Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Philip was not a fool, or at least that he hoped that he was not.

It was evident to him that Ophelia had pulled her little stunt deliberately, and he was sure that everyone else in attendance realized the same thing, but he knew what the gentlemanly thing to do was. It did not matter that she was Ophelia, it mattered that she was an injured lady. He simply hoped that Jackie saw it that way.

Carrying her through to the drawing room, he thought about how this would be the last time that he would ever see her. He was to spend the rest of his life with another lady, and he couldn’t have been happier about that. He wanted to drop her onto the floor, but instead he pretended that she was Jackie, and it made everything much easier.

“Thank you,” she whispered as he laid her on a settee. “For what you have done for me. Not just this, but everything.”

“You need not thank me. I was simply doing my duty.”

“But I must show my gratitude,” she protested. “Because of how things had ended between the two of us. I had never wanted it to be that way.”

“Nor did I, but now the two of us are all the better for it. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“Don’t go!” She begged.

Once upon a time, the pleading in her voice would have destroyed him, but this time he could not even force himself to feel anything for her.

“I am in so much pain,” she whimpered. “I do not wish to be alone. I do not—I do not wish to be without you.”

“Johnson?” He called, and a servant came in soon after.

“Yes, Your Grace?”

“Lady Ophelia has been injured, and I must send for the physician. Would you mind keeping an eye on her? She says she is in too much pain to be left alone.”

“But I want you!” she pouted. “It is not only my ankle that is hurt, but my neck too. Come and look a little closer at it, I think it might be bruised.”

Again, Philip thanked himself for not being that big of a fool.

“Johnson shall keep an eye on you,” He replied coldly before walking away.

He would have sent for the physician had he considered her to be in any real pain, but he knew the truth. She had thrown herself at him in some bizarre bid to have his attention, and then when they were alone together, she had encouraged untoward behavior. However, the motives for such actions would have to go unknown, as he only had one interest in that moment and that was speaking to Jackie.

He hoped that she had not taken what had happened badly, for it was exactly that behavior that he had assured her would not happen. He was supposed to be proving to her that she was the only lady he wanted, which was the truth, yet he had shown the opposite to be the case.

Philip was also annoyed with Lucien, who had insisted on accompanying him during his work that day, only to have seen the ladies outside and insisted that they join them. Now, once again, Lucien had stayed with Jackie instead of helping his friend handle another matter. It was becoming more than he could take, but it was not the time to pull Lucien aside. He had to see—

There was mayhem when he returned outside.

His mother and Lady Elizabeth were seated beside Lucien and Jackie, watching on in shock. Philip ran toward them before seeing Lucien rubbing her back gently and whispering in her ear, his face concerned. Jackie’s was pink, and her eyes were red and damp from tears. The sight of her turned his stomach, but what made it even worse was the way Lucien was doting on her.

“A drink will help,” he suggested sweetly, pouring her a lemonade. “And you mustn’t drink it quickly. Sip it.”

She smiled and thanked him, drinking it bit by bit. Whatever had happened, Philip had arrived far too late to do anything meaningful to help, and why was that? Because he had been with Ophelia, at Lucien’s suggestion of all things.

He was furious, but mostly with himself for agreeing to it. He hadn’t cared about Ophelia’s antics, knowing it was more than likely simply her trying to have the last laugh, but now that it had affected Jackie it changed everything.

“Jackie,” he said gently. “Are you alright?”

“I am perfectly fine,” she replied bitingly.

“She choked,” Elizabeth explained. “I cannot be so sure how, but that is what happened.”

“I said I’m fine,” Jackie snapped, rising to her feet and starting to leave.

“Lady Jacqueline,” Lucien said, following after her. “Please, stay with us for a while so that we can—”

“I need a moment, Lord Montague.”

“Jackie, I—”

“Is it painful for you to listen to me? I am perfectly fine, and I do not wish to be followed, so accept my words and leave me be.”

Philip had not even thought her capable of anger.

He turned to Lucien to ask to speak to him, only to see his friend watching after her with a look of adoration on his face. Philip did not wish to believe it, hoping that it was simply admiration for her speaking her mind, but he knew better than that.

“You and I need to speak,” he said to Lucien, leading him back to his study.

“Very well, but perhaps you might first wish to return Lady Ophelia’s basket to her?”

