She made to step past him, but he blocked her path.
‘I know where it is.’
His eyes found hers. In the darkness they seemed more black than green, but the hostility in them was still unmistakable.
‘Good. Then you’ll understand.’ Her voice sounded odd, as if someone was squeezing her ribs, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away. Not just from Farlan, but from the whole damned mess of her life.
‘It’s pitch-black.’
‘I know the way.’ Before he could respond, she moved past him, darting forward into the darkness.
It was starting to rain, and a brisk breeze was blowing thick dark clouds across the sky, playing peek-a-boo with the moon. But even if it had been a dry, clear night she knew he wouldn’t have followed her.
Why would he when she had given him a ready-made excuse not to bother?
It’s finished, she told herself. You did it. You saw him; you talked to him. The worst is over.
Why, then, did she feel not relieved but miserable?
She had barely started to answer that question when she heard him moving swiftly through the darkness, his long strides easily catching up with her.
‘Hey, slow down—’
Catching her sleeve, he spun her round, staring down at her as if she was a disobedient dog who had slipped its collar.
‘Look, I get it, okay? You’d rather break your own neck than let me walk you home. Well, guess what, Lady Antonia? I don’t want to walk you home either.’
She stared at him, mute with emotions she didn’t want to feel.
Back at Lamington, with his expensive watch reflecting the flames from the fire, he had seemed both familiar and yet unnervingly different. Like the large Flemish tapestry in the drawing room after it had been taken away for refurbishing and returned with its previous faded tones restored to lush colour.
But out here, with his coat hunched around his shoulders and his rain-splashed face tipped up accusingly, he looked exactly like the beautiful wild boy she had fallen in love with at first sight.
Only he no longer loved her. Instead, she was just a woman he had agreed to walk home for a friend.
It was too much to bear.
/> The misery inside her twisted sharply, flared into an unfamiliar anger. ‘So don’t do it, then. Just turn around and go back the way you came.’
His face hardened. ‘If it was up to me I would. But unfortunately Diane asked me to walk you home and I said I would.’
Even through the thick wool of her coat, the disdain on his face made her skin sting.
‘And, unlike some people, I keep my word.’
She tugged herself free. ‘Fine—but let go of me.’
‘With pleasure.’
They stepped apart, squaring up to one another like two squalling cats, and then he handed her the umbrella Diane had insisted he take.
‘Here, have this.’
She was about to refuse, but he had already turned and was walking away.
The moon peeped out from behind the shadow of a cloud and then instantly retreated. Lucky moon, she thought, feeling bubbles of anger and misery bobbing inside her chest as he silently kept pace with her.
The worst is over.