“Did Thomas wake up?” Danielle asked.
“No.” Delilah shook her head. “As soon as I realized it was him, I left the room as quickly as I could.”
“And you’re certain the potion touched his eyes?” Danielle added.
“As certain as I can be.” Delilah slumped back down on the chair. “What am I supposed to do? Please tell me the potion has an antidote.”
Danielle bit the tip of her fingernail and winced. “The truth is I don’t know. I never asked Madame Rosa about an antidote. I never thought of anyone needing such a thing.”
Delilah groaned and slapped her palm against her forehead. “Leave it to me to botch something as simple as magic.”
“Don’t worry, dear.” Lucy patted her arm. “I’ve little doubt magic is exceedingly complicated.”
Danielle paced away. “We’ll have to go back to London and speak with Madame Rosa.”
Delilah nodded resolutely. “Fine, but in the meantime, what am I supposed to do if Thomas sees me in the morning and is madly in love with me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Delilah tiptoed to the entrance of the breakfast room early the next morning. Despite her anxiety, she was hungry, and she’d been told by a reliable source, namely Cade, that Danielle was in the room. She couldn’t risk running into Thomas, however, so she was hovering outside the door, trying to work up the nerve to peek inside, when Lucy’s voice rang out from within. “It’s all right, Delilah. He’s not here.”
Delilah expelled her pent-up breath and made her way into the room, where she took a seat next to her friend. The only people in the breakfast room at the moment were Lucy, Cass, Jane, and Danielle. A servant rushed to place a napkin on Delilah’s lap and pour her some tea.
“Who’s not here?” Cass asked, blinking interestedly at Delilah.
“Thomas.” Lucy took a sip of her heavily sugared tea.
Cass furrowed her brow. “Why does Delilah not want Thomas to be here?”
Lucy waved a hand in the air. “It’s an excessively long story.”
“Excellent.” Jane grabbed a teacake from the plate in the center of the table. “I love excessively long stories. The excessively longer, the better. As long as they’re entertaining, of course.”
Delilah glanced around the room at the sparse company.
“Most of the men have gone off on a ride together,” Lucy explained as if she’d read Delilah’s mind. “Thomas went too.”
Delilah let out a sigh of relief. She picked up her teacup and took a sip.
“So who is going to tell me this excessively long story?” Jane pushed up her spectacles on her nose.
Delilah gave Lucy an apprehensive glance.
“It’s more complicated than you know,” Lucy said to Delilah.
Dread swam in Delilah’s belly. “How so?”
Danielle crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Delilah. “You didn’t mention you gave some of the potion to Lavinia.”
Delilah winced. “She told you?”
“You don’t understand,” Lucy continued, buttering a slice of thick, brown toast. “Apparently all hell broke loose in this house last night.”
Delilah set down her cup. “What do you mean?” The dread was swimming faster now.
Lucy finished buttering her toast and set down the knife. “Apparently Lavinia tried to use the elixir on Lord Berwick, and while she was at it, Branville found her gallivanting around the bachelor’s quarters in the middle of the night. He demanded to know what she was doing there, and she gave him some of the potion to keep him quiet. He wanted to use it on Lady Rebecca.”
Delilah gasped. “No!” In her wildest imaginings, she hadn’t guessed Lavinia would have given some of it away. She cursed herself for the thousandth time for not following Madame Rosa’s rules.
“Yes,” Lucy replied, taking a bite of toast.
“You’re not making any sense,” Jane said, nibbling on her teacake. “What potion are you talking about?”
“Care to explain?” Lucy said to Delilah.
“I really don’t care to, no.” Delilah took a piece of toast from the plate in the center of the table, but she just stared at it. She couldn’t eat. She was no longer hungry.
Danielle took a deep breath. “I’ll do it, then. Delilah and I purchased some perfume from a Roma woman in London. It’s purported to make the person whose eyes you sprinkle it upon fall madly in love with you the next time they see you.”
