Once Upon a Temptingly Ruinous Kiss - Bree Wolf Page 0,53
Phineas suddenly remarked from behind him, “one ready to send out bolts of lightning at the next unsuspecting fool to venture outside.” His old friend stepped up to him and they stood shoulder to shoulder, their eyes directed at the dance floor and Lady Leonora. “She seems tense,” Phineas remarked with a sidelong glance at Drake. “And yes, different from the way she did this past year.”
Drake could hear a question in his friend’s voice. “Did your wife send you here?”
Phineas chuckled, and he glanced over to where his new wife was watching them most intently. “She can be most impatient,” he remarked affectionately. “Especially when she is worried about one she loves.”
Drake nodded. He had seen the way the new Lady Barrington occasionally looked at him. He had seen the hint of suspicion in her eyes. Clearly, she did not trust him, not where her sister’s welfare was concerned. He wondered if it was something he had done or if it was a natural distrust, something that was part of who she was. “What does she want to know?”
“Well, quite frankly, she wants to know what is going on between you and her sister,” Phineas told him quietly, careful that his voice would not carry to another’s ears. “After all, we watched Leonora slip over to your house on our wedding day, and ever since it seems that Leonora spends many afternoons absent her family’s townhouse with rather unusual explanations provided by their grandmother.” He chuckled, casting a wicked grin at Drake. “From personal experience, I can tell you that Grandma Edie has her very own ideas of right and wrong. She is not above condoning certain behavior if she believes it will lead to a greater good for her family.”
Drake shifted his gaze to where the dowager countess sat snoozing in a chair.
“Did she speak to you?” Phineas inquired as he moved to face Drake more directly, his eyes watchful. “Truth be told, the old lady supported my pursuit of her granddaughter long before Louisa came to look upon it favorably.”
Drake frowned. “What do you mean?”
Raking a hand through his hair, Phineas laughed, disbelief in his eyes. “What I mean is that apparently Grandma Edie had decided that I was the one for Louisa long before Louisa herself came to look at me that way.” His gaze narrowed as he looked at Drake. “I was simply wondering if perhaps Grandma Edie has had similar thoughts about you.” His brows rose in challenge. “Has she spoken to you? Encouraged you to seek out Leonora?”
Drake once more glanced at the snoozing dowager. “She did speak to me once. At the Christmas house party. She asked my opinion of Lord Gillingham and whether or not I considered him suitable for Lady Leonora.”
Beside him, Phineas laughed. “I believe, old friend, Grandma Edie has set her sights on you, which I admit makes me wonder.”
Drake could not say that he liked his old friend’s inquisitiveness. “About what?”
Phineas looked over at the dance floor to where Lady Leonora was still engaged with Lord Sedgwick, her face rather stoic and her movements stiff. “I wonder what is truly going on between the two of you. After all, Grandma Edie was right about Louisa and myself. Perhaps she’s right about you two as well.” He frowned. “She does come to you when she vanishes from home, does she not?”
Drake looked at Phineas carefully, then gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“I see,” Phineas mumbled, casting another glance in his wife’s direction. “And if I might inquire, what do you do?” His brows rose, and Drake detected no small measure of suspicion in his friend’s eyes.
Drake crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his friend. “Do you truly believe that I would take advantage of her after everything she has been through? Is that the kind of man you think I am?”
Again, Phineas laughed. Drake could not say he cared for the reaction. “I must say your defensiveness speaks volumes, old friend. No, of course, I do not believe you are taking advantage of her. However, it is most obvious that there is something between the two of you. You watch her like a hawk, and whenever she is most nervous, her eyes inevitably search for you. The moment she sees you, a new calm falls over her. Have you not noticed?”
Drake felt a sudden urge to avert his eyes but knew that doing so would only confirm Phineas’ thoughts. “She looks to me for reassurance,” he