Page 38 of Charming the Accidental Suitor
“I did, yes.”
He shifted. Her own calm tone was making it difficult for him to maintain his. He took a deep breath and forged ahead. “You could not have been certain we would arrive in time.”
“No,” she said simply. “I knew he’d be at the warehouse—I heard him say as much to my uncle,” she added before he could ask.“He’d said he had business to attend to, and it’s become clear that the warehouse is what he considers his place of work.”
“We had little notice,” he said. Lud, his patience was wearing thin. “You could have been trapped in a marriage with?—”
“Not trapped,” she said. At his blank stare, she lifted a shoulder. “I’d hardly say I was trapped when I was the one to make the offer.”
“So you actually intended to go through with it then.”
“Of course. I would not have hatched such a scheme if I was not willing to see it through.”
“Of course,” he echoed. His tone was dry but she didn’t seem to notice. His mind was reeling as he tried to make sense of it. She’d been willing to marry a no-good thief but she’d just rejected his proposal without so much as a second thought?
“I…I…” He found himself recalling Everson’s question to her. The last thing he said before being taken into custody, and Albright found himself repeating it now. “But…why?”
“Why not?” Her tone was flippant but it did not ring true. “I need a husband, and…” She trailed off with a shrug, as if the rest was obvious.
I need a husband.The word husband from Felicity’s lips was enough to be his undoing. A wave of hot anger rushed through him?—
No. Not anger. It was jealousy. Possessiveness. Not just the thought of Everson as her husband but of any man who was not him.
But before he could so much as utter a word, she was hurrying on. “Anyhow, it’s all for the best that you received the message when you did.” She gave him a smile. “Truth be told, he was not the ideal candidate for husband.”
“Not the ideal—” He stared in horror.
“But I could hardly focus on my own problems while my uncle’s fortune and reputation were still at stake. And while I might have merely told my uncle to avoid Everson’s investment, that would have led to questions, wouldn’t it? Questions that might have hindered your investigation?—”
“Hang my investigation, you?—”
“That wouldn’t do. And even if my uncle believed me—and really, why would he listen to his silly niece—there would still be other gentlemen in the same predicament as my uncle. So, you see, I had to be sure that part of this sordid business was handled. To my way of thinking, my scheme accomplished this neatly.”
Albright could only stare. She was babbling, hardly pausing to breathe let alone let him speak.
“While I am relieved you arrived when you did—well done, by the way,” she said with a bright smile. “I must confess, my mission would have been accomplished either way.”
“Your mission,” he started.
But once again she overrode his interjection with more long winded babbling, all about how a suspected criminal on the run was hardly her first choice for a husband, but it all worked out in the end, and?—
Albright could hardly keep up with her reasoning, and there was no room for questions with all her talking.
Then…the carriage stopped.
And so did Felicity’s incessant chatter. She let out a loud exhale and this smile she aimed his way seemed far more genuine. Which was how he realized…
She hadn’t been babbling. Or, shehad, but she’d been doing so to stall just like she’d done with Everson back at the warehouse.
The moment the carriage stopped, she threw the door open and leapt out before he or the driver could lend her a hand.
Once on the ground, she turned back to him with a smile. “I do appreciate your haste in responding to my message this evening, but as I would not wish for my uncle to become aware that I am not in my bed…”
She didn’t finish. She merely shut the carriage door.
And with that little snick of a door closing, Felicity disappeared from his life. Two days passed without a word from her and he was…unmoored.
There was so much left to say.