Jane snorted. One dark eyebrow arched over the rim of her silver spectacles. “You’re not serious?”
“I’m entirely serious,” Danielle replied, taking a sip from her teacup.
“You paid money for this?” Jane continued, directing her remarks to Delilah. “Real money?”
Delilah wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. She turned to Lucy. “Did you say Branville got some of the potion too?”
“Yes,” Lucy continued. “Lavinia bought his silence with two drops of it.”
“If he was supposed to keep silent about it,” Jane said flatly, “how do you know about it, Lucy?”
“That was my next question as well,” Cass said softly.
“I’m not finished with my story yet,” Lucy declared. “Unfortunately, last night’s antics didn’t end with that particular transaction.”
Jane rested her chin on her propped-up elbow. “Oh, please, do continue.”
A headache pounded in Delilah’s skull, but she forced herself to listen as Lucy continued.
Lucy folded her hands in front of her on the tabletop. “So as I said, Lavinia was sneaking around, trying to use the potion on Berwick when Branville found her. Then Branville attempted to use some of it on Lady Rebecca, who woke up in the middle of the thing and demanded to know what Branville was doing in her bedchamber.”
“Oh, no! I don’t blame her.” Cass shook her head. “That must have been terribly frightening for her.”
“Yes, well,” Lucy continued, “Branville apologized profusely and told her what he was about. She told him she’d keep quiet about the incident if he gave her the potion so she might try to use it on Thomas.”
“No,” Delilah whimpered. Had the entire household gone mad? At one time, she’d thought no one would believe her if she claimed to have a love potion. Now, she realized half the company had been eager to use it without so much as a whit of proof that it actually worked.
“Yes,” Lucy replied gravely. “However, when Rebecca asked one of the maids the location of Thomas’s room, she ended up finding the Duke of Branville again instead, a fact which still baffles me. Then she came in search of me to ask the location of Thomas’s room, and I was the one who put an end to the entire debacle.”
“That has to be one of the most ridiculous tales I’ve ever heard.” Jane pushed her spectacles up her nose again. “And I’ve heard a great many.”
“I agree,” Cass added. “But it is ever so entertaining.”
“When did this happen, Lucy?” The sinking feeling in the pit of Delilah’s stomach hadn’t abated.
“Not an hour after I sent you back to your room after your own debacle,” Lucy replied, taking another bite of toast.
“I wish I’d never heard of that potion,” Delilah said miserably. “Did any of it appear to work on any of them?”
“We’re not entirely certain any of them actually had a chance to use it,” Lucy replied.
“And Madame Rosa warned that it could only be used once, by one person,” Danielle added.
“I assume none of them knew that, or they wouldn’t have been gallivanting around the house last night,” Jane pointed out.
“I tried to tell Lavinia,” Delilah replied. “She seemed to think Madame Rosa only said that to increase her sales.”
Danielle placed a hand on Delilah’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Delilah. I never would have mentioned the perfume to you had I known this much trouble would result.”
Delilah smiled and patted the Frenchwoman’s hand. “It’s not yo
ur fault, Danielle. I should have followed the rules. Not doing so was bound to cause trouble. I simply had no idea it would be like this.”
“Wait a moment,” Jane said, munching on a teacake. “So no one actually managed to administer the potion to anyone else’s eyelids?”
“One person did,” Lucy replied with a nod. “Our Delilah here.”
“You sprinkled it on Branville?” Cass asked. “But I thought he found Lavinia and—”
“No.” Delilah squeezed her eyes shut. “I didn’t sprinkle it on Branville. I meant to sprinkle it on Branville.”
Jane’s eyes went wide. She slapped her palm against her cheek. “If you didn’t sprinkle it on Branville, then who—”
“Thomas,” Lucy finished. “She accidentally sprinkled it on Thomas.”
Danielle stood. “Which is why Delilah and I must leave for London immediately. We need to find Madame Rosa and ask after the antidote.”
“Wait another moment,” Jane said. “How do you even know that it worked? It all may be just a lot of nonsense with no need for an antidote.”
