Page 52 of Choosing Her Earl at Last
“She should have told me sooner,” Michael argued stubbornly.
“Yes, she should have, but that does not mean that she meant it in malice. Everyone has moments of cowardice in their lives. What if you had been in her situation? How would you have behaved?” Colin raised his hand to cut Michael off from answering right away.
“Before you answer, I want you to think about the words that you choose. You may not have been in her exact circumstances, but I have a question for you to consider. Why did you not write to her and ask her why?” Colin’s raised brows told Michael thathe already knew the answer. “How is what she did any greater a sin?”
Michael considered his cousin’s words. He knew deep down in his heart that Colin was right, but he had been hurting for so long that he honestly did not know how to let it go. “I regret saying anything at all,” he admitted. “I should have kept my feelings to myself. I believe that I have destroyed any chance of friendship that might have remained between us.”
Colin gave him a side-eyed look of exasperation. “The problem is not that you spoke of the matter, it is that you did not have the courage to seek a resolution.”
Colin’s words stung as if he had actually slapped Michael across the face. “It is too late.” Michael shook his head to clear it of the shadowed fog that seemed to permeate every aspect of his being since the day that he had lost the woman that he loved. He no longer knew how to define himself outside of that fog. “Some wounds are too deep to heal.”
“I never believed you to be a foolish man, Michael, but I am beginning to wonder.”
Michael shot Colin a surprised look, hurt and anger warring with each other in his mind and heart. Before he could summon an appropriate response, they found themselves standing in front of the Green Dragon Tavern.
“We have arrived,” Mr. Hardy informed them, his tone one of warning.
“The men who frequent this particular establishment are some of the most dangerous men that you will ever meet. Watch yourselves, my lords. I have not yet seen the mysterious Mr. G, but I heard rumors amongst the men that he would be returning on this day.”
“We thank you for your assistance, Mr. Hardy. You are a good man,” Colin replied gratefully.
“There is nothing that I would not do to protect the ladies under my care,” Mr. Hardy solemnly informed them. The look in his eyes spoke of his limitless devotion. It was clear to both Colin and Michael that the butler would have killed for the Frampton women if necessary.
Colin nodded in acceptance of the butler’s vow, then followed him inside. Seeing both men’s devotion to the women of the Frampton household caused a pang within Michael’s chest.
Here I am bemoaning my lot in love, while the woman that my cousin loves is in grave danger.Shaking his head in frustration with himself, he walked through the tavern doors. Stopping inside the threshold for his eyes to adjust to the dim light within the main room, Michael took in the assembled assortment of rough-looking patrons.
“How will we know what he looks like?” Colin whispered quietly for Michael and Mr. Hardy’s ears only.
“We will know,” Mr. Hardy reassured him. “Men of power have a certain look to them. It does not matter what their station in life is.”
Michael nodded, his admiration for the butler growing with each encounter.
“We should find a seat,” he murmured.
Men were turning from their places to look at them. The last thing that they wanted to do was to draw more attention to themselves.
Mr. Hardy split off from them and took a seat in a darkened corner of the room where he could see everything and everyone that was happening. Colin and Michael made their way across the room to where the tavern keeper’s wife was standing behind the bar. “What can I get you, gents?” she asked, her tone even and neutral as her eyes spoke a warning.
“Ale,” Colin ordered while Michael covertly watched their backs.
The tavern keeper’s wife nodded and went to fetch them their order. When she returned, they paid her for their drinks, then took them over to a nearby table.
“He is here,” Michael spoke softly for Colin’s ears only. “The look in her eyes made that plain.”
“Indeed,” Colin agreed.
The two cousins nursed their ale as they discreetly searched the room once more with their eyes.
“I do not see anyone that fits his description.”
“Nor do I. Perhaps he is in another room,” Michael offered as an explanation.
Their conversation was interrupted when the tavern keeper’s wife walked over to them with a plate of pasties. “Is there anything else that I can get ye?” she asked, her tone one of insinuation.
Michael, taking the hint, nodded. “Indeed, there is. We would like to speak with the man in charge of this establishment, who goes by the name of Mr. G.”
The tavern keeper’s wife nodded. “I will inform him that he has guests.” The woman shuffled away behind the bar and through a door to the back room.
