Always the Rival (Never the Bride #7) - Emily E K Murdoch Page 0,61

possibly know that,” he said dismissively.

Priscilla hesitated, and Charles’ curiosity grew. “Actually, I do.”

He instinctively reached out to grab her arm. “How can you say that? How can you possibly know how Miss Lloyd feels about me? You hardly know her!”

She pulled her arm away swiftly but did not meet his gaze. “You forget. The Donal wedding.”

Charles stared. Yes, she had mentioned they had spoken, but only briefly. This felt all wrong. The two worlds that he had worked so hard to keep separate were colliding, right in front of his eyes. Priscilla and Miss Lloyd, having a conversation?

“Remember, I told you that I spoke with her at the Donal wedding, those weeks ago,” Priscilla said, her gaze still not meeting his. “It was strange, actually, the way we met was…and we started talking about you, and we came to realize that…”

Her voice trailed away at this point.

“What?” Charles breathed. “What did you realize? You only mentioned having spoken to her. You did not say you had poured out your hearts to each other!”

“That I loved you, and she did not,” said Priscilla simply. “And it seemed, well, so obvious at the time. If she did not care for you and I did, then surely this marriage business was the wrong way around. And Miss Lloyd agreed and…well. My idea to rival her, that I mentioned to you. I arranged it with her. She does not want to marry you any more than you wish to marry her, and so I thought…”

Her voice trailed away from the instant she looked up and saw Charles’s face.

This could not be happening – but then, it made so much sense.

“It is not enough, then,” he managed to say in a low voice, “that I have betrayed Miss Lloyd by loving you – a woman, mark you, who has done me no real ill – but now I have to discover from you, the woman I actually love, that she has no feelings for me at all? Thinks so little of me, in fact, that she considers me a plaything for others? Thinks I am so foolish, so inconsequential, that she will happily authorize you to play with my heart?”

“I did not play with your heart!” she said. “You were the one who said you would marry me and break off your engagement and then changed your mind! You were the one who entered that bedchamber!”

But Charles was too furious to pay attention to her words. All this time, he had been berating himself for betraying Miss Lloyd, for treating her terribly, and she had probably been laughing at him this entire time!

“I was a fool to think you cared for me,” he spat. “This is – this is just a strange jest on your part!”

“What?” Now Priscilla was looking as though she did not know him. “You really think I would take a joke so far as to lose my innocence?”

Charles was too fired up with anger to hear her words. “I should never have touched you.”

A tear fell from Priscilla’s eye, but Charles hardened himself to it. He could not forget the truth: Priscilla knew Miss Lloyd did not care for him. She could have ruined everything, she could have ended the engagement that was going to save his family!

And his heart was broken. He could not tell her, could not admit to that weakness. But he loved her, and when he had loved her with every inch of his body, he had felt truly connected to her.

“And I should never have let you!” Priscilla hissed. “Not only because you lied to me and clearly had no intention of marrying me, but it has broken apart and destroyed our friendship, to boot!”

There they stood, both breathing a little heavily, staring at each other.

After a minute, Charles sighed. “Where did it all go wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“Three weeks ago, we were friends. Now it feels as though you cannot stand to be in my presence.”

She shook her head. “Being…” Her voice broke. “Being around you hurts.”

Damn and blast, it was a disaster. Charles could never have predicted this, could never have known his passion for Priscilla would lead to this: lies, betrayal, teasing, and yet still after it all, he still had to marry Miss Lloyd.

“I cannot change the past,” he began.

“But you can change the future,” Priscilla interrupted. “The power rests with you to change the future, and you are choosing not to!”

Charles tried to regain control of the conversation. “My family