An Earl for Iris by St. Clair Ellie

Author:St. Clair, Ellie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prairie Lily Press
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

11

August kept a firm grip around Iris as he walked her away from the apothecary and down the street back toward the inn. She was shaking something fierce, but as he pulled her tightly toward him, he realized that he was trembling nearly as violently.

He couldn’t explain what had drawn him toward Iris and the apothecary. After they had parted, he had intended to return to the inn, to forget Iris and the drama that seemed to surround her. But then an itch had bothered him, one that told him that he wasn’t done with her, that he still had a role to play and that she might need him.

When he had opened the door to the apothecary and taken in the sight before him, he had nearly gone blind with a rage unlike any he had known before.

It was clear that the embrace was not one welcomed by both sides. He only wished that he could have planted his fist in the man’s face before Iris beat him to it, although if anyone had the right to do so, it was she.

She stopped suddenly now, placing her hands on his arms.

“I don’t want to go back to the inn,” she said, and he read the desperation in her eyes. “Not yet, not right now. Please?”

“Where would you like to go?”

“Anywhere without people,” she said. “The beach, perhaps?”

“Which way?” he asked simply, willing to do whatever she wished at the moment as long as it would help her to feel better.

She pointed, and he took her arm once more, leading her down the path toward the sandy shore.

“Does your hand hurt?” he asked, looking down at it, and she nodded tersely.

“Come,” he said, and led her to the edge of the sand, placing her hand in the cool sea water. “Does that feel better?” he asked, and she nodded once more.

August yearned to do nothing more than to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be fine, but he wasn’t entirely sure how she would feel if he did such a thing, and he also didn’t know that it would be the truth to say so. For he could be gone on the morrow, and she would be left here, living just down the road from Ernest Abernathy. Iris had proven she could protect herself to an extent, but if he hadn’t arrived when he did… he didn’t want to think of what could have happened.

“Are you all right?” he asked her, and she just stared at him for a moment, facing him now, her uninjured hand coming to grip his upper arm as she held on tightly as though he were her anchor to maintaining control.

“Yes. No. I… I’m not entirely sure.”

She paused for a moment, her gaze on the sea before it returned to him.

“Lord Westwood…”

“August.”

“August, then. Thank you… for coming when you did. Ernest has always been a rather arrogant sort, but I never thought he would do… would try… what he did.”

“Sometimes one never knows the true nature of a man until it is too late.

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