friendship or joy.
But Tilly did have those things. In spades. She had them with her friends in the Ladies of Virtue. She had them when she worked to right the injustices of the world.
Abruptly, she stood. “For what it’s worth, Melanie, you should leave Thomas. He’s not only unfaithful but he’s dangerous.” Tilly moved toward the parlor door.
“Where are you going?” Melanie asked.
“This conversation is over.” With that, she left her sister in the room alone. She marched herself straight up to her bedchamber, the one connected to Sullivan’s. But his room was empty, a stark reminder that no matter what Melanie said, Sullivan had left Tilly and their marriage.
Still, the mere mention of him loving her had sprouted hope in her chest as if it were a flower bud about to bloom. Oh, that it were true.
The following week, Tilly was beginning to feel almost like her old self. Before she’d married Sullivan. Before she’d lost her heart to a man who had never truly wanted her. She had thrown herself into her Ladies of Virtue work and had much to report at today’s meeting.
In addition to her work, she’d tried convincing herself that eventually she wouldn’t miss Sullivan. That someday her heart wouldn’t break at the mere mention of his name. She had been the worst sort of fool to have fallen in love with her husband. She’d fancied herself in love once before and she’d healed. Of course, this was entirely different, she knew that. Still, she allowed herself to pretend that one day she’d have her heart back and wholly intact.
The meeting started and when it came time for the reports, Tilly stood and detailed all of the thieves she’d caught that week. All of that had ultimately led her to bringing three orphans to an orphanage where they’d no longer be forced to work for a cruel man who took advantage of hungry children. She suspected part of her success was that the good weather was bringing everyone outside to wander the streets and shop which, in turn, brought out the criminals eager to relieve unsuspecting shoppers of their pretty baubles. Everyone applauded and then it was someone else’s turn.
Tilly tried to pay attention to what her fellow members were saying, but her mind kept wandering. Then a commotion came from the corridor outside their meeting parlor.
“Yes, my lord, but they are in the middle of a meeting,” the butler was saying.
Then the door opened and a very haggard-looking Sullivan barged into the room. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on her.
She came to her feet. “What are you doing here?” she asked before she could think better of it.
“It occurred to me that we never finished the argument about my brother. Did he actually say he knew you’d confessed your feelings?” he asked.
“What?” She shook her head in confusion. “You came back to London and interrupted this meeting to argue with me?”
“Answer the question, Freckles.”
“No, but he said he knew that I had feelings for him long ago. How else would he have known that?”
“I don’t know. But definitely not because I ever said anything. I kept your secret. Damnation, Tilly, I never wanted him to know.”
“Why?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Because I wanted you for myself.”
Her heart hammered and her breathing stuttered. “What?”
“You were so earnest in your affections for him. And Thomas has always been a selfish and manipulative arse. We’ve never really gotten along well. I hated that he could have earned such a sweet confession from you.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it, repeating the motion several times until she was certain she must look like a fish. “You never indicated you were interested in courting me.”
He rubbed his hand at the back of his neck. “That’s because I had no intention of doing so. I never wanted to marry.”
She bristled.
“I was in the middle of fighting a war. There were no guarantees I would have returned.”
Any hurtful response she might have conjured dried on her tongue. The thought of Sullivan dying didn’t settle well with her. Frankly, the mere thought of losing him that way made her throat tighten and her heart ache.
He took a step closer to her. “But all those years when I was fighting in India, I never forgot about you. I never stopped wanting you. Even when I came back and you obviously didn’t like or trust me, I still wanted you.”
Several of the women sighed audibly.
“I came back to London