Two months, eight days, seven hours… Randall
CHAPTER 22
Phillip had been out of London for two months, eight days, and seven hours. It had been two months, eight days, and seven hours since he had walked out of the Norfolk ducal mansion. Two months, eight days, and seven hours since he had seen Eden Norfolk. Two months, eight days, and seven hours since he had kissed her lips, or smelled her amazing, unique smell that was so intrinsically hers.
And he missed the bloody hell out of her. He missed her smile, her laugh, her eyes, her spectacles, and her lips, especially after he had kissed them and when he was kissing them. He missed her wit and humor, and her rejoinders. He just plain missed her.
He was such a fool to think that for one moment he could let her go. What a stupid idiot he had been? When she had tried to seduce him in her home, he had been scared. HIM?? It was completely unfathomable. He was terrified that he would hurt her somehow, so he ran as fast and as far as he could get.
Apparently, that was his country estate. Once there, he found that he had work to do. So, he stayed there. His mother had surprisingly carried on in London, Phillip thought that she would have returned to the country, but she did not. He found that he was a trifle lonely.
He also missed his sisters, of all things. Something he never in a million years expected to admit and still probably would never tell them. He couldn’t imagine the excessively large heads they would get if he did. But none of this could compare to what he felt for Eden.
He had thought himself to be a bit in love, or maybe half way. What a horse’s arse he had turned out to be. He was inequitably, irrevocably, undeniably in love with Eden Norfolk.
Some might ask how he knew. On the second month, seventh day in the country, one of the buxom maids stripped down naked and tried to climb in bed with him. Phillip almost felt like he was being raped. Never had he felt so dirty or disloyal to Eden, and he hadn’t done anything.
He realized then that he was nothing like his father. So back to the city Phillip returned. Surely Eden would take him back. He longed for her, needed her, and loved her. Things would be happily ever after, and life would be grand.
*****
Eden laughed breathlessly as she was swung daringly about in a rather risqué waltzing position.
“I am not sure this is quite the thing, Lord Moberly!”
Daniel grinned down at her, “Are you complaining, my darling girl?”
“Never!” she smiled cheekily up at him.
And he laughed delightedly as he continued to dance with her.
“I do wish that you would call me Daniel and allow me to call you Eden,” Daniel asked her when the music ended, his breath tickling her ear.
“Then you would not call me such lovely things, and Eden is so very boring.”
His burst of amused laughter turned several heads, “Have it your way, dear heart.”
“Oh, you know I will.” She winked at him going back to her fellow Bluebells who were surrounded by all the rakes in London.
Before she could rest her aching feet, another hand grasped her elbow.
“I do believe the next dance is mine,” Benjamin lightly caressed the inside of her arm.
Eden quirked her brow, “Do you now?”
“Please tell me you haven’t forgotten. I know that I am one of many beaus, but surely I mean more to you than that,” he pretended to be wounded.
“Lord Shore, you will always be one of my very favorites,” Eden smiled at him while taking his arm.
“You aren’t just saying that?” he grinned at her, setting them up for the next dance.
Eden squeezed his hand before starting the dance, and, in truth, they danced beautifully together as they had many times. They laughed and joked, enjoying every moment until it was time for her to return to the side.
When she returned, Daniel’s brother Sinclair tried to get her to stand up with him, but her feet were truly tired.
“Can we have a turn in the garden, Sin?” she asked hopefully.
“I guess that depends on whether you are going to try and take advantage of me or not,” he teased.
“Of course, I am,” she acted offended. “It’s like you do not know me at all.”
“Lord, love you,” Sin laughed along with several other males in attendance. “Why won’t you just say yes to my proposal? I really want to marry you.”
Unfortunately, it was these words that Phillip walked in hearing.
*****
Phillip felt his heart drop through his feet. Had Sinclair Moberly just proposed to Eden Norfolk?
“What in the hell is going on here?” he blurted out. A little bit too loud, a little bit too angry.
Everyone turned and looked at him. Eden was as white as a sheet. No one moved: it was as if time stood still.
Phillip couldn’t stand it. He walked up closer. “Why is Sinclair asking you to marry him?”
Eden couldn’t speak. Phillip was here, now? After two months of being who knows where, he shows up expecting answers?
Sinclair turned to Eden, “Do you still want to take that turn in the garden?”
Eden nodded, “Yes, please.”
Phillip didn’t want her going anywhere with anyone else, “I don’t think so.”
But when he tried to put a hand out to stop them, she gave him a look so tortured and confused, - it stopped him in his tracks.
Just what in the hell had transpired in the last two months? He wondered.