TWO ALONG THEIR WAY ┃a. bridgerton

13: the impossible truth

"Lord Bridgerton!" Anna had mere seconds to set herself straight, to rein in her emotions and set her mind to Edwina and the marriage before Anthony and Lady Bridgerton were turning to face her in the hallway. She was flustered she knew, but she could easily blame it on the harsh words delivered by her grandparent's instead of his rousing speech made it defence of her family. It had sparked something akin to hope in Anna, made her feel like she was not fighting alone. But it could not last, she knew. "I beg a word."

"We must be going," he insisted.

"Please."

Anthony waited one second, and then he was turning to his mother and telling her to go on without him, and then he was following Anna into another room without being asked. She was half expecting that he'd scorn her and go, but somehow one word was all it took for him to change his mind, to hear what she had to say. Somewhere deep inside, Anna knew that that meant. She could not indulge in it, and had every intention of killing it in the moments to come. All that mattered now was her sisters, because what else did she have to live for?

"Edwina did not know about this," she said straight away. "There was never any intention to take the Sheffield's money. Kate was just trying to be helpful. She did not mean any harm by it. You cannot be angry at them."

"I am not," he replied. Anna narrowed her eyes.

"You are angry at me?" she guessed. "I had no idea this was a thing until yesterday! Kate came to me and I told her I was going to turn the money down! I would never take a penny from those people, especially not now!"

"I take it there is to be no dowry?"

"You-" Anna scoffed. She was taken aback by it. "Did you not hear when I said I sold everything to my name? That is their dowries, Lord Bridgerton! I know how English high society works, I was not walking into it unprepared. I am not a fool!"

"It does not matter," he said bluntly. "Clearly, Miss Edwina and I have been misled, and it is best to call off this doomed engagement before it is the cause of any more strife. Of course, I would never besmirch her reputation. My mother and Lady Danbury will make a plan-"

"You are using this as an excuse," she accused him. "May I remind you that you are the one who proposed to her? You have been fighting for her from the very beginning and when I finally put aside my grievances, you have your own! You should have figured this out a long time ago Lord Bridgerton. My sister has been nothing but-"

"It is not Miss Edwina, it is you," he declared quietly. "You have made this match impossible."

"I am staying out of your way!" she insisted. "I am leaving for India!"

"And it is not far enough!" Anthony hissed. "Do you think there is a corner of this earth you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honour, but that honour is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence... and the object of all my desires."

"You do not mean that," Anna whispered with a shake of her head. She desperately needed him to take those words back, but instead he was stepping closer to her, making the air grow hot and making the shadows within her mind scream in agony.

"Night and day, I dream of you," he continued his confession, not caring that she was trying to deny it. And what I... Do you even know all the ways a lady could be seduced? The things I could teach you..."

She knew, but not in any good way. Anything she'd heard about sex had been from the perspective of someone who'd been forced into it. And she knew it could be a good experience, surely, but it could equally be the thing that destroyed a life. Anna tilted her head away from Anthony, his face close enough that he could lean forward and kissed her if he wished. His nose grazed across her cheek, and then he pressed his forehead against hers.