“I shall do it,” Lady Elizabeth replied helpfully, jumping to her feet and nodding to Philip.

Lucien did not argue with her, though he seemed displeased by it.

“Now,” he began when they arrived. “Would you be so kind as to tell me what all that was?”

“I do not know what you are referring to.”

“Do not play coy with me, Lucien. Do you think I haven’t been aware of what you have been doing of late? How you continually come here only to spend all of your time with the lady that I am courting?”

“It is as I told you, Philip, we are friends, and I am hardly coming any more often than usual. Besides, after what happened last time do you not think it is best that I ensure this lady is a good one?”

“I will not have any unkind assumptions made about her, am I clear?”

“Perfectly so, and I shall never do it again. Will that be all?”

“Lucien, what is it? Do not evade my questions and simply answer me. I know what I saw just now, and I expect better of you than lies. You have been behaving in an inappropriate manner with Lady Jacqueline and I must know why.”

“Well, it is as you say,” Lucien sighed. “You know what you saw.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

Philip was hoping that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he had been acting so strangely, that it had all been innocent, but with what Lucien had said he knew that it could not be the case.

“I love her.”

He certainly had not expected that.

“You do not know her,” Philip laughed, exasperated.

“I know her a darn sight better than you. Tell me, what is her favorite color?”

Philip opened his mouth only to close it again.

“It is green,” Lucien scoffed. “And her favorite season is spring. She says it is a time for new life to be born.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It shows that you do not know her! You think you are in love with her because she is kind to you, and if that is all that it takes for you then you might as well accept Ophelia’s advances. We all know that you have made little effort to turn her away.”

“You say that as though I had a choice to begin with.”

“You did. It is your household, is it not? You could have sent her away the moment she came, but you did not. What is it, Philip? Are you keeping her around for when Jackie refuses your hand? You have been parading Ophelia around as if it doesn’t destroy the young lady you are courting. That is hardly fair on either girl.”

“I have done everything in my power to avoid Ophelia. She is a friend of my mother’s. What do you want me to do?”

“What I want,” Lucien smirked. “Is for you to accept the truth. You loved Lady Ophelia for years, and you spent every day pining after her. Now she is here, wanting you once more, and you expect me to believe that you no longer want her? I know you better than that. Why don’t you step aside, let me have Jackie, take Ophelia for yourself once more?”

“Stop calling her Jackie! You do not know her well enough to call her that, and you do not have her permission. Only I do.”

“How would you know? You have spent so much time with your first love that you have no way of truly knowing what discussions we have had. Do you think I wanted to fall for her? I tried not to, but I cannot help how I feel.”

“You will.”

“Or what? Philip, you and I both know that, if push came to shove, she would choose me over you. You have the title, yes, but can you tell me one single other thing that a lady in her position would want that you can offer her?”

“Get out.”

He had said it quietly, frighteningly so. He was trembling, not with anger but with restraint, and he took a step away from Lucien.

“Philip, you are being ridiculous. We can talk about this, just as you wanted.”

“I do not wish to talk to you. I do not wish to see you. I will only ask you one more time. Leave.”

“Jealousy has made you ugly,” Lucien snarled. “You cannot accept that I would make a better match for her than you, can you?”

“Why, because you know she likes green and spring?”

“Because what the ton likes to see is a beautiful couple with their beautiful children, and that is something that you could never be a part of no matter how much money you have.”

Philip punched him.

He was not a violent man, and he never had been, but he had tried everything in his power to control himself and Lucien had continued to push. He did not know where all of the hatred was coming from, but in that moment it did not matter. Lucien was the last person that he wanted to see again.

He did not need to tell him to leave a third time. Lucien scurried off down the hall, and Philip tried to regain his composure. After everything that he had been through, Lucien had stayed by his side only to leave him when the opportunity to steal a lady from him came. Such years of friendship did not matter to Lucien when he made advancements on Jackie, and so those same years of friendship could no longer matter to Philip either.

It was the end of it.

Philip went to the window to see if Jackie had returned, only to see his mother and Lady Elizabeth sitting in the sun without her. He wondered where she had gone, and whether or not she would want him to find her, but he had to take her at her word.

She wanted to be alone, no matter how much he wanted the opposite.