Delilah had never wished she’d wasted money before in her life. But now she did. She not only hoped for it, she prayed for it. “I do hope it’s just a bunch of nonsense, but it’s not a chance I’m willing to take. If Thomas sees me and falls madly in love with me, I … couldn’t stand it.”
Jane glanced back and forth between Delilah and Danielle. “You’re telling me that you intend to run off to London and presumably pay even more money for an antidote to a thing that may well have never worked in the first place on the chance it’s not a scheme?”
Delilah pressed her fingertips to her pounding temples. “I know quite well the entire thing may be ludicrous, but this is one situation in which I’d much rather be safe than sorry.”
“I say you at least wait and see if Thomas loves you,” Jane replied. “If he does, then you can go ahead and look for the antidote.”
The mere thought of waiting made Delilah’s heart pound. The notion of Thomas declaring his love for her, his false love, made her skin clammy. She glanced at Danielle.
“It’s up to you, Delilah,” Danielle said.
“What do you think, Lucy?” Delilah fixed her frightened gaze on her dear friend.
Lucy took another sip of tea as she contemplated the matter. “I want to believe there is a magic love potion that works, dear, I truly do. But even I must admit that it may be more prudent to wait and see if Thomas seems to be any more partial to you today than he was yesterday.”
Delilah swallowed the lump in her throat. “Cass?”
“Oh, dear,” Cass said softly. “I understand how tempting it must have been to believe in a potion, but I agree with Lucy and Jane. I wouldn’t run off in search of an antidote without speaking to Thomas first.”
Delilah nodded. The ache in her chest was real and painful. The thought of having Thomas tell her he loved her and not mean it, was excruciating, but she supposed it would be ridiculous of her to run off to London before ensuring the stuff had worked in the first place. “Very well,” she murmured. “I’ll find Thomas as soon as he returns.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Delilah’s slipper tapped against the marble floor in Lucy’s green drawing room at an alarming speed. She’d gone upstairs after breakfast and forced herself to sit still while Amandine fixed her hair in a chignon with a few dark tendrils floating around her face. Then she dressed in a lavender gown with a tight waist and embroidered violets on the hem, and dabbed her lily-scented perfume—not the enchanted kind—behind both ears. A pearl necklace and matching earbobs completed the ensemble. Amandine hadn’t bothered putting rouge on Delilah’s cheeks today. She didn’t need it. She was already bright red with worry.
Delilah had arranged with Lucy to have one of the footmen deliver a note to Thomas’s bedchamber asking him to meet her in the green salon before luncheon. It felt as if an eternity had passed before a slight knock sounded on the door.
“Come in,” she managed to call through her suddenly dry throat. She should have accepted Lucy’s offer of tea, but given her nerves, Delilah had been convinced she would spill the stuff all over herself.
Thomas stepped through the door, looking as handsome as ever. His dark hair was slicked back. His blue eyes were sparkling. He wore buff-colored, skin-hugging trousers, a blue coat, a white shirt with a crisp white cravat, and perfectly shined black boots.
The moment their eyes met, she knew something was different. She knew it the way she’d known something awful had happened to her father the day he’d died. Without even being told, she’d felt in her gut that something had changed her life forever.
The look on Thomas’s face was earnest and … different. His long strides ate up the space between the door and her spot on the settee. He kneeled down in front of her, took her hands, and stared up into her face as if he’d never seen it before.
“Delilah,” he breathed. “You wanted to see me.”
She’d spent the better part of the morning practicing what she would say to him. He knew she’d purchased the elixir. She’d shown it to him, for God’s sake. But now that the moment was here to tell him what she’d done, the words were too mad to make it past her lips.
Very well. She didn’t have to admit to him that she’d sprinkled the potion on his eyes. All she had to do was ask him how he felt about her. Then she’d know. Perhaps he’d guess that she’d used it on him. How else would he explain going from being her friend to being madly in love with her overnight? If he even was madly in love with her. Mon Dieu. This entire charade was ridiculous. For the hundredth time, she wished she’d never purchased the blasted elixir.
