still do not understand what happened.”
“Love.That’s just it. Nobody loves me. Nobody wants me. And I was so stupid…so incredibly stupid to believe… But he just lied to me and was using me. He was going to drop me like a stone as soon as the week was out.”
She sobbed some more.
“Eden, are you speaking of Lord Aubrey?”
She nodded against his chest. “He told me this morning that he cared for me and wanted to pursue a courtship. I believed him. Ibelievedhis lies. He had me completely fooled. Have I gotten so pathetic that I should fall for false words and think for a moment, for one stupid moment, that someone truly liked me?”
“Dear heaven… Eden, what makes you think he lied to you?” His heart sank, for he had not seriously considered that Eden might fall in love with someone else in the span of a house party, and now she would never consider his own feelings that he had stupidly never revealed to her.
She was still crying into his chest and clinging to him as she spoke. “I overheard his sister talking to their mother about me. It was all a trick, a setup to keep me away from you. She told her brother to woo me in order to keep me distracted while she pursued you. This is exactly what he did.”
“I’ll call him out. The bounder, I’ll challenge him to—”
“Don’t you dare do anything so foolish. You are a father and have your children to think about. You cannot get yourself hurt over me.”
“Who is to protect you if not me, Eden?”
“You? Connor, you are just as bad as he is.”
“What?” Lord, this was why he had chosen to remain a Silver Duke. Casual liaisons. No complications. Walk away without hurt feelings. But he could not walk away from Eden. He did not ever want to walk away from her.
She was in his heart to stay.
“How am I as bad as Aubrey?”
“He said too much and you saidnothing. Not a thing in all the years we’ve known each other. Well, you can keep your Silver Duke reputation and you can keep your moonlight kisses, because I do not want to be kissed by someone who does not love me. I am not that pathetic… Well, maybe Iampathetic. But I still have my pride. I will endure and go to my grave with the ache of never having been kissed.”
He took out his handkerchief and began to gently dab away her tears. “Eden, were you hoping for Aubrey to be the one to kiss you?”
She merely glowered at him. Now what had he said wrong?
“Did you fall in love with him? Is this why you are feeling so hurt?”
“Him? You think I fell in love with him?Him?”
Gad, why was she getting so angry? Should he not be asking about her feelings for his rival? Should he not be worried that he might lose her to Aubrey? He was so many things that Connor wasn’t. Younger, fitter. Perhaps handsomer. Just as wealthy. Just as titled. Although of a lesser rank, and holding only a courtesy title of viscount. Still, he was an earl’s heir and next in line to become earl. “Eden, help me out here. What am I not understanding? Just tell me straight out. If it is in my power, I will give you everything your heart desires.”
