Page 32 of Trapped with the Earl of Sin

Martin sighed, glancing briefly towards Edwin and Mary, who were now entwined in a rather awkward dance. “To be honest, I was trying to keep an eye on things. Make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened.”

Susanna nodded, following his gaze. “You mean, keep an eye on Edwin.”

“Exactly,” Martin replied. “He might not be in the middle of anything nefarious right now, but it is worrying to know what he has in his room.”

Susanna’s expression turned thoughtful. “We just do not know how dangerous he really is.”

They danced in silence for a few moments, both lost in their thoughts. The music was slow and melodic, a perfect milieu for their conversation. Martin found himself studying Susanna’sfeatures, the delicate curve of her lips, the way her eyes sparkled under the ballroom lights. He could not help but feel a pang of longing.

“What are we going to do about Edwin?” Susanna asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Martin tightened his grip on her waist. “We keep watching. We gather evidence. And when the time is right, we expose him.”

“It will be scary to expose him,” Susanna agreed. “But I know you are right. It is what we have to do.”

The music began to swell, signaling the end of the dance. Martin reluctantly loosened his grip on Susanna, but it seemed that she was not done yet.

“Oh, look.” All of a sudden, Susanna turned her attention back to her sister and her unwelcome dance partner. “It looks like Edwin is trying to say something serious to Mary, but she is not impressed. What do you think it could be?”

It was hard to worry about the words coming out of Edwin’s mouth when they knew he had a gun hidden in his closet. He could cause far more damage with that, which was something they needed to avoid at all costs.

Martin scanned the room to try and see if Luke was watching his bride-to-be too, so he could bring this up to him later, butunfortunately, Luke was deep in a conversation of his own. He was laughing with the hosts of the ball over drinks.

What am I going to do? How can I make Luke see Edwin for who he really is?

Would Luke turn on his cousin? Would he refuse to hear what Martin had to say because Edwin was family?

“If I was not so repulsed by him, I would hope that Edwin would ask me for a dance too…”

“No,” Martin snapped, before he could even think about the words flying out of his mouth.

Susanna stared at him in horror. “Only to see what he would say to me…”

But Martin was still shaking his head. “I would not want that man to get anywhere near you.”

“Why not?” she half-whispered back. It was almost as if she knew the answer but needed to hear him say it out loud.

The only problem was that Martin did not think he had the courage to actually tell her out loud where his heart lay. As soon as he said something like that, he risked everything, especially the walls that he had put up around himself.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Martin was not entirely sure how to view this.

The music came to an end. In the eyes of polite Society, that meant they needed to separate so as not to raise suspicion about their closeness.

The last thing that Martin wanted was to be the center of a gossip storm because then, words would get to his mother. Then she wouldreallypressure him and Susanna to do something that was only meant to be a bit of fun.

After all, once Luke and Mary got married, it was unlikely that they would ever see one another again. Their paths had never crossed before, and there was no real reason that they should cross again.

A thought that caused him to feel actual pain in his chest.

Martin released Susanna’s hand as the music faded, stepping back with a mix of reluctance and necessity. He watched her face, searching for any sign of understanding, of shared feeling, but her expression was unreadable. Polite Society demanded their separation, but his heart yearned to stay close to her.

I do not want him to touch you,Martin thought hopelessly as she walked away from him, thinking the words that he could not say aloud.Because right now, even if I do not have the right to feel this way, I feel like you are mine…

But of course, he would never say those words out loud, so he returned sadly to the refreshments table, determined to stay there for the rest of the night. He did not want to dance with anyone else, there was no point.

After having Susanna in his arms, no one else would feel as good.

He would do much better as a wallflower, keeping an eye on Edwin at all times to make sure he did nothing to cause alarm.

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