My Favorite Major (Heroes Returned Book 1) (8 page)

Amelia couldn’t even find her voice as Major Moore tugged her through the crowd and down the steps outside the theatre where he signaled Clayworth’s driver. Finally, she dug her heels in, refusing to go another step towards the carriage until they had this out. He had clearly lost his mind.

“
You can’t duel with him, Major.”

His dark eyes settled on her, and Amelia could only blink. Heaven help anyone who crossed this man. “That is none of your concern, my dear.”

But he didn’t understand, and she wouldn’t see him dead because of her. “Of course it’s my concern. You wouldn’t have ever even met him if you weren’t trying to protect me. I won’t have your death on my conscience, sir.”

At that, Major Moore tipped back his head and laughed, a rich sound that would have normally filled Amelia with warmth and pride to have engendered such a response from him. But not now, not considering what he was laughing about.

“
I hardly find this amusing.”

“
Of course not. You ladies simply don’t understand these things. And if you did, I’m not sure even then that you’d see the humor in them.” He opened Clayworth’s coach door and gestured to the interior with a tilt of his head. “Climb in, Amelia, we have much to discuss.”

They did. Starting with his insane notion that he needed to put himself in front of Geoffrey Mason’s pistol. The villain had already killed enough people. But Catherine Street was hardly the place for such a discussion, so Amelia stepped inside the coach and settled on one of the benches.

Less than a moment later, Major Moore joined her on her bench and tapped on the roof with his cane. As the coach lurched forward, he placed a steadying hand on her arm and said, “Now I’ll have that truth, Amelia. I want to know what Mason has done that so terrifies you.”

How had he known Geoffrey terrified her? Amelia stared at the Major and said the only thing she thought would distract him from his questions. “I didn’t give you leave to use my Christian name.” In fact, it wasn’t until this moment she realized he’d been calling her that for some time.

The Major heaved a sigh. “We hardly have time for such formalities. Now, I am waiting on your answer. What did Mason do, Amelia?”

“
That’s neither here nor there.” Besides, she didn’t have any proof, and she’d sound like an idiot if she blurted out her suspicions. “You can’t fight a duel with the man. Go back and smooth things over.”

“
You’re hardly the first lady to tell me I can’t fight in a duel, I didn’t pay the last one any attention either.”

“
And is that how you got injured?” Amelia blurted before she thought the better of it.

But Major Moore shook his head. “My leg took a French ball in Waterloo and a rather nasty jab from a bayonet. The surgeons were able to fish the fragments out, but I’ll never walk the same again.”

“
I am sorry,” she said, and meant it. What a horrible thing to mention, as all he was really trying to do was help her. Still, she didn’t want the next bullet fired at him to do even more damage. “Please don’t engage Mr. Mason in this foolishness.”

Major Moore scrubbed a hand down his face. “I am confident in my abilities, Amelia. Now tell me what Mason has done that so frightens you.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to you get hurt on my behalf. You didn’t ask for any of this.”

“
Tell me,” he commanded, leaning forwards until his nose almost touched hers. His dark eyes were so beseeching Amelia could drown in them. He was, as Captain Avery had told her on more than one occasion, too noble by half.

“
I
did
tell you,” she stressed. “Mr. Mason returned from the continent. My brother Alan did not. And though I grieved for Alan, I was relieved the war had not taken both of them from me. But Geoffrey…er…Mr. Mason wasn’t the same as I remembered him, or perhaps I changed in his absence, or perhaps I never really knew him to begin with. In any event, we no longer suited, so I ended our betrothal.”

He shook his head. “There’s more to it than that. I can see it in your eyes.”

Amelia heaved a sigh. He was more stubborn than a bull. “Why did you name your second as Lieutenant Avery and not Captain Avery?”

A ghost of a smile settled on the major’s lips. “Your distractions won’t work, Amelia. I am waiting for the whole truth.”

But she had to try. “I thought Captain Avery was your closest friend.” The captain had said so from the very beginning, after all.

Major Moore chuckled softly. “Very well. I will make you a deal. When you tell me the whole truth about Mr. Mason, I will tell you why Lieutenant Avery is a much better choice for a second than my dear friend the captain.”

“
But I’ve already told you everything,” she insisted.

The major responded by shaking his head once more. “You’ve not told me everything, and we both know it.”

If she’d been standing, Amelia would have stomped her foot in frustration. “And what makes you so certain? You’re barely acquainted with me. I
have
told you everything.”

He smoothed a hand over her cheek, nearly stealing Amelia of her breath. “It doesn’t matter how long I’ve known you, Amelia. I know you’re holding back.”

“
But—” she began to protest.

But he spoke over her. “Last night you fled the ballroom in your attempt to escape him. This evening you couldn’t stop shaking – do you even realize that, I wonder?”

Had she been shaking?

