Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

“I like her.”

Phillip paused in his trek around the study to glance over at where his friend reclined against a chair, appearing as if he hadn’t a care in the world. From his fingers hung a glass of scotch. They were enjoying after dinner drinks. A dinner which hadn’t gone too badly, considering how much he’d wanted to kill his friend. And Fyre’s brother. And her sister in law.

“You like her?”

Lucien chuckled and sat up, claiming a sip before he nodded. “I do. She is feisty, stubborn, has a great sense of humor and I know she will, and is, keeping you on your toes.”

“Great sense of humor.”

“You, my friend, are sounding like a parrot. Yes. She had me laughing more than once at dinner.”

“You were flirting with her.”

Lucien shrugged and took another drink. “Was I?”

“Sod off.”

“Tell me you do not know more about her now than you did prior to this.”

That was true, but it didn’t resolve his friend from being such a flirt.

“Not that it matters,” Phillip groused. “But you also had to bring her brother?”

“That was a strategic move. This meal was because of me. I have no problem inviting a man who is supposed to protect her. Just because you were not allowed to kiss her is not my problem.”

Phillip started pacing again. “I have never kissed her.” Damn it. Just thinking about that pissed him off.

“There is the start of your problem then.” Lucien finished his drink and held out his glass.

Phillip filled his friend’s tumbler once more. Then he walked back and started once more on his around-the-room path.

“She is not even living with her brother now. She moved.” He tunneled his fingers through his hair.

“I know where she lives.”

Phillip strode to his friend. “Where?”

“If I tell you, what are you going to do?”

Run over there. Hold her. Kiss her. Get her to understand that there is something between us.

“What difference does it make?”

Lucien set his glass down and leaned back. “Sit down, Phillip.”

He recognized his friend’s tone and listened. Not that he wanted to. What he really wished to do was beat the information from his friend then go satisfy his need to see his woman.

“What?”

“You need to be careful how you tread here. Tell me you are aware of this.”

“Are you telling me you do not think she is good enough for me because she is not royalty like your wife?” The words were growled and dangerous.

“Not even close to what I am saying. This has nothing to do with her upbringing or her family line.”

“Then what?” He tossed back the remaining liquid in his crystal. “What am I missing?”

“A lot.”

He scowled at his friend. Lucien, however, didn’t even flinch under the stare.

“I have known you pretty much our entire lives, Phillip. These are not words I say lightly.”

There was a level of seriousness in Lucien’s tone that worried him. Phillip sat on his irritation and waited for his friend to continue.

“You know what went on with my wife and me.”

He nodded, ashamed he had been part of their issue when finding their happily ever after.

Lucien, as always, knew where his mind had gone. “You are family, Phillip. Ciara loves you like a brother. There is no need for you to continue to hold on to any guilt over that. We have forgiven you, you have to forgive yourself. It has been years.”

“Hard for me to just let it go like that. You are my best friend and I did nothing to help you win your woman. I did the opposite. I tried to sabotage it.”

“Let it go. This is important.”

Phillip tugged on his hair before dropping his head back. “What am I missing?”

“You know how we had you come here to help Trace.”

“Of course, that was what prompted me to buy this place. We had to rescue him and his woman.”

“An act that was not too long ago. There are still plenty here who have their opinion of where people not with our skin color should be. You cannot be obvious with your intentions if there is no plan to protect her. She would be in danger.”

Phillip covered his face with his hands and groaned in frustration and anger.

“I know this. It does not do a damn thing about making me want to stop offering her something safe.” And if he thought about it, he wanted her protected. This had become far more than just being obsessed with the woman. He wanted to keep her protected from the harm and evil in the world.

“And this is what Ciara has always seen in you, Phillip. She knew there was more to you than the side you enjoyed showing in London.”

“I have not been privy to any more discontent between the races. Not since that general was hauled off.”

“It is there, make no mistake. If it was not, that man would not be so concerned about his sister.”

