Page 13 of Miss Thornfield’s Daring Bargain (The Troublemakers Trilogy #1)

A da wouldn’t call herself an anxious person by nature, but at this point she was certain none of the London staff agreed with her. Ada had waited three days and nights for word from her husband before sneaking into Zhenyi’s study to find his address. Clearly the man needed reminding that she was still waiting for him to make her his wife. But it had been two days since then and nothing had come.

In that time, she sketched and watercolored a vase of hothouse flowers, learned and successfully executed two new strategies against her brother at ‘Go’ (much to his annoyance), and watched the post like a hawk. Lewis didn’t even bother setting letters on the table anymore. He just brought them directly to her. Richard hadn’t commented on it but today he’d asked her to join him for a walk in the park.

The moment she returned home, she’d headed for the foyer table, nearly upending the vase of flowers on it in her haste. There were several letters addressed to her brother, but none for her. Her heart sank in her chest as doubt began to gnaw at her. She’d believed that after the kiss they had shared he returned her feelings. But if he had, then what was the reason for not only his absence but his silence? Had she been wrong all this time? Was he avoiding her because he didn’t care about her in the same way?

“Everything all right?” Richard asked in their mother’s tongue.

She nodded and plastered what she hoped was a cheerful smile on her face, turning to face him with the letters in her hand. “Yes, these are for you, brother.”

Richard stared at her for a long moment. His face was inscrutable and his eyes sharp. He let out a short sigh and walked past her, pausing to snatch the letters from her hand. “Follow,” he called out, and she obeyed, terrified of what he was about to tell her. Had he already spoken to Basil? Did he know something she didn’t?

When they reached his office, he gestured for her to sit on the chaise. He set the letters on his desk, removed his jacket, and sat beside her, taking one of her tightly clenched hands into his. She felt ill. “I’ve given you enough time to manage this on your own. I assume breaking into my office didn’t yield you the results you wanted seeing as he hasn’t written to you as of yet.”

A cold rush of shock rippled through her body. “How did you—”

He gave her a pitying look, “Silly girl, did you think no one saw you? You think I didn’t notice half my papers were miraculously disturbed? Only you would be so bold as to touch anything on my desk.”

“Oh,” she looked down at her hand clenched in her lap. She’d been so focused on finding the address, she hadn’t thought about the state she’d left his desk. He hadn’t said a word about it either.

“Now that we’ve established that you’d make a terrible spy, I believe it is time we discussed your marriage.”

“What do you mean, brother?”

“I was trying to be delicate, but if you insist on being obtuse…” His tone was frank but loving. “Are you quite certain you understand the relationship between you and Basil?”

“I—” she stopped herself. She thought she had. Every passing day chipped away at that certainty like a chisel on flint.

“Tell me exactly what the agreement was.”

“I already told you.” She tried to pull her hand out of his, but his grip tightened.

“Tell me again.”

Ada looked away from him as her eyes began to burn. Somehow, she wondered if the repetition was for Zhenyi’s benefit or for hers. “I asked him to marry me in order to secure my fortune and ownership of the mills until we found you and brought you back, dead or alive.”

“Go on.”

“If you were alive, then we would annul the marriage as soon as you were safe.”

“Did he at any point tell you that he was changing his mind?”

Had he? He’d held her close. He’d taken her hand. He’d kissed the breath out of her in his mother’s foyer. But he’d never actually told her he wasn’t planning to annul their marriage as they’d planned a fortnight ago. Did any of it count if she’d never heard the words? “No,” she whispered.

“What did he do to make you think he had?”

She glanced over at Zhenyi and immediately looked away. His face was serious but there was a quiet, patient threat in his eyes she was growing used to. This wasn’t her sweet, mischievous brother anymore. This was the domineering guardian with something to prove. If she told him the truth he would act and possibly leave her a widow. “Nothing.”

He let out a slow exhale, released her hand and shifted his weight until he leaned back against the seat, casually crossing his legs. She stole a quick glance at him to see one arm laying on the arm rest, the other hand dormant on his leg. “A’Wei, I’m not going to ask you again, but you are not leaving this room until you answer.”

So, he was comfortable, but he wasn’t willing to let anything go as yet. “Promise you won’t get angry.”

“No. Talk.” Two words, sharp and curt slashed through the air. He was running out of patience, and she was running out of time. They were both stubborn, but Zhenyi had nearly a decade of a head start on her when it came to holding his ground. Capitulation was only a matter of time. The question was, how annoyed did she want him to be when he eventually faced Basil? Maybe if she gave in sooner, it would give him a fighting chance.

“We…kissed. Once.”

“Only once?”

“Yes, brother, when he came to bring me to you. He has been nothing but a perfect gentleman.

“Except for kissing you in his parents’ home.”

“Well, yes, but I wouldn’t consider that a mark against him. I wasn’t exactly unwilling.” She could have spent the entire day kissing him. Or the rest of her life. She knew her unwillingness to let go was due to the memory of what Basil’s kisses felt like. She didn’t want to consign them to the past.

The answering silence stretched out until she looked up to meet Zhenyi’s wide-eyed incredulous stare. As if he knew what she’d been thinking of. She pressed her lips together against a giggle, and he shook his head slowly.

“I thought it meant his feelings were the same. But it’s possible it was something else. If it is, then…”

“Then?”

“Then I suppose you’ll get to see me marry one day after all,” she said, with trepidation and what felt like hot coal sitting in her gut.