“
It’s true,” he said, confirming her unvoiced question. “Upon seeing Mason, your whole body quaked with fear. I’ve been in battle with men who were terrified, and you had the same look about you, my dear. And the story you’ve told me thus far would not create such a reaction in you. I know there’s something you’re not telling me. And we had a deal. I helped you escape him, and now I want the truth.”

“
Very well.” Amelia sighed as she dropped her eyes to her lap. “I think he killed my brother,” she whispered so softly, she barely heard the words herself.

Philip wasn’t certain he heard her correctly. He tipped her chin up with one crooked finger so she had to meet his eyes. “You think he killed your brother?”

“
I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” She tried to slide away from him, but Philip grasped her shoulder to keep her still.

“
That is quite the accusation, Amelia. I thought you said your brother died in the war.”

She nodded. “At Quatre Bras, along with several other underage boys. I know it sounds ridiculous, as I wasn’t there. And I don’t have any proof. None for my father and none for you. But I know it as sure as I know my own name. Geoffrey killed Alan, and he did it for my inheritance, or what would be mine if my brother was no longer living. And what would be his after we were married.”

Philip wasn’t certain what he’d thought she would reveal, but murder certainly wasn’t it. “Did you tell your father this?”

Amelia shook her head. “He’s always thought of Geoffrey as a son. I started to broach the subject, but it was clear Papa wouldn’t have believed me, and he was already mourning Alan’s loss. So I begged him to let me cry off instead.”

“
Is it possible your grief over your brother’s death has clouded your judgment on this? That you blame Mason somehow for not saving your brother on the field?”

She shook her head once more. “No. And I don’t expect you to believe me. I don’t expect anyone to believe me.” Then she clutched his jacket in her hands and pulled him closer to her, bringing Philip’s face within a hairsbreadth of her own. “I can’t have your death on my conscience, Major. Please go back and smooth things over. Tell him I’m not really your fiancée. Tell him anything you like, but don’t duel over me. I beg you.”

He couldn’t remember the last time a lady was concerned about him. Caught up in the moment, Philip dipped his head incrementally lower until his lips brushed hers. She gasped slightly in surprise, then her eyes fluttered shut as she leaned closer to him, actually kissing him back. Her soft lips were like heaven, a balm for his soul, and Philip caressed the apple of her cheek with his finger.

He hadn’t meant to kiss her, at least he didn’t think so. He wasn’t even sure what had come over him, but holding her close, her lilac scent enveloping him, Philip was lost. He deepened his kiss and swept his tongue into her mouth. Dear God, she tasted as good as she smelled. He hadn’t kissed a woman since Oliv—

What the devil had come over him? Philip pulled back from the kiss and stared at Amelia. “I’m so terribly sorry.”

She slid away from him on the bench, wedging herself against the wall of the coach. “No, I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

She wasn’t alone in that. Philip never lost control. Never. But now it was difficult to even put two rational thoughts together. Still, he struggled to do so. “Well—um—you asked why I would choose Lieutenant Avery over his brother as my second,” he began, theorizing that if he spoke on another topic, it would clear his brain and keep the awkwardness of their current situation from becoming worse. “Well, I made the mistake of having Russell be my second once before, you see.”

“
You said something to that affect back at the theatre. How many times have you dueled, Major? The last time I checked, such honorable acts were illegal.”

Philip bit back a smile at her censure. “I’ve only participated in
one
duel. Unfortunately the fellows responsible for making the arrangements agreed on ending it at first blood drawn. I won, but the win was hardly satisfactory.”

Amelia slid closer to him again, disbelief in her pretty blue eyes. “Did you want to kill the other man?”

Only every day since Philip learned Kelfield had stolen Olivia from him. Still, Amelia looked aghast at the suggestion. And after kissing her, he hated the idea of her thinking him awful. So he’d have to make her understand, or try to. “He compromised and then married my betrothed while I was with my regiment. I’d have done anything to save her from a life with the villain. Nicking him with my rapier hardly assuaged my pride. But more importantly, my failure to free her from the man has doomed her to a life with him.”

“
You still love her?”

Philip shrugged. What did it matter if he did or didn’t? Olivia was lost to him. “Do you still love Mason?” he asked instead of answering, truly wanting to know the answer.

Amelia shook her head emphatically. “No. I’m not sure I ever really did. I mean I thought I loved him. But he isn’t who I thought he was, so I don’t think that love was ever real. Does that make sense?”

“
Your feelings most certainly were or are real, even if the man is as duplicitous as you seem to believe. If you learned you were wrong about him, if you had proof that your brother died an honorable death on the field of battle, would you find your feelings of love for Mason return to you?”

“
But he did kill Alan.”

“
You didn’t answer my question.”

“
And you didn’t answer mine. Do you still love the woman you fought your duel over?”

Philip heaved a sigh and turned his gaze to the darkness of London outside the window. “I will always love her, for all the good it does either of us.”