Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Word travels fast, and even without people seeing his scars Philip was becoming known as a beast once more.

It was cruel, people said, that he would attack a friend in such a manner. Especially a friend as good as Lucien, who had been by his side through the worst time of his life. Philip agreed, and he had wished that it hadn’t come to that, but he had been left with no choice. Lucien was not the friend that he had made all those years ago, and he wanted the one lady that had truly been good to him, and he could not see past that.

He also could not bring himself to speak to Jackie. He had wanted to ever since the day of the picnic, but he had not been able to. That same night, she had asked to be left alone, and he had obliged, but after that he did not know whether or not her opinion had changed. Therefore, aside from murmured greetings, he thought it best to wait until she came to him.

And those days were torture.

Eventually, he decided that he had to speak to her no matter how closed off she seemed. It was partly his own fault for not proposing when he confessed to her, and he would rectify that.

He had known her for two months, and saw her every day and got to know her more and more, always liking what he found out. It was not yet the end of their deal, and she did not yet have to make her wishes known to him, but he had to ask her. He had to make his own intentions plain to her.

Except that she was not home. She was out with her sister, and he was unsure of where exactly and therefore not sure if searching for her would have any good outcomes. Instead, he waited in his study for her to return.

“Philip!” Ophelia said brightly, stepping into his study unannounced.

She was the last person that he wished to see.

“Why are you here?” he snapped. “I have not been inviting you, and I am quite sure that my mother has not either.”

“Is it not obvious, Your Grace?” She asked, smiling through the tears that were suddenly forming. “Why do you think I have been here so often, so determined to be close to you? I am in love with you, Philip.”

His head began spinning. This was the very same lady that had shown him nothing but cruelty for years, and now here she was telling him all this?

“Leave.”

“Philip, please. You must listen to me. It was a mistake. What I did to you all those years ago was wrong of me. I was barely out of leading strings, not nearly mature enough to know that what I did was wrong, but now that we have grown up, I can see it. I never should have done that to you, and I shall regret it for the rest of my life.”

“That is none of my concern.”

“But you loved me,” she whispered, stepping closer to him and reaching out. “And I have every reason to believe that you still do, else you would have had me sent away when I came here. I mean, it was always the plan for the both of us to fall in love- why else do you suppose that the two of us remain unmarried after so many other proposals?”

“Those proposals are exclusively ones that you have received. I have never turned someone else away in favor of you, and I would like to make that very clear to you.”

“And I would like to make it clear,” she replied taking his hand only for him to snatch it away again. “That you and I have something special. We always have. We should be together, just as we always wanted to be. I want you to know that I no longer care about your scars, and as that was the only thing standing in our way, why not call it all over and done with? We would both be far happier for it.”

“You are too close, Ophelia. This is highly inappropriate.”

“There is nothing more appropriate than you and me, Your Grace.”

Philip had a sudden sinking feeling. Ophelia had never been so brazen, having received a highly conservative upbringing, and so for her to have appeared so suddenly, so determined to take him back, there had to be another motive.

Then, he heard footsteps approaching the study.

This was the worst possible thing that could happen. If they were caught alone together, Ophelia would be compromised, and he would have to do the gentlemanly thing and-

And that was what he feared she wanted.

Fortunately, the steps continued past the door, clearly one of his staff going about his duties. He saw Ophelia’s smile fade for a moment, turning into a scowl before she quickly hid it once more.

“You know, Your Grace,” she sighed. “They are saying some terrible things about you. Not to worry, though, if ever it all becomes too much, you know where to find me. I will be there for you, I promise.”

“And what is being said about me?”

“You will likely find out soon enough. I cannot be the one to tell you, it would hurt me far too much. Think about what I have said, and when you see sense, I shall be waiting for you.”

Philip wondered if she was telling the truth. She left his study with a weak smile, disappearing from view. She had clearly been hoping that she would be discovered alone with him, but even though that had not happened she had given him enough cause for doubt. She had been kinder to him than she ever had been, and the foolish younger part of him wondered if that was because she was being honest about her feelings.

