Scarlett felt her face fall.

It fell like her heart. It fell like her hopes. It fell like the pit in her stomach.

She knew it was only a matter of time before Leo would marry, but Scarlett hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"I told you this would happen, Lettie!" Damien immediately spewed.

Emilia looked taken aback by his outburst. "You knew what was going to happen?" she asked him.

"That Farrington was going to make her fall in love with him, and then he was going to run off and marry some rich debutante!"

"Oh, shush. Do be quiet," Emilia scoffed, stomping in to take a seat next to Scarlett, glaring at Damien all the while. "Is this what you've been filling her head with?"

Damien gaped at their new guest, likely struggling to believe that she'd actually told him to be quiet.

"That is not what is happening," Emilia went on to say. "Leo loves her, and yet Scarlett is telling him that she's involved in a relationship with you!"

Silence rang in the room, and it was heavy. Scarlett cringed a little at hearing the words from Emilia's mouth, but it still didn't change anything.

Damien's jaw had come unhinged, not for the first time that day. His eyes kept shifting from Scarlett to Emilia, as if wondering what to believe. Finally, he turned toward Scarlett. "Farrington told you that he loves you?" he asked, his tone indicating that the idea was incredulous.

Emilia blinked at Scarlett, urging her to tell the truth. But Scarlett's throat had run dry. She attempted to swallow, but her tongue scratched against the top of her mouth.

Ignoring both of her guests, Scarlett turned and rang for tea. She needed something that would soothe this ache. Surely, tea would do. Tea would fix this.

Her servants were startlingly fast at preparing the tea, but alas, it did not fix the problem.

She tried to clear her throat. "Would anyone like tea?" Scarlett asked, politely offering a drink despite the awkward silence.

"Scarlett..." Damien began, urging her back to their conversation.

She cleared her throat again. "It doesn't matter what Leo said. It would seem that he has made an excellent match with Lady Penelope."

Emilia took the wristlet she'd been carrying and hit Scarlett's arm with it.

"Ow!" Scarlett complained. "What was that for?"

"No, he hasn't. An excellent match would be with you. He wants you." Emilia rolled her eyes. "Honestly, this is why I am here."

"Is this true?" Damien asked, looking between the two of them.

"Of course, it's true!" Emilia said before Scarlett could answer.

Emilia withdrew her arms from her cloak and settled back into the settee. She carefully prepared a cup of tea. "Now, what's going on here?" She gestured between Emilia and Damien.

"Just wait," Damien said, holding his hand up. "Just wait. First, I need to ask Lettie a question." He twisted toward her with an intent look. "Do you love him? Farrington?"

Scarlett bit her lip. Emilia leaned closer, peering at her above her teacup.

"Of course, I do!" Scarlett cried out, the words bursting from her lips. Then she grew quieter. "I fear I have loved him for longer than I will ever know."

Damien merely nodded for a moment before glancing over at Emilia. "There is nothing going on between Lettie and me outside of friendship," he answered her. "There never has been."

"Never?" Emilia seemed surprised at that.

"Never," Scarlett murmured, confirming it.

Suddenly she found that she couldn't sit any longer. There was a humming within her that wouldn't allow Scarlett to stay in place. She abandoned her tea, jumping up and beginning to pace across the parlor, her feet wearing a path in the woven rug.

"Then why did you tell Leo that you're having an affair?" Emilia asked, her brows furrowing.

"It's because of the wager," Damien answered for Scarlett. She was surprised that Damien was willing to tell Emilia the truth, but Scarlett was also relieved. She was tired of carrying this secret nearly alone.

"Ah, yes," Emilia said, before taking a sip of her tea. "The wager."

Scarlett halted. "You know of it?"

Emilia smirked but then sat up straighter, realization hitting her. "Wait...you know of it?" she asked Scarlett.

A dry little laugh escaped Scarlett. "We created it. Damien and I created it and then pretended to be in a relationship to reap the rewards."

Emilia's teacup clanked down onto its saucer unceremoniously as she gaped up at Scarlett.

"And then when Lord Symons reopened the wager, we decided we would do it again," Damien finished for her.

"So this is all about money?" Emilia asked.

"It's always about money," Scarlett exclaimed, and Emilia appeared taken aback. She hadn't seen this side of Scarlett before, but Scarlett didn't care to restrain herself any longer. "When you're a woman living alone, you must be creative regarding your income, Emilia. And before you say it—I refuse to become a charity case. And I cannot be Leo's mistress. I cannot be anyone's mistress."

"But Leo would marry you, Scarlett!"

Scarlett shook her head, refusing to believe the false hope that Emilia was presenting. "You don't know that, Emilia. I'm not anything like Lady Penelope. I created a reputation for myself that does not align with the type of woman his family would want for him."

