Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

ALEXANDER

T he painting on the drawing room ceiling was blurry. I had been staring at it for too long. The other guests had all retired for the evening, but I hadn’t moved from my place on the settee. The minutes had been passing, but my mind was still frozen at ten o’clock. I had kissed Anne. She had run away.

But what a kiss it had been.

I sat up, stretching my legs out in front of me. I raked a hand over my hair, tugging at my tight cravat until it came loose. The turmoil in my chest made it difficult to sit still. Since my conversation with Anne in the rain that afternoon, I had been certain she would never have feelings for me. She had made her opinion of me clear. But that kiss…it hadn’t been one-sided. It hadn’t been an act. Surely I hadn’t imagined the emotion I had seen in her eyes. She might have still had feelings for Miles, but she might have also had feelings for me, too. The fact of the matter was that I was here, and he was not. I had the upper hand. I already knew I would take much better care of Anne’s heart than he ever had. All I had to do was continue to show her.

I had to prove it.

Before that night, I had been sure of my feelings, but that kiss had sealed it. Anne had stolen my heart, and there was no way I would ever reclaim it. I wanted to show her that I could make her happy. I wanted to tell her how I felt, but it still seemed too soon, especially after what had been said earlier that day. If she had even the slightest feelings for me, she needed time to realize them on her own. I couldn’t risk scaring her.

The idea that I might never kiss her again was a devastation I could hardly think on. I stood from the settee, striding out into the corridor. The house was quiet, but my thoughts raged louder than ever. I prayed that I wouldn’t find an invitation to the parlor in my bedchamber. I was too distracted to play another game. I was tired of games. All of them. I didn’t want my courtship with Anne to be fake, or our kiss to be excused as a forfeit. I wanted to kiss her again, and leave her with no question regarding my feelings for her. In time, I would do just that.

I wanted to prove to her that a man who truly cares for her would never leave her behind or leave her waiting. He would fight for her.

When I reached the first floor, I paused outside my bedchamber. A small flame flickered down the corridor—a light from a single candle. It was most likely a maid delivering the parlor game invitations, but I waited until the figure walked closer in the darkness. The candle illuminated her face.

Anne’s hazel eyes rounded in surprise as her light bounced in my direction, pulling me out of the shadows. “Alexander! You frightened me,” her breathless whisper was barely audible. Her pale blue gown looked closer to green in the warm light.

“I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath. I hadn’t expected to see her again so soon. I was worried the thoughts she had interrupted were still written all over my face. “Were you invited to the midnight game?” I asked.

She bit her lower lip, and I had to look away.

“No.” She shifted on her feet. “Were you?”

I opened my bedchamber door, taking a quick sweep of the floor inside the doorway. There wasn’t a letter in sight. “It appears not,” I said, closing the door again. “If you’re not going to the parlor, then where are you going?”

She stared up at me, her face flooded with reservation. “It is nothing of concern.” She turned toward the staircase that led up to the second floor. “Goodnight.”

I laughed under my breath. “Anne—” I strode toward her. “You can’t sneak around at midnight and not expect me to be curious.”

She turned around on the stair above me. A hint of fear crossed her expression as she realized how close her face was to mine. Elevated on the stair above, her height was close to my own. “If you must know…” her voice lowered to a faint whisper, “I finally solved the riddle.”

She turned around again. I followed her up the stairs. “You solved it and you weren’t planning to tell me?” I kept my voice light, hoping to dispel the awkwardness between us. It was obvious why she was avoiding me. She had enjoyed our kiss as much as I had, but she was afraid to accept it.

At the top of the stairs, she brushed a curl from her forehead. “Well…I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.” Her words spilled out fast. “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

She met my gaze. Her rosy lips pressed together as she hurried her gaze to the floor again. “Nor could I.” She paused, a scowl marking her brow. “I-I feel horrible about our conversation this afternoon. I should not have said you deserved any unkindness, no matter who it came from. Your disputes with Miles are not my business. Despite our…differing opinions of him, I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t still be friends.” Her voice weakened at the end of the sentence. Her gaze lifted. “I’m sorry. Let us agree to forget all the events of today.”

I smiled, unable to help myself. “Not all of them.”

Her eyes rounded, but she didn’t glare at me like she usually did when I said something flirtatious. Instead, she seemed unsure of whether to throw her candle at me or run back down the stairs. She opened her mouth to speak, but I saved her from the task of a finding a reply.

“So, did you find the letters of Lord Tottenham’s name?”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Yes. They were written on the backs of the invitations to the midnight games. Each letter had a corresponding one that spelled ‘rabbit.’”

“The key to Lady Tottenham’s heart.” I gave a slow nod. “I heard her say that this evening.”

Anne pointed toward the hexagon room, an eager smile on her lips. “The key is underfoot of the game. The game animals . I think there’s a rabbit in that glass case, and we are going to find a key under its foot.”

My jaw lowered, and a laugh burst out of my chest. Anne put a frantic finger to her lips, reaching forward to tug on my arm. “We mustn’t be caught.”

“How did we not realize that before?” I asked in a whisper. “Game animals are the only sort of game that have feet.”

