Work Text:
Anthony was an early riser on most days and today had been no different. Unlike the other days, however, he awoke with an unsettling sense of worry and most likely shock, still reeling himself in from yesterday morning’s incident. The overwhelming fear that had overtaken him as Miss Sharma was hurt, that her life had been threatened by the sting of a bee, just as his father’s had many years ago. He saw her short life flash before his eyes; a life of which he was resigned to not being part. He had been unsteady the entire day, which had continued to disturb him even in the night.
Turning to his side and looking at his father’s pocket watch at his bedside table, he groggily decided to awake for the day, even before the sun had broken in the sky, figuring it would be futile to try and go back to sleep. He was certain that some fresh air would do him good before he would have to come back in and finish some work in his study.
The soft light of the breaking dawn shone upon his face as he walked around the abundant flower beds of his mother’s garden at Aubrey Hall. The morning dew bounced upon his boots, not yet dry from the beginning heat of the morning sun. He sauntered through the lawn, observing his surroundings. His large ears perked up as he heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance, pounding into the ground. Anthony turned around swiftly to try and catch the rider, hope crawling up from his chest. He quickly deflated as he saw his stablehand, John, atop the copper colored mare that usually belonged to his sister. John recognized him and hopped down from the horse as he approached Anthony.
“Good morning, my lord,” he greeted Anthony.
Anthony nodded his head. “Taking her for a ride this morning?”
“Yes, poor Emmeline here seemed a little restive in the stalls and I wanted to take her out to ease her a bit. I guess the past couple of days, she has had Miss Sharma take her for a morning trot, but I have not seen Miss Sharma yet this morning. It seems she may be occupied,” John informed him. “Were you headed to the stables? Should I saddle up Regulus for you?”
“No. No need,” Anthony declined. “I was just taking a quick stroll before I head back in to finish some work. Good day then.”
“Good day then, my lord,” John said before he stepped back towards Emmeline.
After bidding farewell, Anthony trudged back to the house feeling crestfallen. It was not that he was waiting for someone or hoping to see anyone this morn. He managed to convince himself that it would only be for precautionary reasons if he happened to stumble upon Miss Sharma. He would not want an incident like yesterday morning with the bee sting, or what happened afterwards, to transpire again.
That was the only reason.
Trying to banish those thoughts from his mind, Anthony concluded he would be of better use getting some work done before the rest of the Ton showed up tomorrow. Playing host per his mother’s request would take up much of his time, so he surmised a head start on the ledgers would be most beneficial.
Aubrey Hall came closer in sight as he continued walking through the lawns when he heard a loud voice bellow, “Newton!” Anthony turned his head in recognition of the shout, from the voice that had plagued his every thought since he first heard it. Its low tone reverberated through his entire body, from the tips of his toes traveling all the way up his spine. A feeling similar to excitement overtook him. Anthony scanned his surroundings to try and find the source from which it came, the current source of all of his desires and disturbances.
In the distance, he noticed an overgrown ball of white and brown fluff, speeding through the mown grass of Aubrey Hall, his leash flapping up and down behind him. Anthony did not think that Newton, being as rotund as he was with the ground scratching up at his belly, would be able to move at such speed. He seemed to have been wrong in this matter. Further behind Newton, he saw a flash of purple giving chase - the mistress of said beast.
She tried calling out to Newton again, but he did not cease running, under the impression that his mistress was playing some game with him. Newton neared the house and ran along the tall stone structure, only to spot an escape through an open cellar door and bolt straight in.
Anthony continued to observe the scene from his vantage point, hearing Miss Sharma’s audible sigh when she saw that her dog had decided to take refuge in the cellar. She stopped momentarily outside the cellar door, whether to catch her breath from the brisk run prior or from the impatience that Anthony could recognize from the contours of her brows. He had been on the receiving end of that face many times before. She took another steadying breath before walking down the steps of the cellar cautiously. Before he knew it, Anthony was moving to follow her, also making his way down the stone steps.
Before he descended completely down to the cellar bottom, he heard tiny pants and gentle tapping of footsteps coming toward him. He glanced down as he felt Newton brush past his leg at lightning speed and then he was out the door, breaking away into the green pastures of Aubrey Hall again.
“Newton, get back here!” Kate called out, echoing through the cellar. Newton was unrelenting in this game he thought he was playing with his mistress. In her haste to chase after Newton again, she did not foresee another person entering the cellar and bumped right into Anthony, knocking him back onto the stairs. Anthony’s bottom reared into the steps harshly, but with quick reflexes, Kate broke her own fall by bracketing her arms around him, stopping her momentum before falling right on top of him.
