“Is that why she had to go back? For him? He’s not ill, is he?”
“He has been ill for a while. But it’s not my story to tell.” She squeezed her lips shut and refused to say more.
“Can you tell me anything?” Marcus was desperate.
“Can you go to the land of the fae? Can you set all this to the side and go to her?”
“I can’t go until the moonful, if then.” He couldn’t walk away from his obligations to find a woman who might or might not want to see him. He had too much to learn here. And he wasn’t at all certain of Cecelia’s feelings toward him.
“Then you don’t deserve her,” Ainsley spit out.
Then she turned on her heel and quit the room.
“Good God,” Marcus breathed. He scrubbed a hand down his face. “What do I do now?”
***
Ainsley barreled directly into a hard chest and threw her hands out to catch herself. But strong arms wrapped tightly around her instead. “Ainsley?” the man asked. “What’s wrong?”
It wasn’t an aging butler who’d caught her. It wasn’t a startled maid. If anyone had to see her upset, she supposed it might as well be Allen. “Nothing,” she squeaked.
He set her back from him momentarily and looked down at her, his dark eyes piercing a little too deeply for comfort. “You lie poorly,” he warned. Then he pulled her back into his arms and didn’t insist she say a word. He didn’t try to coax any thoughts from her. He didn’t try to trick her into baring her soul. But that just made her want to do it more.
He inhaled deeply and held her tightly against him. She fit beneath his chin like he was made for her. Was he? She lifted her chin and looked up at him. “You want to kiss me, don’t you?” she teased.
“No,” he blurted out, setting her back from him. Ainsley felt the loss of him immediately.
“Yes, you do,” she teased.
“Where did you learn to do that?” he asked.
“Do what?” She had no idea to what he was referring.
“You shock people so that they’ll forget what they were trying to wheedle out of you.”
“You were trying to wheedle something out of me?”
“Not yet,” he said, a grin forming on his lips.
“You want to wheedle something out of me.”
He cocked his head to the side as his brows drew together sternly. “I want a lot of things from you,” he said. “But I intend for you to give them to me willingly. Otherwise, I don’t want them.”
Ainsley’s heart leaped. “You have a plan?”
“A rather decisive one,” he admitted.
“Tell me about it,” she whispered.
He lowered his voice, too. “If I did that, I wouldn’t have the element of surprise, would I?” He nodded toward Cecelia’s closed door. “Where were you rushing off from?”
“Marcus,” Ainsley said on a heavy sigh. “He’s a dolt.”
“I won’t argue that.” He grinned. “What did he do that was so doltish?”
“It’s what he won’t do.” She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” he said.