Phillip sneered. “That man, and I use the term loosely, is trying to sell her. She is the one who did my books, he couldn’t handle it, but he thinks he has the right to tell me he will be working on them once more while he pawns her off on some lecherous bastard who wants nothing more than to bend her over the nearest table and take her innocence from her.”

“I heard you say it all earlier. Does not mean the situation has changed.” He smirked. “And I would wager my entire estate you would love to bend her over the table as well.”

Fuck yes!

“What the hell am I supposed to do then? I am trying to protect her!”

Lucien rose and walked to the window, where he looked out for a charged moment of silence.

“When I woke up in that cabin, I was at a loss to make sense of Ciara. Sure, she had saved me, but she was not anything like the women I associated with. Not even the women I kept.”

He pivoted back to Phillip. Waiting for his friend to speak on, Phillip just gestured with his hand when Lucien appeared lost in thought.

“It took a while.” Lucien gave a wry grin. “Far longer than it should have, for me to realize that she had no model I could follow. She had not been born in a society that tried to form her in a certain way. She had not been on the streets looking for a handout or a way to improve her station. Ciara had everything she wanted.”

Phillip nodded.

“And she was and had everything I wanted.”

“So I should give Fyre a rose?”

Lucien smiled.

“Best night of my life, my friend. I do not care that I sank to my knees before the woman I love more than anything in this world, before the members of society. All I had to offer her was me and my love.”

“I cannot say I am in love, Lucien.”

“You do not have to say it. It may not come to you for a while. I see it now, but until you are ready to accept it, what I see is of little consequence. My point is, your way of offering her protection may not be what she wants. Learn about her. Show her you do have the ability to listen and are not just falling back on your title to get what you want.”

“How did you get to be so smart?”

Lucien shrugged. “You say this like you are shocked. I have always been the smart one between us.”

Striding across the room, Phillip plucked the drink from his friend’s hand. “No more for you, as you have obviously over-imbibed.”

Rolling his eyes, Lucien just walked to the sideboard and poured himself another. Phillip topped off his drink and settled down in the chair across from his friend.

He’d missed this. Good friends, good times and good drink.

* * * *

Fyre opened her door and froze for a second. She blinked, stepped back inside, closed the barrier. After a deep breath, she tried once more.

She’d not been hallucinating. Parked outside her small cottage was a well-sprung carriage. There wasn’t even any need for her to look at the crest emblazoned on the side.

A thin man stood by the door.

“Good morning, Miss Gwen.”

“Morning.” She gulped and found it within her to be braver than she truly was. “Can I help you with something?”

“I am here to give you a ride out to Hawk’s Cove. Lord Edais is expecting you.”

“I did not know that I had a meeting with him today.” She waved off her statement and shook her head. “I cannot ride with you. Please pass along my thanks to the earl for his offer but I must get to work.”

There. Firm yet polite.

Smile firmly affixed to her features, she walked around the horses and set off toward town.

She heard the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves behind her and she stopped to turn. They stopped as well.

Three more times, she walked then stopped. The result never changed.

“Are you going to follow me to town?” Heat flashed up her neck. She wasn’t used to being the focus of people’s attention but that was exactly what this man driving the carriage behind her had done to her. Placed her smack in the center of it.

“I am doing as ordered, Miss Gwen.”

“And that was to follow me?”

His pale skin flushed as she glared up at him. Reining her temper back under control, she turned so she could face him completely. She didn’t have the right to take this out on him. He, much as she did every day, was only following his orders.

“I do not suppose that Lord Edais said what this was in regards to?”

He shook his head and she realized he wasn’t as old as she’d first estimated him to be. “He did not see fit to tell me.”

“I will accept the ride.”

She witnessed the relief which poured over him and he hopped down, moving to the door. She shook her head. His brows gathered close and she almost laughed. His expression was tormented.

“I will ride beside you. And you have to take me to my job in town so I can inform them I have been summoned by the earl.”

He mulled it over then nodded. Stepping closer, he held out his hand and assisted her up onto the top of the carriage beside where he would be sitting. She made sure her dress didn’t have any problems so she wouldn’t be flashing skin—she didn’t want to get a certain reputation.