Anthony felt breathless. Whether it was from the wind being knocked out of him by Miss Sharma or from Miss Sharma herself, whose lily scent had flooded his senses immediately and overtaken the oxygen he was inhaling, he was not sure. He never was in her presence, as much he was loath to admit. As he was engulfed in her scent and close to her person, all Anthony could think about was pressing his nose to the hollow of her neck. If he ran his tongue along the long, narrow expanse of it, tracing a path down her body, would her skin taste like the flower she so frequently favored? If only he could just take one small taste and satiate his curiosity…
He failed to tread above the depths of his fantasies of Kate. It was times like this where he allowed himself to think of her as Kate . Not Miss Sharma. Anthony knew that she was threatening. A danger to his perfectly crafted plan for his future that presented whenever Kate penetrated his thoughts. He tried not to delve too far into musings of her, of being with her, for he knew that he would have no issue falling completely and irrevocably in love with her if he allowed himself the chance. But yet, his curiosity continued to edge closer and closer to the fire of his desire that blazed furiously.
Anthony snapped free from his reverie as he heard Kate shriek in pain. She quickly rolled off to one side of him, clutching her right wrist with her left hand. She scrunched up her face in agony, unable to hide the evident pain that seemed to radiate through her.
He sat up on the stairs, eyes level with her arm, analyzing it along with her as she rotated it slowly, back and forth, inspecting the wound.
“Allow me,” he offered, but a whisper as he lifted his hand up halfway between them, pausing before he fully reached her, waiting for her consent. Her arm flinched back slightly, moving closer to her own body. Anthony brought his eyes up to meet her gaze, earnest concern etched in the furrow of his brows, hoping that she would allow him to aid her. She looked back into his eyes which reflected warmth and a hint of apprehension. Was it in her regard, she wondered? She slowly released the hand clutched around her hurt wrist, uncertainty written across her face, and cautiously reached her damaged arm out towards him to inspect.
He cradled her dainty wrist in the palm of his hand, being ever so gentle as to make certain nothing ill would befall her again. The moment they touched, Kate noticed that he had foregone gloves again. His touch seared through her lace gloves, which had served as a flimsy excuse for a barrier between them. A tingle shot throughout her entire body, overtaking the pain if only just for a moment as he curled his fingers around her wrist, lightly.
“May I?” he asked softly, as his other hand came to her lavender lace-covered fingertips.
Kate felt a nervous shiver vibrate throughout her body, her breathing becoming uneven. Unable to utter a reply, she nodded her head.
He pulled slightly at each graceful finger of her glove, one by one so tantalizingly slow. Kate was entranced by the careful and delicate nature he dedicated to each of her fingers. She had to remind herself to breathe. Anthony tugged lightly at the fabric, slid off her glove, and removed the last barrier between their hands. He tucked her glove neatly into the inside pocket of his coat. The warmth of his fingertips seared every part of her skin that they touched, as he wrapped them gently around her wounded wrist again.
Anthony brought her hand up to eye level, twisting her arm clockwise then counterclockwise, inspecting carefully while glancing up to Kate to check for any reaction or signs of discomfort. “Does this feel okay?”
Kate was unsure of how to reply, as his touch left her breathless, off kilter, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Was she feeling okay? Most certainly not, as this had been the most unsettled she had felt in his company, save for the events following the bee sting.
But she knew he was asking about the condition of her wrist as he tested her mobility. “Yes,” she answered, robbed of air, unabating tension building within her.
Holding her tiny wrist in his hands, he tested out the upper part of it with a slight, squeezing pressure. “How about here?” She shook her head.
He lightly grazed the length of her wrist, closer to the junction where her arm met the palm of her hand, leaving a trail of heat in his wake. He closed his elongated fingers around her again, applying a subtle pressure, testing that particular spot for any twinge of pain. His eyes searched hers as he heard Kate let out a whimper at the throbbing pain that coursed through her. She pulled back her arm slightly as he released her.
“I am sorry,” he cooed. “Let me see it again?” He held out his hand to her, looking fixedly on her with concern, requesting for her to trust him again. She conceded and placed her wrist in his soft grip once more. Anthony closed his fingers gently around her wrist, bringing his thumb to massage circles around the irritation that he had found earlier, trying to ease out the knots there. The intimacy of his touch made her entire body thrum.
