Page 58 of The Earl Next Door
“She has,” Julia answered quietly.
“Adeline, you told Julia and not me!” Brina exclaimed.
“She didn’t have to tell me,” Julia answered. “I see it in her face every time his name is mentioned. He tapped into her soul.”
“My feelings for the earl really haven’t changed since the first night I met him. They were vivid and passionate then and they still are. I knew then he was different from any man I’d ever met.”
“But now there is a different kind of passion between you two,” Julia offered as more of a statement than a question.
“Yes, or maybe it’s more like an addition. He—he—” Adeline glanced toward Lyon as she searched for the right words to describe what she was feeling, and suddenly realized it was more than the wanton desire they shared. That was how it started but now it was love. Beautiful, sweet love.
“You don’t have to explain,” Julia whispered.
“Of course she does,” Brina exclaimed, wide-eyed with questions and not wanting to give up on wanting to understand. “He what?”
Adeline felt as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders now that she’d admitted to herself that she loved the earl. She looked at Brina and said, “He makes me feel wanted. He makes me happy and angry. He makes me feel peaceful and so many other things. I can’t explain all he makes me feel other than to sayeverything.Brina, I don’t know why so many emotions rise up in me and take notice whenever I look at him.”
“Do you think you’ve fallen in love with him?” she asked.
Hesitating to be so open with her feelings while she was still sorting them out for herself, Adeline said, “My feelings on marriage haven’t changed. I want no part of being bound to a man as his wife and all that he would expect of me. I know I’m not strong enough to put myself through that burden again.”
“How does he feel?” Julia asked.
“I believe his emotions are as conflicted as mine, but for different reasons.” Adeline glanced to where Lyon had been standing. He was gone. Her gaze searched the room. He was walking away from his aunt and heading toward the entrance to the ballroom. Was he leaving? Before they had a chance to speak to each other? How could he be so callous toward her?
For a moment she thought to turn away and think good riddance. But then she knew she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him get by with treating her so shabbily just because she refused to marry him.
“What are you going to do?” Brina asked, gently touching Adeline’s shoulder.
“Right now,” she said, feeling more than a little slighted and angry, “it looks as if Lyon is already leaving the ball. I’m going to talk before he does. Excuse me.”
Adeline tried not to rush and cause attention to herself, but the fear of Lyon leaving before they spoke gripped her. She knew he was upset with her because she rejected him. That was nothing new. He was always upset with her. Perhaps that was part of his allure. She smiled or nodded at everyone she passed, butdidn’t allow anyone to slow her progress as she made her way through the crowd, up the three steps to where he was speaking to the attendant in charge of everyone’s wrap.
So he really was leaving and without saying hello or goodbye to her. That tore her heart.
“Lord Lyonwood,” she called, hoping her voice didn’t sound as shaky as she felt.
He turned around. Their gazes met. She was winded and her chest heaved. She realized she wasn’t angry. Just hurt.
She swallowed and tried to catch her breath. “Were you going to quit the ball without speaking to me at least once?”
His eyes questioned her. “Would it matter to you if I was?”
“Yes. Of course. I wanted to say hello to you.”
“You look angry.”
“Do I? Perhaps I am. I didn’t think you would leave without so much as a nod in my direction.”
“Is that what you thought?” he asked.
“Isn’t it true?”
He walked to stand before her. “You’re beautiful.”
Adeline’s stomach felt as if it turned over.
Other gentlemen had said she looked beautiful, but they had added the wordtonight. Lyon hadn’t. She could tell by the way his gaze swept her face that to him she was always beautiful. Not just because she was fancied up for a ball tonight.
