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His brother was fine, at least. Staying with a friend. Testing the waters to see if it was safe for him to return. And while he was sorry for his actions—that was very Edmund, asking for forgiveness, rather than permission—the fact that he wished to return was good news. News that Selina should have been glad to hear. That she should have expected to make Benedict so distracted.

The justification fell flat on his conscience and did not make him feel any better. If anything, he only felt worse.

Worse still when Mr. Harris returned moments later…

“Your Grace,” he announced as he strode into the dining room, “I have some troubling news.”

Benedict’s stomach dropped. “She is not coming.”

“Impossible to say, Your Grace, for Her Grace was not in her bedroom, nor is she anywhere in the manor. I asked her chambermaid, who has not seen her since the previous evening, suggesting that she either snuck out last night or early this morning.”

“She… she is gone?” Benedict blinked, not entirely certain how he should feel.

“It would seem that way.”

Benedict’s first instinct was to panic. Considering how he had spoken to Selina last night, he could not escape the feeling that her disappearance was his fault. That she was upset with him and had decided to leave to teach him a lesson or something of that nature. That did sound like something that she would do.

But then he had to ask himselfwhyshe was upset in the first place. If they were just friends, then surely she could not have been that angry with him. Disappointed, perhaps. But not enough that she would run away.

“Shall I send out a search party, Your Grace?” Mr. Harris asked.

“No,” Benedict spoke slowly, “I do not think that will be necessary.”

“But Your Grace?—”

“It is fine, Harris,” he insisted. “Likely, she had gone for an early walk and will be back shortly. It is not that big of a deal.”

Easy words to speak. Harder words to believe.

Benedict broke his fast alone, doing what he could to ignore the guilt churning in his stomach, trying his best to convince himself that this was nothing. He and Selina had come so far these past few days, further than either would have thought possible. There was no reason that his dismissal of her the previous evening should have caused such a reaction.

She would return shortly, they would laugh about the misunderstanding, and that would be the end of it.

He was about to adjourn to his study when he remembered that he had purposefully finished his work yesterday so he could take today off. He had told Selina as much, and she had sounded excited by the prospect.

Again, the fact that she was not here, that she had left without saying anything…

Is now the time to panic?

It should have been obvious that it was panic Benedict was feeling and not anger. He did not rue the fact that she had not thought to let him know what she was doing. Rather, he worried that something had happened to her and that he might be responsible.

“Harris!” he called as he stormed out of the dining room. “Any word?”

“Your Grace!” Mr. Harris came hurrying from around the corner. “I have just come from the stables.”

“And your reason for that?”

“One of the horses is gone, Your Grace,” he explained, out of breath, his face beet red. “According to the stablehand, the tracks lead north toward the forest.”

“She went horse riding,” Benedict groaned. “Why on earth would she do such a thing so early in the morning?”

Mr. Harris looked pointedly at him. “Perhaps she was not certain if you would join her for breakfast, Your Grace, so she saw no need to attend.”

Benedict groaned again and ran a hand through his hair. From his experience with women, he knew them to be temperamental, sensitive creatures likely to take small misunderstandings and spin them out of control. This was not his fault! He had done nothing wrong!

And yet… if that was true, he would not have asked Mr. Harris to have his horse saddled so he might go after her. Which he did do, without delay.

“Shall I send someone with you?” Mr. Harris asked him.