Page 49 of The Virgin and the Viscount

“You told Thomas how I felt all those years ago.”

His frown deepened. “No, I didn’t. I told him nothing.”

“Then how did he know?”

“How should I know?” He turned from her and paced to the other side of the room and shoved a hand through his hair. When he turned back to face her, his expression was intense. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

She shook her head. “No. My feelings were never anything of consequence. Just a schoolgirl’s fancy.”

He gave a tight nod. Something in his gaze made her breath catch. The pounding of her heart made her light-headed, as if she stood poised on a precipice.

“He’s not a good man, Tilly.”

His words, so different than the ones she’d been expecting, made her take a step back. “Why would you say that?”

He exhaled slowly. “I don’t know if I should tell you any of this, but I’ve got to tell someone. I think he killed Roderick. Not only that, but I think he’s trying to off your sister.”

A laugh exploded from Tilly. Then she took in the earnest expression on Sullivan’s face. “You’re quite serious.”

“I am. The carriage you were in, when I found you. It had been tampered with. That was your sister’s carriage.”

“Why would he want to kill Melanie?”

“He’s miserable. She hasn’t provided him an heir. He’s a mean bastard.” He tossed his arms up. “I don’t know, but I know I’m right.”

“Sullivan, that’s madness. Your brother died in an accident.”

“In a shooting accident,” he said. “No one was better with guns than Roderick. That kind of accident would never have happened to him.”

“You cannot like Thomas, you don’t have to be friends with him. Heaven knows I’m not close with my own sister. But accusing him of murder and trying to murder again.” She shook her head.

“Still, you will defend him.”

“I will defend those who cannot defend themselves!” she snapped. “I’m going to bed.” She turned to go, then paused. “I am meeting my friends to go shopping tomorrow.”

“Tilly,” he said. His voice held an unsaid warning.

“Yes, I know, you forbid me from doing anything with the Ladies of Virtue.”

“I only want you to be safe.”

Safe. Miserable, but safe. “Goodnight, Sullivan.”

Outside the library, she paused, one hand pressing the book to her chest and the other braced against the wall, unsettled by everything that had happened. Not just Thomas’s behavior or even Sullivan’s accusation that Thomas was guilty of far worse things than propositioning another man’s wife.

No, what bothered her the most was her reaction to Sullivan. Even when they were fighting she wanted him to kiss her. Worse than that, she wanted him to talk to her, to confide in her.

There had been a moment when he’d asked if she still loved Thomas when she’d thought…what?

For a moment, standing in the hall, with only a wall between her and Sullivan, she squeezed her eyes closed and then forced out a breath. Forced herself to admit—if only in her mind—what she had thought he might ask her. What she had wanted him to ask her.

“If you don’t have feelings for Thomas, do you have feelings for me?”

That was what she had thought he would say next. Worse still, she did have feelings for him. And even worse than that, she wanted him to have feelings for her.

Foolish, foolish girl!

Imagining someone like Sullivan might have feelings for her. Other than lust, that was.

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