Page 66 of A Perfect Engagement
Lucius glanced up in surprise. He took a long drag, and then he blew the smoke out in Daniel’s direction. “Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?”
Daniel held up his hands. “Look, I’m sorry about how I acted when you came to see me. But in my defense…well, I’m sorry.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “I need to speak with my brother. Can you tell me where he is?”
“Have you come to make an utter fool of yourself, ruin the wedding, and steal the bride?” Lucius asked with a grim expression.
Shit, he hadn’t thought he’d have to get through Lucius and Miles to reach Charlotte today. Throwing caution to the wind, he replied honestly. “That’s the plan, in a nutshell.”
Lucius’s face cleared, and he threw down his cheroot. “Then I approve. Hawksridge is in the second room to the left. He is supposed to be preparing his soul prayerfully. But he looked rather green around the gills to me.”
Daniel let out the breath he had been holding. He strode forward. “Thank you.” He stretched out a hand, and Lucius shook his firmly, then he turned and entered the shadowed back corridor of the church. Outside the second door to the left, he paused. What would he say to Miles? He’d mulled over how to start on the trip to London, but now, all his carefully crafted words abandoned him. Would his brother even listen to him?
He turned the knob and pushed open the door. Miles stood looking out the window, his profile so familiar, his shoulders slumped, one hand braced against the window frame. He looked…lonely.
“Miles, can we talk?”
Miles straightened and spun around to face him. “Daniel, what are you doing here?”
Closing the door behind him, Daniel moved forward into the small room. “I came to apologize. Properly. What happened during the party with Charlotte, I never meant for any of it. I planned to talk to you privately and explain how I felt. Anyway, that’s not the point. I was wrong, and I apologize. Can you forgive me?”
“I have a right to still be angry. You betrayed my trust.” Miles paced away from him across the wood floor. He whirled around, his eyes narrowed accusatorily. “She’s in love with you, you ass.”
“How do you know?” Desperate for the answer, he stepped forward.
Miles’s brows lowered, and he was quiet for a long moment. “The way she seems so resigned. The way she looks at me, sometimes wistful and sad. Like she’s not really seeing me.”
The cracks in his heart mended as he contemplated the idea Charlotte really did love him. Was Lucius right? Did she regret her decision? “Miles, what are you doing here today, marrying the wrong woman? You deserve better. You deserve to be happy.”
Miles shoved a hand through his hair. His gaze was full of confusion when it met Daniel’s. “I don’t know what I am doing,” he shouted. “I am here because I said I would be, because I didn’t want to cause a scandal, because the plan was to take a wife. It was the next step.” He threw his arms up.
“That’s just stupid,” Daniel shouted back.
“Look who’s talking. You fell in love with a woman who was already engaged to your brother. Tell me who’s making bad decisions then?” Miles retorted.
His brother was right. He was the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. Daniel began to laugh. Miles looked at him as though he had lost his mind, but Daniel couldn’t stop laughing. He slumped into a nearby chair and struggled to collect himself.
“Is it true, what you said back in the drawing room that day? Do you love her?” Miles asked.
He took a deep breath. “Yes. I think I loved her from the first minute I set eyes on her. She came toward me, her arms full of pink peonies. It seems I never had a chance. We did try to fight our attraction. She, especially, she worries so much about doing the right thing, being the right kind of person.”
“Fine. I forgive you.” Miles found a chair and sat down too. “You are obviously not in your right mind over this woman.” He put his head in his hands and rubbed at his temples.
“Miles, I’ve missed you. Not just the past few weeks, but for a while,” Daniel confessed. “You are never present anymore. You are always busy with…everything. I feel like we haven’t really talked since I got back from the continent. Not like we used to.”
Miles’s head popped up. “I know. I feel the same.”
“There is something important I have needed to tell you.”
“Lord, something else?” Miles rolled his eyes. “Tell me.”
“I have a daughter. Her name is Josephine. She is five years old.” It was good to finally say it out loud.
Miles’s jaw dropped open. “Who is the mother? How long have you known about her?”
“Do you remember Phoebe Darlington?” Miles nodded his head. “She discovered she was pregnant after we had parted ways, right after I left for the continent. She has been raising Josie herself. She said she was doing fine until she got sick.”
“But you have been home for two years. How long have you known about the child?”
“Josie. Her name is Josie.”