“Better?” he questioned, tenderly. She nodded.
Kate felt hypnotized by his elegant fingers circling around her wrist, the long curve of his thumb as he continued rubbing the smooth underside of her forearm down to her wrist, drawing patterns with applied pressure to relieve the tense muscles that lay beneath. “I do not believe that there seems to be any broken bones. Just a slight sprain and some discomfort,” Anthony said, offering her a small, soothing smile.
His eyes trailed down from her high cheekbones to the sharp lines of her jaw, locking on the bee sting right above her collarbone. She noticed his concerned eyes concentrated on her sting as he continued his ministrations on her arm.
“Is the bee sting-,” he stuttered out, unable to complete his thought.
"I am unharmed," she repeated, as she did yesterday like a mantra, wanting to avoid bringing worry upon him again.
"Of course," Anthony muttered, struggling to convince himself. His shoulders hunched as his attention fell back to her arm instead, trying not to focus on the sting.
He continued to rub circles on her wrist with his strong thumbs, to ease out the tenderness. With his free hand, he started to tug at the dark plum cravat tied at his neck. She looked upon him with a questioning gaze as he finally unknotted the silk and unwrapped it from around his neck.
“Trust me.” He threw her a playful grin at her puzzled face before he began wrapping the purple silk tightly around her wrist. She could still feel the warmth emanated by his neck upon the lustrous fibers as he continued his treatment to tie the cloth securely around her wrist to provide a structural brace for her. “This should help keep it in place for now.”
Kate looked up from his touch upon her arm to see Anthony was already looking back at her, searching for any sign of discomfort. The soft contours of his chin to his deep brown eyes, distress hidden beneath the surface. They drew closely together like two magnets, unable to resist the gravitational pull that had been present since the moment they met.
He glanced down at her plush lips, fighting every urge he had to pull her in by her arm that was in his grasp and close the distance between them. His head filled with the radiating aroma of her lily scent and with something else that seemed to be her own essence. In all his life, he had never smelled anything so sweet and enticing.
A sudden, whistling wind swept through the cellar door, slamming it shut with vigor, snapping both Kate and Anthony out of their trance. Anthony carefully let go as he felt her pull her arm back to herself again.
“Thank you,” she gasped out her gratitude, standing up briskly from her place next to him. Straightening out the fabrics of her lilac gown, she placed some distance between them. Through the two small windows filtering in light from the afternoon sun, Anthony noticed her uneasiness and fluster.
“No problem,” he quickly replied, also trying to steady himself. Their breaths slowed down as they both tried to collect themselves.
“Why are you even down here?” she asked, a puzzled look plastered on her face.
“If you must know, I saw you chasing that rotund menace of a beast and didn’t want him causing any mayhem down here,” he answered promptly, letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Newton and I were playing a game,” she stated, turning her nose up at him.
“It looked rather one-sided.”
“Well, what would you know about having fun and playing games?” she retorted.
“I know how to have fun! And did we not play a game of pall mall yesterday?” he countered.
“Which you lost.”
“As did you,” he provoked. “But…unlike the others, I also have duties as a Viscount before anything else. So no, I do not indulge in games such as ones with dogs,” he said, standing up to his full height, straightening out his velvet coat. She only sent him a haughty grin, jutting out her chin defiantly. The fire of a challenge blazed brightly in her eyes. How he would like to kiss that smug smirk right off her face. Now that would be fun , he thought silently to himself.
He resisted the urge to kiss her and to roll his eyes to the back of his head. “We should head back before that mutt of yours causes any damage unaccompanied and before anyone notices that we are missing.” He started to ascend the stairs up to the closed door, sitting at the top of the steps.
He rattled at the metal handle, willing it to open with no such luck. He tried pressing his shoulder into the door, using his weight against it, but the latch had been clasped from the outside, locking them in the cellar.
After a few more failed attempts, Anthony turned back to glance down at Kate, “We’re locked in,” he murmured.
“What do you mean, we are locked in?” Her annoyance peeked through each word.
“I mean that the door will not open. We are stuck here.”
“Well, make us unstuck!” Kate demanded, breathing out a sigh of displeasure.
“I cannot!” It was not very often that the Viscount Bridgerton would admit that. But in this particular scenario, there was no other conclusion. “The door latch is stuck and it seems it must be opened from the outside.”
Kate rushed up the steps and started to pound her uninjured fist against the door. “Hello? Can anyone hear me? There is someone in here! Hello?” Anthony turned to the door and also knocked forcefully against the door.
