Page 55 of Earl Crazy
Tilly spluttered, the sip of tea she’d just taken spraying with alarming force from her lips. “I—I’m not…not—”
“Yes, you are. I can tell just by looking at you. I only wonder I didn’t see it sooner.”
Oh, when would she learn that Phee, for all her quiet reserve, never missed a thing? She was the most dangerously perceptive lady in all of England. There was no sense in trying to keep anything from her, and Tilly didn’t want to. She needed her sister, and anyway, look at what all her secrets had gotten her! Nothing but misery, and a night rail stained with tea.
“Come, Tilly.” Phee took her hand. “Let’s not have any more secrets between us, alright?”
“I didn’t mean to fall in love with him! I didn’t even want to! It just happened. It’s most unfair, really.”
“There are no rules in love, Tilly. It has its way, in the end.”
“But it hasn’t had its way! Don’t you see? Kit is going to marry Harriett.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
Tilly tried to hold back the tears that threatened, but Phee’s voice was so gentle, and her expression so kind, and Tilly’s lips were already trembling, and it was no use, was it?
She was going to cry.Again.
“Oh, my dear.” Phee plucked up the cloth from the tray and dabbed at the tears on her cheeks. “I have a notion things will work out as they’re meant to, but why didn’t you simply tell me you were in love?”
There was no mistaking the hurt in Phee’s eyes, and Tilly’s stomach twisted. “I didn’t know at first, and then later… I never imagined I’d marry Kit, or anyone else. I never intended to marry, so there didn’t seem to be any point in worrying you over it.”
“You came to London for a season, but never intended to marry? I don’t understand, Tilly. I thought youwantedto marry.”
“No. I only came for Harriett.”
“But why should you not want to marry? I know you find Hambleden confining. Indeed, Tilly, my greatest hope for you this season was that you’d fall in love, and have wonderful adventures.”
Tilly stared down at her hands, plucking nervously at the coverlet. “I don’t want to leave you alone, Phee.”
“Me?” Phee sounded astonished. “I’m not alone, Tilly. I have you, and Emmeline, Juliet and Helena. I can visit any of you at any time—”
“But you never do, Phee! Or at least, not often. You spend most of your time in Hambleden, and now you’ll be there alone, and I can’t bear it. None of us can! We don’t want you to be lonely—”
“Shhh. It’s alright, dearest.” Phee gathered her into her arms. “I promise I’ll do better. Will that make you feel better?”
“Yes, but you must keep your promise.” Tilly sniffled against Phee’s shoulder.
“I will, I swear it. Now, is there anything else you’ve been keeping from me?”
“No, and I never will again. The last thing I want to do is cause another dreadful scandal—”
“Scandal?” Phee frowned. “You never caused any scandal.”
“Yes, I did.” Why did Phee keep forgetting? “The scandal with Miss Groves—”
“That blasted Miss Groves!” Phee’s hands curled into fists. “I could happily wring her neck!”
Violence, fromPhee? Goodness, she’d never seen such a thing before. “It was my fault, Phee—”
“It most certainly was not your fault! How can you think so, Tilly?”
“Because I attract scandal, Phee! I don’t mean to, but I seem to fall from one scrape into another. I swore to myself I’d avoid another mishap when we came to London, but it’s no use! This business with Lord Wyle is sure to come back on us, and I’ll have embarrassed you again, and made you ashamed of me.”
“Ashamed of you?” Phee stared at her, her mouth open in shock. “Where did you get that idea? I’ve never been ashamed of you a day in my life, Tilly!”
“But you must be!” The words were spouting like a fountain from her lips now, and there was no stopping them, no stemming the tide. “I’m not like you, or Emmeline, or Juliet or Helena. I’m not clever, or charming, or… or… I take after our mother—”