Regardless, it did not matter. Philip had fallen for Jackie weeks before, and since then Ophelia had not caused any positive feeling in him at all. She was gone, as far as he was concerned, even if he was curious as to what was being said of him.

“The young ladies have returned,” the butler said a while later.

“How did they seem?”

“The youngest seemed as always, and the oldest seemed… perturbed?”

Perhaps she had heard exactly what was being said of him? He knew that he had been given the blame for Lucien’s bruise, which he took full responsibility for, but as to why he had supposedly given him it, he was not sure.

“She has asked to speak with you,” the butler continued. “Only, she wishes to do so in the music room, not in here.”

Philip was grateful for that. He had seen enough of his study over the last few days, and was eager to see somewhere else. Beyond that, he adored the music room, and he knew that Jackie was aware of that.

“Good afternoon, Lady Jacqueline,” he greeted. “How was your outing?”

“Are we to use formalities again?” She sighed.

“No! No, it was only because of… well, I did not wish to assume that you still wished to use our other names.”

“I have not told you as much, so one might assume that it would stay the same unless it was what you wanted.”

“Well, I do not, so all is quite well.”

“Philip, are you sure that you do not harbor any affections for Lady Ophelia?”

“Must we discuss this a third time?” he huffed, raking a hand through his hair. “No. I have told you this. She broke my heart years ago, and now that you are here, I am grateful to her for it. I have been meaning to discuss that matter with you. Jackie—”

“That is not what the viscount said.”

“Lucien?”

She nodded, keeping a distance from him.

“He was in the shoe shop this morning when we visited. He told me that he has been telling you for a long time to stop playing with my affections, as you are so clearly still in love with Ophelia. He said that you became so enraged at him telling you to leave me be that you attacked him.”

“That is the opposite of what happened.”

“So you did not attack him?”

“I punched him. Once.”

“That is hardly making you seem any better.”

“Jackie, that is not what was said. Do you wish to know the truth? Lucien was more than willing to cast me in a bad light because he has fallen for you. He wants to cause trouble between the two of us so that he can have you for himself.”

“That cannot be right. He was your friend.”

“Yes. He was. Now he is not. Any man that tries to force my hand when it comes to matters of my heart will not remain a friend of mine.”

“Force your hand?”

“He told me that I should accept Ophelia’s advances, even if they have caused me great discomfort, because he is the better match for you. He is not ugly and scarred like I am, and therefore there should be no competition.”

“There is no competition,” she laughed incredulously. “I would never see the viscount in such a way. I cannot believe that you would think that of me.”

“You were angry with me, and for good reason. I shouldn’t have played into it. I should have ignored Ophelia from the second she began doing all of these things, but I did not. I thought that you might have changed your mind about me, about us.”

“Do you still believe that?”

“You came here believing that I attacked a friend for no apparent reason.”

She was quiet for a moment. He willed her to say something, anything, but she did not.

“Jackie, I want this to work. I have felt this way for a long time, and I know you have too, and there is no reason why it should not. All we would need to do is ignore the two people trying to make it difficult and instead focus on all of the people that want it to be easy, the two of us included.”

“You sound so resolved on the matter.”

“Because I am.”

Unfortunately, it was quite possibly the worst moment for a proposal, and he did not want to pull it out of nowhere when he could wait until a better time. Instead, she would have to trust his feelings that he had shown her, and it would have to be enough for her to believe him.

“So you promise me that your fight had nothing to do with you still wanting to marry Lady Ophelia? You promise me that you are not going to abandon me for her if and when she confesses to you?”

He already had, of course, but it was not the time to tell her that he had only just been alone with her in his study for an extended amount of time. Not when he was attempting to ease her concerns, that is.

“I promise you,” he assured her. “And the next time she tries to enter this household, she shall be sent away in an instant. I should have known not to let her in in the first place, but my mother liked her once upon a time.”

“And how does she feel about her now?”

“I do not know, and quite frankly I do not care. What I do know is that she adores you, and she has from the moment you arrived, and she has had every reason to. What is important is that Ophelia will no longer be a concern of ours. Do you believe me when I say that?”

Jackie looked up at him, her eyes searching his, and he willed her to answer.