“Hello? Can you hear us? Hello?” After a few minutes of desperate shouts and thumps on the door, they knew no one would hear them as most everyone would be inside the house.
“The rest of The Ton arrive tomorrow. All of the servants must be busy preparing for their arrival,” Anthony supplied, dejectedly. “We will just have to wait it out until someone comes back down. Come on, let us head back and see if we can find some supplies in case,” he suggested. A disheartened look fell upon Kate’s face, but she acquiesced and followed him down the narrow stairs.
The light filtered through the two small windows allowing them to search through the dark cellar for anything that could help their situation. “I think the servants just emptied this place in preparation for the ball later this week. There is nothing,” Anthony called out as he continued to search in the far corners of the room. He came up fruitless except for two wooden chairs with the golden paint chipped off most of the seat. He brought them to where the light hit the center of the room for them to use.
“Miss Sharma, please, come and have a seat. There is nothing left in here that can be useful.” He pointed to the chair beside him as he took a seat, the chair legs wiggling underneath him. She relented and came over to where he was.
“We may be down here for a long while,” he admitted as Kate plopped down next to him. The Kate he saw now was a stark contrast to the version of her he was accustomed to. Her rigid shoulders that were always pulled straight seemed to relax a little. Anthony relished in the idea that she was able to ease up a smidge, even in his presence. He could only remember a couple of moments when he had seen her rest. The first morning of their chance meeting in the park. and then during their unexpected spar at the Ascot race. He felt a smile creep upon his face as his thoughts lingered to those moments, her carefree demeanor that he admired almost as much as when she vexed him.
It was in these moments where he noticed her guard lowered. He drank in the vision of her beside him. Her chest rose up and down as she breathed in easily next to him, her calm composure in stark contrast to their situation here in the cellar. His eyes traveled down her arm and locked on the cravat, his cravat, wrapped around her injured wrist. The deep purple complimenting the lilac of her gown. The soft silk of the fabric caressing her skin, a sense of envy washing over him, wishing he was caressing her delicate, smooth skin again.
She was magnificent.
He shook his head back and forth, hoping to remove these thoughts he had for her. What he should be thinking about was Miss Edwina, the one he was courting, the one he should marry. Not of his intended’s sister, who tempted him at every given moment and who was oh-so-conveniently stuck in this dark cellar, alone with him.
He had to remind himself that he was a gentleman, and he would need to stay one if his plans to marry Miss Edwina were to bear fruit.
Anthony commanded his attention away from her until he heard a loud sigh next to him, turning his eyes upon her again, “Who would have thought that I would be stuck in a cellar with a Viscount, in his own home?” she exhaled sarcastically.
“Well this Viscount usually does not have a rogue, furry beast running around causing mayhem,” he countered.
“You leave Newton out of this! You are just annoyed that he is such a good judge of character and that you were excluded from that. It appears to remain true even now.”
Anthony scoffed. “Your dog is a potato with legs. He is not able to make any sound judgment.”
“At least he would make fairer company than you would right now,” she spit back.
They both heaved out their own disgruntled sighs, crossed their arms over their chests, and turned away from each other, vexed from another battle.
“That cellar door is quite new,” Anthony’s soft whisper cut across the silence. She turned to her companion, her agitation dissipating. “A few years back, Eloise had knocked her pall mall ball straight through the old, wooden cellar door, leaving a large gaping hole where it struck. We told her that if she wished to continue the game, she would have to hit her ball without changing anything. So of course, Eloise marched into the cellar, closed the door behind her again and after a couple of tries, whacked her ball with enough force through the door again, right back to the lawn, while leaving another hole to the door with a couple dents as well.” Kate recognized the amused and proud grin on his face as he recollected that game. Kate’s mouth upturned slightly, matching his own.
“Of course, we had to replace the door after my mother found out. I suppose she is used to it by now. There were many broken windows throughout the year.”
“Oh, I am sure of that, after seeing how ruthlessly you all play,” Kate teased, giggling to herself as she thought back to their mud incident from the other day.
Silence filled the air, but was broken as Kate sat up abruptly in her chair as if she had been thrown from it. He snapped his head back to stare at her, curiosity winning out. “Oh baap re!” she shouted, frazzled and pacing in her spot. ”You have said that Newton will cause trouble for being unaccompanied. But we will be in much greater trouble if I am to be found with you, unaccompanied!”
Anthony took a split second to ponder on her anxiousness before realization hit him. He locked eyes with her in understanding.
