the kiss then, her head falling back as a soft cry escaped her lips. And all he could think of was sinking into her, of feeling the welcoming heat of her body when he took her. That was when he knew it had gone too far already. He was not in control of himself as he needed to be, and he would not be the man to take her on the hard ground, freezing in the cool evening air and risking discovery at every sound.
Reluctantly and with far more difficulty than he’d ever imagined, Algernon pulled back from her. “You must go, Percy. While I have the strength to let you, you must go.”
Her expression shifted from confusion to hurt. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” he said. “Never. But I very nearly did.” He didn’t wait any longer. He simply rose to his feet and pulled her up with him. Quickly and with an economy of movement, he ushered her through the gate and back into her own yard, locking it behind her. It was a gesture not to keep her out but one to keep him in, to remind him that it was his duty to protect her, even from himself.
“I’m sorry,” she uttered softly. “I don’t know—I should never have behaved so improperly.”
Algernon sighed, resting his forehead against the rough wood of the gate. “You did nothing wrong. I swear it. But please, go inside. I won’t see you again until Saturday at the ball.”
Percy stood there in the garden for the longest time. She heard his footsteps fade into silence. Still, she remained there wondering what she had done. Had her forwardness put him off her entirely? Or, another terrible thought, had his interest never been real to start?
Too despondent to even consider the possibility, she turned and retreated to the house. As she entered, she found Daphne waiting for her. Her sister stood on the backstairs, a place in the house she’d likely never seen before.
“I see you’ve been having a little tryst with our neighbor,” her sister observed with a smirk. “I certainly hope you didn’t let things go too far. If you become a scandal… well, I don’t know where in the world you’d go then! Do you know, Persephone?”
“I imagine it would be anywhere but here,” Percy answered coolly. “What are you doing, Daphne? Spying on me?”
“I own this house… and that means I have a responsibility to make sure the inhabitants of it are behaving properly. Sneaking off for a late night rendezvous with a man you hardly know is far from proper, sister.”
“It’s barely dusk. And he has honorable intentions,” Percy fired back. Or he did.
Daphne’s smirk turned cruel. It was an expression Percy knew well. She’d seen it when Daphne had announced her engagement to James Fennelworth. She’d seen it dozens of times in her life, any time her sister took something from her that she wanted.
“Did you know he’d been jilted by his lover recently?” Daphne asked coyly. “After two years! Poor man. He proposed to Lady Sheffield and she gave him his walking papers so that she could set her sights on a duke instead.”
She hadn’t known. The piercing, bitter sting of jealousy was a hard thing to bear, but it was made so much worse by the thought that Daphne would enjoy any sign of her pain. “It hardly matters. He is entitled to his secrets and to have lived his life how he saw fit in the past.”
Daphne nodded. “Certainly. I have it on great authority that he adored her. Worshipped her even. And that she will be a guest at the Viscountess Holland’s ball on Saturday… Do you think she was in on it? Lady Holland, that is.”
“In on what?” Percy demanded.
“Why, the plan to make Lady Sheffield jealous! Surely, sister dear, you must see that all of this attention to you… getting you a gown to wear—and yes I knew about that—courting you and making you fall in love with him! It’s all a ruse, Persephone. He wants to waltz you around that ballroom as you gaze adoringly up at him. Because Lady Sheffield might have tossed him away, but like any cat, she’ll want her toy back when someone else thinks to play with it!”
Percy felt the color draining from her face. But she didn’t let loose with the sob that was building inside her. It felt like the truth. And that’s what hurt most of all. Whether she was getting all the