Secrets Between Lovers by Lane Charlie

Author:Lane, Charlie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Tobias stared up at the canopy above his bed, trying to banish the woman’s image from his mind. If the woman in question had been his fiancée, it would be perfectly acceptable. But she was not. The face of Miss Celia Weatherby frowned down at him, as it often had these past six months when sleep would not come. Oddly, the last week he’d been blessedly free of her silent censure. Perhaps not odd at all. Who could fixate on the disapproving Celia with a bright, laughing Maggie so close, so distracting?

But tonight, oh tonight, Miss Weatherby returned with a vengeance. Her frown, which he’d once found a tad adorable and had tried (unsuccessfully) to coax out of existence, sent ripples of unease through him. It served as a reminder of his mistakes.

“You’re too silly,” Celia had said, laughing and turning a cold shoulder to him after his proposal. “How can I marry a man like you? You’re good for a dalliance, Mr. Blake, no more.”

He’d doctored his tattered heart with strong spirits for a week after that. Did more ill than good, but he couldn’t seem to help it. The one time he’d shown his serious face, he’d been rejected, laughed at.

Not with Maggie. At least not all the time with Maggie. She questioned his ability to be serious. Who could blame her? But when he’d told her he planned to go into business, she’d not laughed. When he’d talked about his thoughts on art, she’d not tossed them like an amusing anomaly.

And he’d have to tell her a bit more before all was over and done with.

Celia frowned at him from the canopy.

Tobias closed his eyes. “Go away, demon spirit.” He could trust Maggie once more. He had to or she’d worry. He wouldn’t let that happen. Tomorrow morning, when he took his leave of her for London, he’d tell her about France.

A soft scratch on his door preceded its opening. Maggie’s pale face peeked through before she bolted into his room and closed the door softly behind her. A white shift peeked out from under her brother’s banyan, and her long dark hair swung down her back in a loose braid.

Tobias pushed to a sitting position and stared.

Maggie bit her bottom lip and looked everywhere but at him.

Tobias could look only at her bottom lip, the tender flesh pulled between even, white teeth.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked.

Tobias folded his arms behind his head and leaned against the headboard. He wore no nightshirt, and the quilt pooled low around his hips, revealing his bare torso. Did she avoid his gaze because of his undressed state? He should cover himself. It would be the honorable thing to do. Yet, she’d snuck into his room. Again. Honor, perhaps, had nothing to do with this. Besides, they were to be wed. She’d see his … everything soon enough.

“You, ahem, sleep without a nightshirt?”

“I do.”

“Fascinating.”

“Really? How so?” He couldn’t see if he’d made her blush in the darkness, but he rather hoped he had.

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