She searched Thomas’s handsome face. The memory of their kiss during the play the night before swept through her mind. She memorized the lines on either side of his eyes, the small scar above his eyebrow. For a long, mad moment she wished he was actually in love with her.
“I must ask you something,” she whispered.
“Anything.” He rubbed the backs of her hands with his thumbs.
She sucked in her breath. “How do you … feel about me?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled and his gaze swept her face. He was going to say something sarcastic and wonderful and Thomas-like and all would be well. She nearly sagged against him in relief.
“Delilah,” he murmured. “The truth is … I love you.”
Time stopped. Her breath caught in her throat. It was as if the room and all its contents froze. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head emphatically. “You don’t.”
He nodded. His gaze didn’t falter. “Yes, I do.”
She pulled her hands from his grasp. “You mean you love me like a friend, correct?”
“No. I love you, Delilah. Truly.”
She stood and pushed away from him and paced toward the fireplace. “Think what you’re saying, Thomas. It’s me, Delilah.”
“I know it’s you, and you’re beautiful and wonderful and smart and funny and perfect, and I love you.” His voice was husky, but there was a tone deep in it, one she’d never heard from him before. Gone was the laughing, playful Thomas. He was entirely serious. He thought he loved her. He was telling the truth.
She whirled to face him. “Remember the elixir I bought?”
“Yes, the ridiculous elixir that doesn’t work. I know all about it.”
“But it does work. I—”
“No, Delilah. It doesn’t. You weren’t meant to marry Branville. He doesn’t love you. I do.”
“But Thomas, I—”
He was beside her then, and her words were silenced as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. And instead of pushing him away, she, awful person that she was, rose on her tiptoes and kissed him back. She wound her arms around his neck and let her fingers thread through his soft hair. His tongue darted past her lips and she sucked on it. She was mindless from the kiss. She could go on like this all day. Their first kisses had been surprising, but this one, th
is one was purposeful and delightful. She didn’t want it to end.
She was such a bad person. She was kissing someone she’d duped into loving her. She was obviously a harlot too, because she let the kiss go on for nearly another minute before finally taking a step back. “Thomas, no! We must stop.” But she was saying the words more to herself than to him.
He grasped her hands and held them to his chest, where his pounding heart thumped beneath his vest. “Think about it, Delilah. Is it so mad, really? You and I? We’ve been friends for an age. Why not us? Why can’t we be in love?”
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She had to get away from here. She’d done an awful thing to him. She had to make it right. First, she had to get to London and find Madame Rosa.
She pulled from his grasp and rushed toward the door, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I never meant for this to happen. Don’t worry. I will find a way to fix this.”
She flew from the room and was halfway down the corridor before she heard Thomas’s voice calling after her. “Wait, Delilah. You must listen to me. I really do love you!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Delilah and Amandine had never packed her trunk so quickly. They tossed everything inside with nary a thought about the condition of the clothing and shoes and underthings. Two of Lucy’s footmen came to cart the trunk off to the coach, and Delilah and Danielle left for London that same afternoon. With Lucy’s assistance, Delilah ensured that she didn’t see Thomas again before she left. He’d sent a note to her room begging her to come back and finish their conversation, but of course, she refused.
As Danielle’s coach rattled away from the Claringdon estate, Delilah sat curled in a ball in one corner, tracing a fingertip against the velvet squabs. What in heaven’s name had she done? She’d ruined her friendship with Thomas, that’s what. She’d toyed with a blameless person’s emotions. She had no business playing God the way she had. She realized that now. Even her plan to make Branville fall in love with her had been awful and selfish. Who was she to dispense emotions to other people? She hated herself for the idiotic way she’d behaved, and for the fact that she’d introduced the elixir into the lives of so many people who didn’t deserve such trouble.
No Other Duke But You--A Playful Brides Novel Page 18