was close enough for him to touch. If he dared.
“Yes. Not exactly the way one hopes to meet…someone.”
“No,” he murmured, wondering if “someone” meant the same to her as it did to him. He’d met a friend, certainly, but perhaps more. She had firmly wrapped herself around him and infiltrated his life so that he could scarcely contemplate not having her in it.
“I really am sorry,” she said softly. “It wasn’t just my secret to keep. Selina and I are bound together, and I will protect her with every fiber of my being for all the days of my life. There is no one I love more in this world.”
He could tell, and he understood the emotion. “That is how I feel about my daughter.”
The moment lengthened as the space between them grew less, each of them edging forward. It would be so easy to hold her, to comfort her, to kiss her. He did none of those things.
Keeping his hands disappointingly at his sides, he said, “You’ve been gone an awfully long time. You’ll have been missed.”
She blinked. “Oh my goodness, yes.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Are you coming back to the ball?”
“Probably not. I came to see you, and I have.”
She lowered her hands. “What about the dance? Never mind. You don’t have to answer that. I…understand.” She gave him a small smile. “Goodbye, Tom.”
Then she walked past him and departed the library.
Thomas silently swore. He shouldn’t have let her go. Not without telling her he would dance with her. Now she thought he’d changed his mind about her after learning that she wasn’t who she’d said she was.
And shouldn’t he have? He’d already married a woman who’d turned out to be completely different than he’d thought. He’d hadn’t fallen in love with Thea, but he’d believed the potential was there. After the wedding, measure by measure, she’d shown him her true self. A spiteful, selfish harpy who hated motherhood almost as much as she hated being married to Thomas. Her chief complaint was that he was too staid because he didn’t give her enough money to gamble, and he frowned on her drinking too much. And he complained that she ignored their daughter.
Was it too much for him to have hoped they would have a happy marriage? Apparently so. The worst part was there was nothing he’d wanted more. Like Beatrix, he’d worked for and anticipated something with passionate dedication. He hoped she would not be as disappointed or damaged as he’d been.
But he wasn’t sure he would be there to find out. Now was the perfect time to end their association. There was truly no need to continue it, and she’d already shown him she was capable of misleading him. He didn’t need that in his life, not anymore, no matter how drawn to Beatrix he might be.
And he was. Almost desperately. Her humor, her brightness, her care—all of it combined to make her incredibly alluring.
Against his better judgment, he returned to the ball. Mask in place, he entered the ballroom. He looked out to the dance floor, where they danced a quadrille. He found Beatrix, the vivid blue of her gown standing out amidst the other women. It was more than her gown. She had a radiance that other women simply didn’t possess.
She was dancing with the Earl of Worth. Thomas narrowed his eyes as he watched them. There was no cause to feel jealous. The man was her half brother. In fact, Thomas ought to pity him, for when he found out, he would be vastly disappointed. Poor chap.
“Rockbourne?”
Thomas turned his head at the familiar voice. North, rather, Jeremy Sheffield, the Viscount Northwood, and brother to the groom for whom this ball was held in honor, moved to stand on Thomas’s left.
“How could you tell?” Thomas asked, looking at him askance.
North’s mask only covered his eyes and the upper half of his nose. “I wasn’t sure, but there was something familiar about you and that was my best guess.” His mouth quirked into a wry smile. “It was a risky one, however. Aren’t you in mourning?”
“Somewhat.” He saw no reason to lie. While he was officially mourning, there was no grieving involved. “I received the invitation…before, and I needed to get out.”
“Can’t say that I blame you.”
Thomas continued to watch Beatrix dancing. He tried not to laugh as she trod all over Worth’s toes. Apparently, she was employing the same tactics she’d done the other night.
“Something amusing?” North asked.
“Just watching the