“Yes, I would be compromised in the eyes of everyone.” She looked at him urgently, sounding anguished.
Anthony could not have fathomed that instead of first feeling panicked with this news, a gnawing feeling of disconcerted content would be in its place. To allow himself a reason to marry this vexing, gorgeous woman beside him would be…
But she had sounded dispirited by that implication. Why had that made him feel so dejected? Would marrying him be such an unthinkable fate for her? Anthony feigned his disapproval for their match, drowning out the comfort he felt when thinking of marrying Kate. “No, no one from the Ton has arrived yet and nothing happened.” Or not yet anyways, he thought. “And it would be my staff who would find us here. They can be trusted. I pride myself in knowing that our staff are very loyal, and I have confidence that they will be discreet.”
She looked back at him, uncertainty still laced on her lines of her forehead, but she nodded her head.
“But I am sure that a Viscount getting locked in his own home would be a tempting tale to be shared…” she mumbled quietly, looking over at him incredulously. He sighed out loud, dejected by the truth of what she said.
He would hate to be the laughingstock amongst his staff because of this, but he had to believe in their good character. “Well, I will just have to double the wage of whoever finds us in this hell hole then.” Anthony confirmed, as he stared back into her large, doe-like eyes glinting in the small amount of sunlight.
Kate sat back down after his reassurance that she would not be compromised. The stillness of the air filled the room, almost comforting as it fell upon them as they continued to wait for any sign of life on the other side of the door. As before, Anthony’s attention was drawn to Kate as he heard the rustling of her dress as she stood up from her chair and marched over to the window. “Yes,” she exclaimed.
His eyes followed her movements, curiosity etched on his face, the divot prominent between his eyebrows. She strutted back towards him with determination and grabbed her chair, placed it against the wall, underneath the window. After setting the chair down, she started scanning the cellar, in search of something.
“You cannot be serious.” Anthony threw her a look of skeptical annoyance as he pieced together what she was planning to do.
“Oh, I am,” Kate retorted.
“You mean to climb out of the window? That would be much too high for you to reach, even with the chair. Which, I may add, is not very stable.”
“It has been sturdy enough for me to sit on it for the past hour, so standing on it should be no different. And with regards to the height of the window, I will require you to give me a boost to reach it. The chair will be perfectly fine. It will just be a short moment with both of us on there while you lift me up. But first, I must find something to break the window with,” she proclaimed, continuing to browse through the room.
“Ah ha!” She hurried over to the back corner of the cellar, squatting to the ground and picking up a slightly crumpled red brick with one of the corners broken off. “This will work perfectly,” she exclaimed before making it back to her chair and setting the brick on top of the seat. She turned towards him with her hands on her hip, determination in her eyes, “Well, are we to do this or not?” She asked.
Kate noticed the skeptical look that he threw at her, the crease between his brows deepening. She observed his gaze travel down to her wrist, cladded in his cravat, worry starting to bloom on his face. Her heartbeat quickened, thumping against her chest, at his evident concern for her.
“It will be fine,” she encouraged with a softness that undercut the silence of the room. “It is the only way we will get out of here in a timely manner.” After much internal debate, he reluctantly agreed. If it would get him out of confinement with such an insufferable, gorgeous woman all the sooner; he would help her.
Anthony stalked over to where she stood, but not without bringing his own chair over as well. Kate threw him a questioning look. “It would be more sturdy with two.”
“Fine,” she answered, as Anthony placed his chair down next to hers. “Okay, if we both get up here, you can lift me up enough to break the glass. And then I can crawl out to open the door for you.”
“Just be careful with your wrist,” he added, voice laced with a softness that made Kate pause and nod gently in agreement.
After testing out the sturdiness of the chairs, he stepped up and found his balance. Once stabilized, he held his hand out to pull her up to join him. She placed her good hand in his, gathering the bottom of her skirt with the other, before she stepped on the chair with her foot. He hoisted her up to meet him, but Kate lost her balance and teetered as the chairlegs rocked under them. Anthony circled his arms around her waist, catching her to steady them both before they could fall. His breath caressed the curve of her cheek as they stood only a hair's breadth away from each other.
He was captured by her eyes, deep pools of umber with flecks of gold like stars as the little light from the window reflected on her. She stared back at him, her eyebrows raised up her forehead, startled. There had been one too many times where they had found themselves close together like this, Anthony thought, but relished in her body pressed firmly against his.
