Page 64 of The Duke of Distraction
“No, but I wanted to do so as a precaution on the chance that you would choose to open the shop.If the property was gone and you wanted to open the shop, you might have been disappointed.I didn’t want you to have to deal with another…” He glanced away.“Well, you know what I mean.”
Sadness.Devastation.Defeat.
“Thank you,” she said softly.“That was incredibly thoughtful.”Her chest expanded with warmth, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Felix cleared his throat.“I came this direction to see you, Anthony.I was going to apologize as well.I didn’t mean to overstep into your family business.”
“It’s all right,” Anthony said.“In a way, you are family.Like our brother.”
Felix’s gaze drifted to Sarah, and a flash of heat broke over her.He was nothing like a brother to her.Not anymore.
“I thought we could go to dinner at The Golden Bear,” Sarah said, eager to change the topic and to plan for an evening in which she wasn’t alone with Felix.Which she would be if Anthony went into Ware alone.
And being alone with Felix was both exciting and terrifying.Mostly exciting.Actually, it was only exciting.She ought to be terrified, but she just couldn’t muster that particular emotion.Not where Felix was concerned.
“An excellent idea,” Felix said.“I’ll have the coach brought round.”
“Then I’d best get dressed,” Sarah said, taking herself off.She vaguely heard Anthony saying something about how that would be fine with him and wondered if she detected a note of sarcasm.
All sense of sarcasm had been forgotten by the time they’d reached the final course of their elaborate dinner at The Golden Bear.The inndidhave a French chef, and the food was absolutely divine.Sarah hadn’t eaten so much in weeks.Since…well,since.
“Would you excuse me for a few minutes?”Anthony said, excusing himself from the semiprivate dining room they shared with two other parties.
Sarah watched her brother go and realized she was now alone with Felix.But not alone-alone, so she could rest easily.Perhaps noteasily, since she couldn’t seem to be in his presence anymore without feeling a seductive pull in his direction.She looked at him, and all she could see was his head bent at her breast.He spoke, and all she could hear was him telling her that her use of the wordcockwas arousing.
“Anthony seems in much better spirits this evening,” Felix said, apparently immune to the desperate attraction she was suffering.
“He does.But I understand how that happens.One moment, I feel fine, and the next, I am awash with sadness.”
“In time, the sadness will fade.”
She turned to Felix, who sat on her right.“Will it?Is that what happened with your father?”
“As I’ve told you, it was different.Honestly, I don’t really remember.”
“That is both a blessing and a sorrow.You said you don’t miss your mother, which I understand since you never knew her.Do you miss your father?”He’d evaded that question before.Maybe he would answer it now.
“Not particularly.He’s been gone more than half my life, so in some ways, it’s the same as my mother.My memories have faded.”
Sarah looked at the half-eaten syllabub in front of her and suddenly felt a bit sick.She was more than eager for the sadness to dissipate, but to think her memories of her parents would go with it was painful.Perhaps she’d cling to the sadness a bit longer.
Felix reached for her but stopped short of touching her, perhaps deciding it was best if he didn’t.He dropped his hand in his lap.“Sarah, you knew your parents as an adult.I have to think your memories will last a lifetime, unlike mine.You shouldn’t worry about losing them.”
Her mouth lifted in a half smile.“You discerned that’s what I was thinking?”
“It wasn’t hard.I know you quite well.”
Yes, he did.And he knew her now better than ever before.He was perhaps realizing that too, for he directed his attention to his wineglass.
A serving maid—a different one than they’d had for dinner—came forward to refill Felix’s wine.He looked up at her with a smile and thanked her.
“Mypleasure, Lord Ware.”Her answering smile was warm and plainly seductive as her gaze dipped over Felix.
A flash of possession flared through Sarah, and she leaned toward him, picking up her own glass for a refill.Which was a bit silly because it wasn’t empty.She quickly drank the contents, then held it up for the maid with a toxic smile.“If you please?”
The maid refilled Sarah’s glass and turned her attention back to Felix.“Will you be staying tonight?”
“No, my home isn’t far.”
