The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,76

others. “I need another moment with Celeste.”

He motioned her toward the window and she followed, her heart throbbing, for she had no idea what he was going to say. He folded his arms across his chest. His lips were pursed and he looked down at her with what was clearly frustration.

“I want you to understand that I hear what you’re saying,” he began. “And I don’t entirely dismiss it. I will look into Rosie Stanton, as well as into the notion that…well, I suppose you are saying that someone is framing Abigail.”

Celeste’s lips parted. That was what she was saying. She just hadn’t fully processed that utterly terrifying prospect until that moment. “Y-Yes.”

“However,” he continued. “I cannot dismiss a suspect just because we all like her.”

“Owen—”

“I do like her,” he interrupted. “I do. But the simplest answer is often the right one. So I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“You would destroy her,” Celeste whispered, though there was no heat to the accusation. She knew Owen didn’t want this any more than she did or Pippa did or, it seemed, Gilmore did.

“I wouldn’t desire to.” Owen sighed, and now his gaze darted away from her. “Also…I-I don’t think it is a good idea if you help me with the investigation anymore.”

She stared at him in shock. “What?”

“You have been of great assistance,” he said. “I don’t say that to placate you—I mean it sincerely. But you are emotionally compromised, Celeste. I suppose you always were, but I was selfish and I wanted you near. I wanted what you knew and I wanted…I wanted you. But I shouldn’t have let my own…my own feelings keep me from protecting you. I must do it now. It would be dangerous to let you continue.”

She could hardly breathe as she gaped at him. His smile was long gone, his dimple faded into his cheek as he frowned and dodged her gaze. She no longer felt that pulsing pull that always charged the air between them. That fact made her question it entirely. Had she misread him entirely? Did the fact that she had never felt truly loved made her mistake any attention as that emotion? At least from his side.

The love she felt for him was real. But now it burned inside of her, more powerful than any grief she’d ever felt. She wanted to run away from that pain, to run away from him.

So she pivoted on her heel and stalked away from him without answering him. Pippa’s expression softened in what was dangerously close to pity as Celeste reached her and the duke.

“We have come to deliver the information we meant to,” Celeste said. “And Mr. Gregory would like us to go.”

“That isn’t—” he began.

She held up a hand without looking back at him. “Do not trouble yourself. I understood your meaning completely. Good day, Your Grace,” she said with a quick nod for the duke. She slid her arm through Pippa’s and made from the door. “Good day, Mr. Gregory.”

Pippa called out her own farewells and then staggered after Celeste in the hallway. “Dearest, what is going on?”

Celeste caught her breath in a great gasp as they reached the foyer and Cookson rushed to have their carriage brought around. “He—he doesn’t want me. He says I am compromised and can no longer assist him.”

Pippa’s lips parted. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you,” she whispered.

Celeste ignored that statement as their carriage arrived and they were helped up into the vehicle. They settled in and the carriage moved into the busy streets.

“Celeste,” Pippa said.

“I have never been good at…understanding people’s hearts,” Celeste choked out. “I can often read their motives or guess their next action, but when it comes to how they feel, especially how they feel about me, I do not feel that I have a clear vision.”

Pippa tilted her head. “You cannot see that Owen Gregory cares deeply for you? That he is likely in love with you?”

Those words were like arrows and they found their mark in Celeste’s heart. But they did not solve the problem at hand, not even in the smallest way.

“He might love me,” she whispered. “I have sometimes felt that he did, and I would be lucky to have the heart of such a man.”

“He would be lucky to have you,” Pippa insisted.

Celeste smiled at the correction and continued, “But I think until this case is resolved I will never be able to parse out what part of him truly loves me and