Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Really, I’m fine. You don’t need to fuss.”
“Just say ‘thank you’ like a normal person,” he retorted firmly. “You’re clearly not all right. Have you met that woman before? Lady Lillia?”
I gazed out at the gardens. “No. If I had, I doubt the baroness would have introduced us so formally.”
“Really? Because you were perfectly fine until you saw her, then you went as white as a sheet.”
Great.
So much for keeping my composure.
“I thought she was someone else at first,” I lied. “I had a troubling incident as a child with someone who looked like her, but thankfully it wasn’t the same person. The memory made me pause for a moment, that’s all.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”
“I won’t pin you down and force you to believe me, Kalon.” I clenched my fists in my skirt, thankful for his cape hiding the movement. “Unlike the girl in my past, she seems nice, doesn’t she?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked at him, only to see him staring intently at me. “What?”
“She reminds me of every other young lady who debuts and seeks to gain the attention of young men higher in stature than themselves,” he said, leaning against the ornate stone balustrade and folding his arms across his chest. “I can’t say she strikes me as particularly special.”
No way. “You don’t think so? She’s quite beautiful.”
“Young, attractive blonde ladies are relatively common in that ballroom.”
Hmph. Where did he get off calling other women attractive?
“She doesn’t… I don’t know. She felt quite different to everyone else, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps it’s because you were thrown off by your past experience with someone similar to her,” he said darkly. “But no. In fact, she was rather rude by greeting me first.”
I wrinkled up my nose. “Not really. Etiquette states you greet the higher-ranked person first, and that’s you.”
“Unless when introductions are being made or the lower-ranked individual is leading the conversation as you were. Baroness Kilgard specifically introduced your name first, so it would have been proper for Lady Lillia to greet you before me.” He tilted his head to the side. “By not doing so, she made her intentions clear.”
“What intentions?”
“Allie, I’m not a fool. Just because I didn’t care for any of the marriage proposals that I received doesn’t mean I’m unable to recognise when a woman is interested in me.”
Right.
Of course.
“You noticed it, too?” My words came out far grumpier than I wanted them to.
“Oh, dear.” The corners of his mouth curled up. “Is my Allie jealous?”
My Allie.
My Allie.
My Allie.
My stupid heart pounded against my ribs as those two words echoed in my mind. “Don’t flatter yourself so.”
Kalon walked across the terrace, then gripped the balustrade behind my chair and bent down until his face was directly in front of mine. “You can admit it, you know.”
“I’m not jealous,” I said hotly, feeling warmth rise in my cheeks.
“You asked a lot of questions about her for someone who isn’t jealous. What I think of her shouldn’t matter unless you care, isn’t that right?”
“I was merely making conversation.”
“Then should I go back in there and speak to her some more? Perhaps she’d blush at me again if I asked her to dance.”
Oh.
That was how he wanted to play it.
“If that’s what you want to do, then you’re free to do as you wish,” I replied, jerking my face away so I didn’t have to look into his stupid eyes anymore. “I shan’t stop you.”
“Very well. I’ll do that, then.”
Fine.
Go.
Big fat stupid head.
Kalon hesitated for a moment before straightening up and stepping back. His steps towards the door were slow, almost as if he was expecting me to tell him not to do it, but I kept my gaze trained firmly in the opposite direction.
This was fine.
This was okay.
This was what I wanted after all, right? I wanted him to fall for her so I could break free of this engagement and go and live a long, happy life that didn’t include any death flags for me.
Being involved with this love triangle would only bring me heartache.
There was something about the way Lillia had looked at me that drilled that home for me. She’d smiled, but it was devoid of all warmth, and there’d been a spark of dislike in her gaze that had seemed too deep for it to be just based on a fictional knowledge.
So, Kalon could just go, and—
No.
He couldn’t.
I didn’t want her to have him.
She didn’t deserve him. Maybe I didn’t either, and maybe if I got to my feet right now and tried to stop him, I would regret it later.
But I’d also regret letting him go to her right now.
I jumped to my feet and rushed across the terrace, yanking open the door, only to run right into the same richly adorned jacket that’d been in my face just a moment ago.