Benedict's Challenge - Carole Mortimer Page 0,39

because of that my aunt and uncle held me responsible for my parents’ deaths and no longer wished to have anything to do with me.”

“I will kill the bastard!” Benedict grated furiously.

“Calm down, old friend.” Julius’s hand came to rest briefly on one of Benedict’s rigid shoulders. He turned to Chloe. “You should, by rights, be a very independently wealthy young lady.”

“I cannot believe anyone could be so deliberately deceptive and cruel to another!” Chloe pulled away from Benedict to turn away and bury her face in her hands as she sobbed in earnest.

“Benedict, James and I will go into the sitting room and leave the two of you alone to talk further,” Julius said softly. “We can discuss the best way of dealing with Lord Gordon once emotions are calmer and the situation can be looked at logically.”

Benedict waited until he heard the click of the door closing behind the two men before speaking again. “Chloe, look at me please?” he encouraged gently.

Her lids remained closed, her lashes feather soft against her cheeks. “I am shocked, most of all that Lord Gordon could have lied about my death to my parents’ solicitor and to me in regard to my aunt and uncle no longer wishing to have anything to do with me,” she admitted shakily. “It was doubly cruel of him, when I had only just lost my parents.”

“Chloe, look at me,” he instructed in a firmer tone, waiting until she had done so before speaking again. “Your aunt and uncle love you and have, I understand from Julius, grieved for all of you these past two years. Your parents obviously loved you deeply and had expected that your aunt and uncle would be here to take care of you if or when they could not be here to do so. I—I care for you too, Chloe,” he admitted huskily.

She gave a shaky smile. “You have, as I previously stated, been nothing but kind to me. When I left Surrey without saying so much as a thank-you or goodbye to you, I behaved abominably toward you. I beg you to please forgive me, Benedict.” The tears continued to fall unchecked down the pallor of her cheeks even after he had nodded and smiled that forgiveness. “I believe I acted that way because I wished not to be present if your friend the earl had discovered and then told you of the circumstances of my parents’ deaths and the part I played in that. I could not—could not bear to see your face once you realized my selfishness was responsible for them having died in the carriage accident.”

Benedict was unsure how he felt about Chloe not responding to his announcement that he cared for her.

Or whether her having ignored the declaration meant she did not care for him in the same way? Or if he had not been clear enough as to the depths of his feelings for her.

That is because telling Chloe I care for her is not the declaration of love it should have been, a voice mocked inside his head.

Benedict had never told any woman he loved her, other than his sister, Beatrix, and a fraternal affection was not the same type of love that he now felt toward Chloe.

This was an all-consuming love. One which made him want to hold Chloe close to his heart and never let her out of his sight ever again.

This was also, Benedict acknowledged heavily, not the time to tell her of those feelings. He very much doubted that right now, she would see such a declaration as anything more than pity and a desire on his part to keep her safe and out of Lord Gordon’s clutches.

Coward.

Perhaps it was cowardly of him not to press his point, Benedict conceded self-disgustedly, but for the moment, he truly believed he served Chloe better by being her friend rather than her lover.

Chloe’s heart had skipped several beats when Benedict told her he cared for her, but as he did not follow it up with a deeper declaration, she could only assume he meant to reassure her of his continued friendship, no matter what other revelations his friend the earl should make.

To have Benedict continue to be her friend was more than she could ever have hoped for.

Especially so when she knew she loved him with every particle of her being.

Chapter Fourteen

“No!” Benedict protested loudly, his scowl encompassing Chloe as well as the other two gentlemen in the room. “I forbid it,” he added