Not that me riding around in the earl’s coach will help with any of this.

Moments after the driver clambered up beside her, he cut his gaze to her and flashed a smile. One she returned.

“What is your name?”

“Davie, Miss Gwen.”

“No need for calling me Miss Gwen. Gwen or Fyre is just fine.”

“Fyre?”

He released the brake, snapped the leathers, and the team moved forward. It wasn’t long before she settled into the rhythm of riding on the hard seat.

“My brother gave the name to me when we were much younger.”

His laugh was contagious and she joined him. Even though townsfolk looked at her with odd expressions as the carriage with the earl’s crest moved toward her destination, she didn’t mind. As they went, she and Davie chatted back and forth.

He halted the team by the front door of her destination and helped her down.

“I will be right back.”

With a bow, he nodded. “Take your time. I will be right here.”

She gave a smile of thanks and walked inside. There was a movement behind the curtain separating the front area from the back and she saw her boss, Mr. Shelldor.

“You are almost late.”

Biting her tongue, as was common in her interaction with him, she just nodded. “I apologize, sir. I have been summoned out to Hawk’s Cove by Lord Edais. His carriage is right out front. Shall I send a message that I cannot come at the moment?”

His head snapped up and she held still, not flinching under his glare, even though she wanted to. Mr. Shelldor was imposing. A large, burly man who seemed to enjoy scowling far more than he did smiling.

Not that it mattered. She wanted the job.

He stomped to the left and stared out the front of the shop. She didn’t even look around, knowing that he saw Davie standing out there beside the carriage with the crest on the side.

“Go.”

She nodded. “Shall I return after I am done there? Or would you prefer I not come back today?”

He crossed his arms and stared at her. “Come back.”

“Very good, sir. I will return as soon as possible.”

With a flick of his hand, he turned around and walked into the back, leaving her alone in the store. That went well.

Her steps weren’t as sure when she made her way back out to the waiting carriage. Davie helped her up with another smile. The horses stepped out smartly and she gripped the edge of her seat as the warm air flowed over her face.

Her belly clenched as he turned them up the drive to the house. She exhaled slowly.

What is it about this man that makes me so…uncertain?

The answer, or rather answers, to that were not something she wanted or needed to go into right now.

“Fyre?”

She blinked and glanced down to see Davie standing there, hand out. Waiting. Flushing again, she accepted his help and was soon on the ground.

“I will be here to take you back to town when you are finished.”

“Thank you, Davie.”

Chin up, she turned her feet toward the steps leading to the door. She knocked and rested her hands in front of her.

The butler, Keating, opened the door and looked at her. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his expression. She hadn’t ever been able to read him. Not the slightest bit.

“His lordship is expecting you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Keating.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly but pivoted on his heel and she took that to mean she was to follow. So she did.

A footman closed the door behind her. As she walked over the spotless floor, her shoes barely making a sound, she marveled over how cool it was in here. Keating paused before a closed door and knocked.

“Enter.”

Just a single word and her belly clenched with the need she had decided to call nothing but inappropriate.

With a nod of thanks to Keating, she walked by him and into the room. This time, unlike her previous visit here, she scanned the entire thing, checking to see if they were there alone or if his friend was there with him.

He was.

She gave a low curtsey. “Good morning, Lord Edais.” She angled toward his friend. “Lord Heartstone.”

“You are a delight to see so early in the day, Miss Gwen. Have you eaten?”

“Saint.” It was a warning from Phillip.

The man didn’t appear the slightest bit bothered by the threat. He shrugged without shame and crossed his ankles as he continued resting against the sideboard. She couldn’t help but notice the amused smile that danced along his lips.

“Just making conversation, as you appear too tongue-tied to say anything.”

She placed her attention back on Phillip. He waited for her to look at him.

“You cannot just order me to be here when you wish, Lord Edais.”

Her gut clenched as his lips turned up just in the corners, like she’d just issued him a dare and he was looking forward to proving to her exactly how wrong she was.