His gaze locked on her, as if he were intent on memorizing the curve of her nose, the cutting lines of her jaw, the plush coral of her lips. If his arms had not been wrapped tightly around her waist, he would have been tempted to brush his hand across her cheek. Pulling her closer to eliminate the space between them and kissing her. A thought that seemed to manifest from the depths of his mind, one he believed was buried within his subconscious and securely locked away, only to have it surface at every torturous moment he was in her proximity.
Her eyes flicked down to his lips momentarily and then fluttered closed, half-lidded and mesmerized as he was with her. The distance between them shrinking as he tightened her in his embrace, drawing closer to her like the tide being pulled in by the illuminating moon in the sky. Inching slowly together, their breaths now mingled. He took a sharp inhale of her and she in return.
A strain of loud barks sounded throughout the cellar and broke them out of their hypnotic state. Kate immediately pushed herself off his warm chest, a rush of cold air hitting him, a poor replacement for her. Disappointment followed the emptiness from the loss of her body.
“Brother! Miss Sharma! What are you doing down here?” They both turned toward the stairs as they heard light footsteps coming closer with another set of little paws in accompaniment. Still atop the chairs, Kate observed Anthony straightening his already neat coat, a nervous energy emerging from him. Anthony followed the voice calling out to them and was surprised to see their savior in the form of his youngest sister, Hyacinth, following behind Kate’s menace of a dog.
Newton’s excitement at seeing his mistress prompted him to stand up on his hind legs, attempting to reach them. Kate immediately jumped down from the chairs and dropped down to pet her dog, a happy smile on her face. As Anthony observed the undeniable affection she bestowed on Newton, a shadow of resentment for the mutt crawled over him unexpectedly.
Tearing his eyes away from Kate and Newton, he forced his attention back to Hyacinth.
“Why are you down here?” Curiosity painted her features, giving her an even more youthful glow. “Are you playing hide and seek without me?” she asked, face scrunching up with displeasure.
“No, you know we would not play without you. You are the best hider,” Anthony said, trying to pacify her. “We followed Miss Sharma’s dog down here and got stuck once the door slammed shut on us.” Anthony fought to keep his annoyance at Newton out of his voice in front of his baby sister. “But we are lucky that you came to save the day.”
He brought his large hand to cup her pink cheeks. Kate looked on at the affection between them, butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the sweet gesture.
At the praise from her most admired brother, Hyacinth beamed, puffing out her chest proudly. “Well then, I must get you both out safely,” she shouted with enthusiasm and started to march toward the stairs. “Come along,” she called back to Anthony.
Anthony started to follow suit, but turned back to Kate to ensure that she was behind them. His eyes locked on hers momentarily and he nodded his head, indicating for her to go first. The slow upturn of her lips sent a slight swoop through his stomach as he was once again ensnared by her beauty.
She broke eye contact first, a slight nervousness washing over her. “Come, Newton,” she called out to her dog and began walking toward the steps.
“Come Newton!” Hyacinth shouted from the top of the stairs, echoing down into the cellar. Newton eagerly raced past Kate and Anthony and flew up to meet Hyacinth.
“You know, for a dog who does not look like it, he sure is quick. Who knew his stubby legs could carry him at that speed,” Anthony teased, letting out a disbelieving chuckle. Kate sighed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes before breaking out into a soft laugh as well.
As they walked up the stairs together, side by side, Kate could feel the warmth from his fingers almost brush her own. She hurried up the stairs and out of the cellar, hoping to escape the charged atmosphere that always seemed to encompass them in each other’s company.
Hyacinth joined Anthony in the back while Kate and Newton went on first. As they leisurely made their way back to the house, a thought crossed Anthony’s mind. “Hyacinth,” he said softly. “I know you rescued us today, but I ask that you keep this to yourself.”
“Why?” she asked, her innocence shining through. Anthony couldn’t very well tell his youngest sister of impropriety and of compromising a lady yet. “Because you will be embarrassed if anyone finds out? Especially Miss Edwina?”
In all of the moments with Kate today, Miss Edwina had hardly crossed his mind. Anthony looked on to where Kate had been walking ahead of them with Newton trailing behind her. Being around Kate has proved too dangerous now and he vowed that from now on, he would not find himself alone in her company again.
He needed to focus his attention back to the young lady that he was going to marry. Miss Edwina.
“That’s right, Hyacinth,” Anthony said, trying to ignore Kate's lace glove from inside his coat pocket, pulling and clawing through to his beating heart as he and Hyacinth continued to walk back to the house.
The End