The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(54)

Irena shook her head. “Never. But she envied me.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t carry the same burden she did. Her entire life was about securing a husband she didn’t want just to please my parents.”

“And when she died, that burden fell to you.”

Irena avoided his eyes but nodded. His hand found hers. “Talk to me, my love. Trust me.”

She met his eyes. “She felt guilty for falling ill. Before she died, she made me promise that I would never marry for anything less than true love.”

Benedict sat up slowly until their faces were inches from each other. “And did you?”

Time moved in hour-long seconds as he stared at her mouth, waiting for her answer.

A discreet throat-clearing sent them jumping apart, as if they’d been once again caught in a compromising position. Of course, they were married now, so there was no need to be embarrassed, but Irena’s cheeks blazed all the same.

Benedict turned toward the intrusion. Benedict’s longtime butler lingered several feet away. “What is it, Isaiah?”

“My lord, I apologize. A rider from Ebberfield has arrived with urgent news.”

Ebberfield was the name of the Latford estate in Dorset.

“What kind of news?” Benedict asked, tense.

“It is Rosendale. He’s been in a terrible accident.”

Her husband’s body went rigid. “I’ll go at once.”

Irena placed a hand on his arm. “I’ll go with you.”

“No. You’ll slow me down.”

“I am a better rider than you are, my lord.”

“Irena, please,” he said, suddenly every bit the lordly earl. “I command you as your husband to stay here.”

His words were a cold slap. She stepped back, hands trembling.

Benedict cursed and closed the distance between them. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. His hand dove into the loose curls at the back of her neck and drew her forward. His mouth was on hers before she had time to react. It was a hard, desperate kiss, and when he pulled back, it was only far enough to move his lips to her forehead. “Forgive me, but there are things I cannot talk to you about right now.”

Then he turned and left her.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN




“I can’t believe you’re actually going to do this.”

On Tuesday night, the sound of Liv’s voice in the door of her bathroom made Thea jump as she put on mascara. A half-moon of brown polka dots appeared under her right eye. Great. Not that she cared how she looked. It wasn’t like this was a real first date. It was a technicality. A part of their deal.

Thea cleaned up the mascara mistake with a cotton swab and decided good enough was as good as it was going to get. She stepped back and surveyed the final results in the mirror. OK, so slightly more than good enough.

“When all else fails, show a little leg, huh?” Liv snarked.

“I know you didn’t just quote our mother to me.”

Liv plopped down on the bed. “I’m just saying that you’re putting in a lot of effort for a man who you’re not trying to impress.”

Thea stepped into her black patent heels. “It’s just a stupid dress.”

“That says, Press me up a wall and do me, big boy.”

“It says, Aren’t you the one who talked me into buying this last week?”

“Yeah, but that was before I knew he’d blackmailed you into going on a date.”

A quiet throat clearing in the doorway brought their heads around in guilty, no-we-absolutely-weren’t-talking-about-you swivels.

“Ready?” Gavin asked with a yes-I-know-you-were-talking-about-me quirk of his lips.

Thea tried to answer, but all that came out was a little squeak, because damn. Her husband cleaned up good. He wore a pair of dark gray twills she’d never seen before but seemed to have literally been tailor-made for him. She’d also never seen that shirt before—a plain, slate-blue button-down that fit just tightly enough to tug over his shoulders and biceps. He had the sleeves rolled up to reveal muscular forearms. She mentally fanned herself. Men should spend more time developing their forearms. They had no idea the impact a flex of that hair-dusted whatever muscle that was right there could have on a woman.

“You look nice,” he said.

“So do you.”

“New dress?”

“Yes. New shirt?”

“Yep.”

“I like it.”

“This is your cue to get out, Liv,” he said without taking his eyes off Thea.

“And this is your cue to—”

“Liv,” Thea admonished. Her sister pursed her lips and scooted off the bed.

Gavin moved into the room with a smile that seemed almost bashful. “W-where’s your purse?”

“On the dresser. Why?”

He pulled a folded bandana from his pocket. “Because you need to put this in it.”

“Um, should I be afraid?”

He answered with a slightly less bashful smile. “You’ll see.”

Downstairs, they kissed the girls, dodged dog slobber, and told Liv not to show the twins any stupid YouTube videos. She said she couldn’t make any promises and then shooed them out the door.