Her smile grew. She shook her head in bewilderment. “I hope I’m not mistaken.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” I raised one eyebrow. I stepped ahead of her, holding the door to the hexagon room as she walked through with her candle. I closed it gently behind us. The hinge made a slight creak, but nothing that would alert the rest of the house. Anne raised her candle, casting the light around the dark room.

“It’s quite terrifying in here at night,” she whispered. The candlelight reflected off the glass eyes of a deer on the wall. She stopped in front of Lord Tottenham’s portrait, and I joined her in her study of it.

“Do you think Lady Tottenham truly loved him?” Anne asked in a skeptical voice. “Or did she only love the rabbit?”

I glanced at the side of her face as she examined the portrait. “I think she loved him all along,” I said. “No one falls in love because of a rabbit, not even Lady Tottenham. All the rabbit did was make her see him differently; it helped her realize that she loved him. Once she stopped resisting him, her feelings were obvious.”

Anne’s eyes found mine in the dark. “I suppose that could be true, but Lady Tottenham is clever. Even at her young age when she met him, I’m certain she knew her own mind.” She cast her light in the direction of the glass case.

I followed her to the row of animals behind the glass. “Knowing your mind and knowing your heart are two very different things.”

Anne seemed intent to ignore that statement. She moved her candle quickly along the length of the glass with a scowl. I recognized the problem before either of us voiced it. Among the many hunting trophies were various species of birds, foxes, squirrels, and…several different rabbits.

We exchanged a glance.

Anne handed me her candle before moving to the end of the case and sliding the latch. Thankfully it wasn’t locked. The hinges creaked as she opened the glass door. Her nose wrinkled.

“That does not smell pleasant.”

I inhaled the musty air with a matching grimace. Anne laughed, covering her nose with one hand. When the shock subsided, she leaned forward, examining each of the three rabbits. “Do you suppose one of them was her pet? She might have chosen to have it preserved and kept at Birch House.” She threw me a mischievous smile. “Which one do you think was her pet?”

“If I guess correctly, what do I win?” I asked with a grin.

She groaned. “Must everything be a game?”

I laughed, crouching down to face the three rabbits. They stood in a row. One was much larger than the other two. All three had light brown fur and glassy eyes. Anne bent down to examine them with me, resting her hands on the edge of the case. I held the candle up to the first rabbit, the smallest of the three. I cringed at the rough stitching that had been done to cover one of its ears. “This one looks far too ragged.”

Anne nodded. “Lady Tottenham would have protected her pet rabbit’s ears at all costs.”

“She likely put him in a bonnet and dress.”

Anne tipped her head back with a laugh, a genuine smile spreading across her cheeks. “Perhaps she even employed a maid to fan him.”

I laughed, moving the candle closer to the largest one. We both gasped.

Anne burst into giggles. “Why does he look like he could be a pugilist?”

The rabbit’s face had been contorted into what appeared to be a scowl, its large frame resting on its back legs, the short arms curved at its sides. “Someone stole this creature’s boxing gloves and he wants them back,” I whispered.

Anne’s laugh was contagious. My laughter subsided, and I watched her as she struggled to compose herself. In truth, she had never been more beautiful. I couldn’t look away.

Her eyes shot open. “Alexander!”

I followed her gaze to the rabbit. I smelled the burning fur before I saw it. I jerked the candle back, but it was too late.

The rabbit’s face was on fire.

Smoke spiraled up into the air, a tiny orange glow racing across the old, dry fur. I panicked, tugging my cravat off my neck and crumpling it into a ball before smothering the singed right side of its face. The rabbit tipped over, but I fell to my hands and knees, keeping the cravat pressed against it. I peeled it back, releasing a heavy sigh of relief to find the smoke dissipating. A clump of burned fur sprinkled to the ground.

I lost control of my laughter again, glancing back at Anne. She was covering her mouth with one hand. Her entire body shook, her eyes gleaming with amusement. I leaned back on my heels to lift the rabbit back to its feet, my balance faltering. She took my arm to steady me, her own laughter echoing off all six walls of the room. Anne’s eyes shone with tears, but not the sad kind. She doubled over, gripping my arm as we crouched in front of the case. She wiped at the corner of her eye, pressing one hand to her stomach. My cheeks ached as my laughter subsided.

She reached across me, snatching the candle from my hand. “You cannot be trusted with this.”

“It was an accident.” I reached for the base of the candle, throwing her off balance as she tried to keep it far away from me. She cast me a warning look. “Would you like to contend with a flaming grouse? We are going to set the entire case on fire.”

I grinned and snatched at the candle again. She tipped forward, but I caught her by the waist, pulling her back to a neutral position. Her smile faltered as her gaze met mine, and she hastily swiped at a curl on her brow. Our very recent kiss plummeted back into my mind. Was she thinking of it too? I held the candle steady in my other hand. If we kissed again I would be distracted enough to set all three rabbits on fire. Perhaps even my own shirt.

It would be worth it.

Anne’s eyes flickered away from mine. Her features hardened to a business-like expression again. I released my grip on her waist as we returned our attention to the rabbits.

“My guess would be that this one was her pet.” She reached forward to pat the top of the third rabbit’s head. “Look at his face. He has a gentle disposition. The taxidermist took great care in making him presentable.” She took a deep breath and carefully lifted the rabbit a few inches off the floor.

Beneath its right foot was a tiny gold key.