The Secret Wallflower Society - Jillian Eaton Page 0,53
reply, there was a light knock on the door, and a maid stepped into the parlor.
“There’s someone here to see you,” she said.
Helena struggled not to curse when she watched all the blood drain from Percy’s countenance and fear flood into her eyes.
At last they’d been making some progress. A step, however small, in the right direction. And now, with a simple knock, it felt as if they were back at the beginning.
If only mental scars could heal as quickly as physical ones, Percy and Helena would be a great deal improved. For didn’t Helena still glance over her shoulder every time she walked past a Bow Street Runner? And wasn’t there a part of her that always waited and wondered if today would be the day that Runner stopped and arrested her?
More than two years, and she still held her breath.
More than two years, and she still felt guilt.
Not for the act itself. That she would never regret. But for hiding it. For keeping it secret. For letting everyone, even her closest friends, believe the Earl of Cambridge had died of a heart attack.
As if he’d ever had a heart to begin with.
If her hidden scars hadn’t healed in two years, she could hardly expect Percy’s to vanish in two months. It was pure ignorance to believe otherwise. And yet, she still had hope. Because if Percy could find a way to rid herself of her ghosts and her demons, then perhaps, so too could Helena.
“It’s all right,” she told the duchess, lightly touching her arm. “No harm is going to come to you here. You’ve my word.” It wasn’t an idle promise. Helena kept a small pistol in her bedchamber, and she knew exactly how to use it. Glastonbury could come looking for his missing wife, but he wouldn’t be leaving with her.
Of that, Helena was certain.
“Would you mind being more specific, please?” she asked the maid pointedly.
The servant blushed. She, along with the rest of the household staff, had been informed that the Duchess of Glastonbury was a very special, very discreet guest, and if anyone came looking for her, they were to be detained in the music room and Helena was to be notified at once. “Of course, my lady. I – I should have said there is someone here to see the Countess of Cambridge. My sincerest apologies for any confusion.”
“See?” Helena told Percy as she stood up. “They’re here to see me, not you. I’ll be back in just a minute.” She wagged her finger at her friend, whose color was slowly returning. “No peeking at my cards.”
Squaring her shoulders, she walked out of the parlor and into the foyer where sunlight glinted off the marble tiles. In the middle of the oval shaped room stood a man with his back to her. From what little she could see of him, he was sharply dressed, with broad shoulders, a glossy mane of chestnut brown hair, and a very well-shaped arse.
She’d always liked a man with a well-shaped arse.
“Can I help you?” she said, smiling politely.
“I think you can,” he replied as he slowly turned around.
Helena’s smile faded as her gaze narrowed and recognition dawned, swift and terrible. She knew those blue eyes, cold and piercing. She knew that face, all rawboned and filled with angles. She knew that nose, long and slightly crooked near the middle, the only imperfection in an otherwise flawless countenance. She knew those brows, thick and slashing above sweeping black lashes that were longer than any man deserved to have. Especially this one.
He was Stephen Darby.
The Earl of Cambridge.
The Viscount Ware.
And her worst enemy.
“Get the hell out of here,” she hissed, advancing on him with clenched fists as her entire body started to vibrate with barely suppressed rage. Stephen was lucky she was not in possession of her pistol, because she wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot him in the heart. Not that it would have done much good, because like his father before him he didn’t have a heart.
“Now, now,” Stephen said, making a tsking sound under his breath. “Is that any way to greet your benefactor?”
Chapter Five
Stephen took immense pleasure in watching all of the color disappear from Helena’s high cheekbones. This was what he’d waited for. This was what he’d wanted. To witness her anger and humiliation when she understood he was the one who had given her everything…and he was the one who was going to take it all away.