“Simon…”

His moves became more rushed and rapid as he searched through the drawers for something, his face growing red. The rustling of the drawers continued, and she suddenly preferred this much more over the words exchanged between them. Finally, he tightened his hold on something as he raised his body upward. It was a thick parchment, wrapped tightly with a raven string. He threw it toward her, the hard edge of it thundering as it bounced to her feet. Suddenly, the strength to pick it up was non-existent, and she could only stand still with her head pointed to the ground.

“Here, is that enough to get rid of you?” he asked loudly. “It’s the list of the attendees we agreed on—it’s all yours. You can start searching for your man and forget this weird…obsession you have for me.”

She didn’t say anything this time. She couldn’t. Neither did she beg or question his words. They had a standoff, Eloise with an overbearing redness in her eyes and Simon with the same coldness and disdain from the first time they’d met.

“Please leave,” he finally growled, slamming an empty bottle to the ground.

Not wanting to deal with the embarrassment and pain any longer, Eloise turned back toward the door and stepped out of the room with a new ache in her body. She turned to look at Simon one last time, though his head was trapped between his hands as he rustled his hair in frustration.

She shut the door behind her, her leg muscles weak and wobbly as she tried to get far away from the room as quickly as possible. His words echoed in her head, the promises he made and the promises he was now breaking. Tears streamed down her eyes, and her cheeks became tainted with that familiar wetness.

It was hard to admit, but she was a fool. A big fool who had fallen for one of the most disgraceful rakes in England. She had promised herself she’d never allow anyone to do this to her again, but here she was, with this terrible pain that wouldn’t subside.

After a few more steps, her muscles gave out, and she fell to the cold wood floor, crawling to the tapestried wall and allowing her sobs to echo throughout the halls. She was in love with him, and she didn’t know what to do.