Page 6 of Pleasantly Pursued

“You will not need one if you come with me.”

I shook my head, standing tall and holding his blue demon eyes—handsome but dangerous. “I might consider a journey to Chelton to ease your mother’s worry, but I do not intend to remain there.”

His expression hardened. “Why must everything be so difficult with you?”

“Difficult withme? Why must you fight me at every turn?”

Benedict shifted toward me, his hand clutching the countertop, his fiery gaze fastened on me. I faced him as well, my soapy hand holding the bowl over the basin for cleaning, my other dripping water on the floor. Our chests heaved in time, and I wondered at the sanity of agreeing to travelanywherewith this man.

He spoke as though his words were forced from a tense jaw. “If I wait for you to work out your notice, will you come with me to Chelton and speak to my mother? No one will require that you remain there forever, but surely you would be open to the prospect of staying under her care.”

Under her care? Or that of Benedict’s blasted lech of a cousin, Lord Claverley? I drew in a breath and nodded. “I can agree to that.”

His shoulders visibly deflated. “Good.”

“I will come with you,” I said, “on one condition.”

Chapter3

BENEDICT

Ishould have known Thea would never make anything so easy as to simply agree and leave it at that. I clenched my jaw and commanded my patience to hold, stretched and thin as it was. Thea squared her shoulders, looking up at me with her round, blue eyes, as though she was just as tall and mighty as I, instead of a wisp of a thing I could easily throw over my shoulder and carry from this room if I chose to.

The mental image that provided was entertaining, and I was certain if I pursued that particular method for returning Thea to my mother, I would have the bruises and scratches to prove her feisty temperament. Convincing her to come on her own would be much better for the both of us. I returned my focus to the task at hand.

Thea’s knuckles appeared angrily red, and the perimeter of her thin face was still covered in flour. She looked as though she’d missed a few meals, the shadows beneath her eyes evidence of her lessened sleep. I wanted to dip her rag and wipe the remainder of the white powder from her temples and chin, but she would undoubtedly interpret my actions to somehow mean I had ill intentions of some sort. She was purely incapable of seeing any goodness in me. Instead of allowing that to sting, however, I fortified the wall around my heart.

If Thea was supplying conditions, that meant she was willing to negotiate. I was halfway to reaching my goal.

“What condition is that?” I asked.

“I refuse to go to Lord Claverley’s house.”

An odd request. “He and his wife are meant to chaperone you for the Season.”

“Which I have mentioned time and again I have no desire for. I will not return to Chelton if your mother intends to send me straight to Lord Claverley.”

Did I have the authority to promise such a thing? I was the youngest of three sons, the man with the least amount of authority in my house. My mother, Lady Edith, had run our family with precision and total power since my father died, and she was not to be argued with. It was easy to allow her to rule our lives, though, since she seemed to be correct most of the time in her estimations.

After more than a month of searching for Thea, I was willing to promise nearly anything to make her agree to come with me. Her face was too thin, her eyes too tired, and despite her ability to crawl under my skin, I felt she needed rest and regular meals above all else—and soon. “I will do whatever is in my power to make that so.”

“No,” she said calmly. So calmly, in fact, that my hackles rose. “That is not good enough. You must vow to me that I will not be forced to leave Chelton, and neither will I be forced to remain.”

She sought independence? Did she not realize she already possessed it? There was a reason I had not shown up to the Fullers’ house this evening with a constable to force her to comply. She had to come of her own volition. I gentled my voice. “You are twenty years old, Thea. You’ve nearly reached your majority. Does anyone have it within their power to force you to do anything?”

Her round eyes widened, giving her the appearance of a frightened porcelain doll. Had she not considered that point before? It was the very reason she was able to leave school and find employment, and we could do nothing legally to stop her.

The only man who held such power over Thea was not in the least inclined to use it. Her uncle hardly cared what she did or where she went, and his power would abate on Thea’s twenty-first birthday.

When her expression hardened, I longed for the Thea of before. Before she had gone to school and I to Cambridge. The girl who laughed easily, not the woman who worried over her future. She’d never laughed much withme, of course. But that did not stop me from hearing the melodic sound in the halls and corridors of Chelton often, then missing it once it went away.

I wanted to know what had happened, to understand the reasons for this change in her demeanor. Her flour-crusted hairline and raw, dried knuckles were a testament of how deeply she disdained the future that Mother had shaped for her. “Is it really so distasteful for you to attend the Season?”

“The Season? No, it’s not distasteful. I enjoy dancing and wearing lovely gowns. Being under Lord Claverley’s thumb, however? Yes. Thattruly is so distasteful.”

Something had happened to her. I had speculated on it before, but I knewit now. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing.”

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