Emilia sighed. "I do not agree with you, dear. You are making assumptions, likely due to the words he's been spewing." She pointed angrily at Damien then glanced back to Scarlett. "Will you not at least tell Leo that you love him?"

Scarlett threw her hands up in frustration before revealing the truth. "I do not know what I would do if I told him I loved him, and he still married another woman."

"Would you feel any worse than you do now?" Emilia asked, cocking her head to the side. "Sometimes we have to risk a piece of ourselves in order to become whole, Scarlett."

"I don't know," she confessed, "but what if it were worse than this? I don't think I could handle it."

Scarlett abruptly halted and squeezed her eyes shut. She realized that her breathing was heavy from the weight of her heart and the rushing of her feet. She tried to force it to slow, but the echoes of Leo's voice and Emilia's words just kept swirling in her head, egging on her breathlessness.

And that was when Scarlett figured out that she was a lie. She'd always known that, but now it was everything—everything about her. Because apparently she even had a delicate feminine nature, and it was ruining everything.

The tightening in her chest worsened, and Scarlett's eyes flashed open, searching out Damien.

"Scarlett?" he asked, automatically noticing something was wrong.

Her hand flew to her chest as the weight in it became unbearable.

"Sit down, Scarlett," Damien demanded, jumping up to help her.

But by this point, Scarlett was beyond help. She gasped, but nothing entered her lungs. Her lungs had run as dry as her throat, being constricted by the heaviness in her chest. It was worse than she had ever felt. There was so little air, if any at all, and she felt like she was drowning.

"What's happening?" Emilia exclaimed, leaning forward with an alarmed expression. "Scarlett, dear?"

"Try to relax, Scarlett," Damien murmured hesitantly.

Scarlett shook her head. She couldn't relax. She wasn't sure how to relax.

Not knowing what else to do, Scarlett pointed to the new bottle of medication that she'd been prescribed that morning, and Damien instantly grabbed it, bringing it toward her. He pulled a cloth from under the tray of tea, unscrewed the cap of the medicine, and poured just a splash onto the fabric.

Damien hastily set the bottle back onto the table, and Emilia reached for it, examining it with a curious eye.

"Breathe it in, Lettie," Damien said, his voice soothing as he brought the cloth toward Scarlett's gasping mouth.

The last thing that Scarlett saw before everything went dark was Emilia jumping up and crying, "No!"

****

Leo was lying on the floor of the Aston Manor drawing-room like a child. He'd been spending the afternoon teaching the boys—Maverick and Langdon—how to play cards. Langdon had caught on splendidly, which hadn't really surprised Leo. Mav, on the other hand, played whatever card he felt like at that moment. And really, that was fine with Leo. It didn't actually matter.

"Your turn, Leo," Maverick said, smiling up at his older brother with his tongue sticking through his teeth. Leo couldn't resist reaching over and ruffling Mav's hair before glancing down at the cards in his hand.

But Leo's strategizing halted as he heard the front door open and close. Echoes of voices in the foyer grew clearer and louder as footsteps pounded through the hallway, approaching where Leo sat with the boys.

"Farrington!" A voice shouted. "Where are you, Farrington?"

Leo jumped to his feet. "Bloody hell," he swore as Eades pushed past the butler, bursting into the drawing-room.

Leo glanced behind him at where Maverick and Langdon sat wide-eyed, staring at the intruder. Curling his fingers into a fist, Leo swore again—this time internally. He didn't need for Eades to know about Maverick. But it was apparently too late for that.

"Get out," Leo spat, glaring at Eades.

"Farrington, I—" Eades began, but Leo had no desire to see or hear this man.

"I said leave, Eades. You cannot barge into my family's home like this. I'm not going to break your nose again in the presence of children, so you need to go."

"Break his nose anyway, Lord F!" Langdon's voice rang out from behind Leo.

Eades didn't heed the warning, advancing into the room anyway. He reached toward Leo. "I need you to come with me, Farrington."

"I'll be damned if I go anywhere with you," Leo growled, pushing back at him.

"Christ, Farrington," Eades yelled. "We don't have time for this. Let us go!" He gestured for Leo to follow him through the door.

"Go where?"

"It's Scarlett!" Eades exploded.

Leo froze, and the world spun around him. "What the hell did you do?" he bit out, taking a threatening step forward. Leo's mind began to fly through all of the possibilities of what could have happened, his hands clenching tighter at the thoughts. 

"I didn't do anything!" Then Eades lowered his voice and added, "I'll tell you about it on the way. But you need to come now, or I'm afraid Lady Trotten will have my head."

At the mention of Emilia, Leo obeyed, striding out the door with his heart in his throat.