Before He Was Mine (Before Series, Book 2)

An Unexpected Ally

Will was not trying to stalk her. Honestly, he wasn't.

But it was just as it had been for the last two years. Every time Emilia was in London, he tended to see her wherever he went. It was almost as if she was stalking him. But he knew that wasn't true.

Because typically, when Will would see Emilia out in public, he was never close enough for her to realize. And he was never close enough to feel her presence. Will was never close enough to feel how she would laugh and smile, how she would make his skin uncomfortably tight for his body.

But today, it was different. Will was walking through Hyde Park when he saw them. Emilia was chatting amiably with Lady Worthington and Lord Trevor, sitting in the viscount's Phaeton. She smiled pleasantly at Trevor, radiating warmth, and Will stiffened with jealousy.

He knew he did not have the right to be jealous, but Will had never had to watch from afar while Emilia had courted another man's affections before. His body was not sure how to handle it. He couldn't continue on his walk; he couldn't figure out how to move his stiff limbs at all.

Relief came when the threesome grew silent, and Emilia turned to survey her surroundings, leading her gaze directly to his.

He saw the way she startled before glancing around to make sure no one else noticed. Then her amber eyes returned to his, and Will could not look away. Her eyes held him, guarded. She no longer had that lovely, open look that she had when Will had met her.

Everything was evident in the look on her face.

Emilia said that he could trust her, but it was not trust Will needed. He required absolution from what he had done. And the tortured way she had been looking at him the past several months told Will that she likely wouldn't be able to give it.

He shook his head ever so slightly to clear his thoughts, tearing his gaze away from hers in the process.

He tried not to look back and continued on his walk, which he had begun to simply clear his mind. Will had been pouring over papers that he found in his father's desk. The senseless man kept a record of every nefarious thing he had ever done. And after days of reading of it, Will was starting to break down, knowing that there had been nothing good left of his father by the time he had passed away.

Perhaps there had never been anything good about him. Will was not certain.

Eventually, Will rounded the corner to return to his townhouse, retreating into the darkness of his study. He sunk back into his chair, glaring down at the scattered papers on his desk before finding the one he was looking for. Will was unsure how much time had passed while he continued to sit and stare at the same letter.

It was somewhere around the time of day when evening turns into the black of night that he heard it. There was a loud banging on the front door. Will listened curiously as a servant opened the door and invited the visitor inside. A man's voice echoed through the foyer of his home and then gradually drew closer to where Will sat in his study.

By the time the man was before Will, he was sure of the voice. But it did not stall his curiosity.

"I've just heard the most interesting tale about you," the man drawled from the door. Lloyd looked at Will apologetically from behind the visitor, hoping to be forgiven for the outburst into his private chambers. Will gave Lloyd a simple nod, and the butler gratefully took his leave.

"How nice of you to visit, Farrington," Will said, turning to the earl in front of him. "Is this a personal call? It has been some years, has it not?"

Leo had never forgiven him for the way Will treated a woman such as Emilia. They hadn't spoken in ages.

Even though Leo had originally been unsure of Will's interest in Emilia, his friend had warmed to her eventually. Actually, warmed might be an understatement. Leo and Emilia had become positively chummy. Very few people could get Leo to laugh like Emilia could.