The Affair (Entangled Scandalous) by Lily Maxton Read Free Book Online Page B

enough.
    She took a carriage to Cale’s bookshop, thinking it would be easier to face him where he worked rather than at his home. His townhouse had become something of a sanctuary for her in the past few days. It felt more like a real home than Wycombe Manor ever had.
    She would miss it.
    She would miss him .
    Suddenly, it was difficult to breathe.
    He was bent over a stack of parchment when she stepped into his office. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up, ink stains on his hands. He wore the spectacles she’d seen perched on the desk that first day.
    A little jolt—her heart lurching.
    He looked so vulnerable, and yet masculine at the same time. Studious but strong, and more handsome than she’d ever seen him.
    She made a noise…a whimper of despair, perhaps—that was all she was capable of in that moment—and he glanced up.
    “Elizabeth?” He took the spectacles off and stood, then began to smile. But paused, arrested by whatever he saw in her expression. “Is something amiss?”
    Her hands hung limply in front of her waist, the fingers of one hand circling the wrist of the other. “No,” she said. “I’m well.”
    A tremendous overstatement.
    She couldn’t think of any easy way to say it, so she simply closed her eyes and unleashed the words she’d been dreading. “I won’t visit you tonight. I think—” She swallowed. “I think it’s time to end this.”
    She could have heard a feather drop in the absolute silence that followed. When she finally cracked open her eyes, she saw that he wasn’t looking at her. He was holding himself abnormally still, staring unseeing at a spot near the center of the desk. “Ah. You’re right, of course.” He turned his head to meet her gaze, his face inscrutable.
    “I am?” She’d expected—
    Good Lord, what had she expected? That he would fall to his knees and beg her to stay with him? Even if he didn’t want her to leave, she suspected he would never admit it. He was too used to protecting himself.
    He lifted a negligent shoulder. “It’s best to end these affairs before the passion fades.”
    She felt her face drain of blood. These affairs . She’d known that was all she was to him, all he would allow her to be. But hearing the words aloud was as shocking and overwhelming as being thrown into icy water. “Yes, well you would have more experience with that, wouldn’t you?”
    And there was the bitterness. Whatever happened to a magnanimous exit?
    His voice remained emotionless. “Indeed, I’ve made no secret of it.”
    “No.” And yet, she’d hoped…
    God knew what she’d hoped.
    “Will you marry Thornhill?” he asked politely.
    “Does my choice concern you?” she snapped, feeling waspish.
    “No, I was simply curious.”
    Once he’d argued against the match. Once he’d been emphatic. He was already pulling away, and the pain of it caused a stab in her chest.
    This wasn’t going at all as she’d imagined. “Cale, I—”
    He held up his hand, stopping her. It was probably for the best. She had no idea what embarrassing thing she might have uttered had he not. “I wish you well, Elizabeth.”
    She swallowed past the sudden tightness in her throat. “And I you.”
    She looked at him one last time, and his beautiful, achingly familiar face was that of a stranger, giving away nothing. She forced herself to move. She turned away and counted the steps to the door.
    She actually made it to the front entrance of Cameron’s before tears welled and blurred her vision.
    He didn’t call to her.
    And she didn’t let herself look back.

Chapter Five
    “I cannot marry you, my lord.”
    Lord Thornhill, Michael, set his teacup back on the tray with a soft clank . “May I ask why? I believe we would suit very well.”
    “We would suit very well,” Elizabeth agreed, glancing down at her folded hands before meeting his eyes again. “But for me, there are other considerations. I should have… I shouldn’t have told you I would consider your offer.