She cuddled into him. "She wants to keep the child. She wants to return to Cobham."
He kissed the top of her head, closed his eyes and inhaled the smell of her hair. A smell unique and perfect, a scent that could not be defined. "And what will you do?"
"Caroline will need help when the child arrives. I fear she'll not cope on her own. She has never been one to embrace the practical aspects of life."
"And so you've decided to offer yourself as the sacrificial lamb once again." He knew his words held a trace of contempt and disapproval, but anger and frustration would have it no other way.
She looked up at him, tears welling. "She needs me. After all she's been through, how can I refuse? Besides, I have nowhere else to go."
Guilt slashed at his heart. "Stay here," he blurted, and from the flicker of hope in her eyes, he knew she had mistaken his intention. "Stay in London," he corrected. "Evelyn's aunt won't be back from India for months. I'm sure she won't mind if you stay there. And it will give us a chance to see how this attraction between us develops."
He wasn't surprised to find the glimmer of hope replaced with disappointment. To his own ears, it made their relationship sound superficial. As though it amounted to nothing more than a casual opportunity to ease a physical need.
"I'd like you to stay," he added. It was the best he could do.
She smiled, albeit weakly. "Perhaps placing some distance between us will help you to determine how you feel. You seem confused. I understand that. I have responsibilities you wouldn't understand."
"Pandering to your sister's whims will only make matters worse." He knew his sour mood stemmed from the pain searing his heart.
"I don't want to spend the little time I have left with you arguing about Caroline."
A low chuckle escaped from his lips. "You make it sound as though you're leaving tomorrow. But you're right. I don't want to fight with you, Grace."
She placed her palm over his heart, covering the devil's mark. "Elliot, I am leaving tomorrow."
It was as though all the air had been sucked from his body causing a huge cavernous hole to open up in his gut. He pulled her tighter to his chest and wrapped his arms around her.
"Damn it all, Grace. Must you leave so soon?"
Pulling away from him to cup his cheek, she wiggled up and brushed her lips across his, letting the tip of her tongue trace the seam. "Show me that you care, Elliot. Spend our last few hours together showing me that this meant something to you."
While he struggled to say the words she needed to hear, he had no issue conveying his emotion when it came to the pleasures of the flesh.
"I'll happily show you what you mean to me," he said feeling a burst of desire mingled with a feeling of despair.
Chapter 21
There were some things a man would never forget: the smell and softness of a woman's skin, the moment he realised a chaste kiss had the power to heal his soul. The moment he let love slip through his fingers leaving him with nothing but the bitter taste of regret.
"You're not still brooding for Mrs. Denton?" Leo slapped him on the back as they wandered through Viscount Thorpe's crowded ballroom.
"Do not call her Mrs. Denton." Elliot could hear the venom in his own voice. He knew his countenance reflected his pain and misery. "Her husband was a liar and a scoundrel. She deserves better than to carry that blackguard's name."
He sounded overly dramatic. But he refused to see Grace as any man's property.
Not even his own.
The two weeks without her had been torture. Wherever he went, whatever he did, he would catch her unique scent floating past as though carried on a summer breeze. Feeling a sudden rush of excitement, he would swing around expecting to see her face light up the room. But he was always disappointed; he was always alone.
Alexander had gone, too.
At least he understood his torment. Alexander knew what it was to love a woman with all your heart and soul.
Damnation.
Why hadn't he realised sooner?
Why had it taken the pain of separation