Okay. They were the known factors. So, what didn’t she know?
One. She didn’t know how Jasper felt about her. Oh, she knew that he wanted her, that much was obvious. But beyond that? She got the impression he was just as confused by it all as she was.
Was that it? If that was the only thing she didn’t know—and, really, since Jasper was leaving anyway did it really matter how he felt?—then surely she should be able to make a decision on the information she had?
In fact, Tori knew deep down that she’d already made her choice. She’d felt it in the way she’d kept Jasper at arm’s length—emotionally, if not physically—and she’d felt it sink in when he’d looked so confused by his mother’s ability to forgive his father.
She wanted this job, this chance, and she couldn’t give it up for someone who wasn’t even staying around. And even if Jasper could forgive that, she wasn’t going to even consider the idea of a long-distance relationship—not after what had happened the last time she’d tried it. In the end, the mistrust and the distance had destroyed not only her relationship with Tyler, but Tyler himself.
She needed to move on; she knew that now. The guilt was too heavy to hold onto for ever. But her heart ached too much to put it down. She didn’t even know who she would be without it, after so long.
No. Better to end this thing with Jasper now, and move on with her solitary life. Box up the last couple of weeks and store them away in her heart with all the other painful memories, until she was strong enough to look at them again. One day.
With one last look to check that Jasper was still busy entertaining the guests, Tori slipped away to find the earl and tell him her decision.
And then she would go back to her cottage to pack.
She had a feeling that when Jasper found out, she’d be more welcome at the Moorside Inn than at Flaxstone, anyway.
* * *
The party was so busy, so loud, that it took Jasper some time to realise that Tori wasn’t there any longer. He searched all the usual places—the buffet table, the dance floor, the quiet areas his mother set aside for conversation and flirtation—no sign of her. He even lingered outside the incredibly swanky portable bathrooms set up in the quad in case she was in there—although since she had access to a bedroom with its own bathroom upstairs it seemed unlikely. No Tori.
‘Jasper!’ His father’s voice boomed out as he re-entered the ballroom where the main party was taking place. ‘Let me introduce you to—’
‘Have you seen Tori?’ Jasper interrupted. ‘I need to find her.’ He knew there was something weird going on with her tonight. Why had he even let her out of his sight?
Because I’m not her boss. I have no control over where she goes or what she does. I’m not even her boyfriend; I don’t even have the right to ask, really.
He should have talked to her earlier. Told her all the things he’d realised during his walk. Told her he was thinking of moving back home. That he didn’t want to be without her any longer. More talking and less seduction might have meant that their positions were clearer and she might even have shared whatever was going on with her. But she’d displayed that long, slender back, naked under her dress, and he’d lost his mind over her. Again.
‘Not since she told me the good news!’ the earl said, raising his champagne glass in a happy mock toast.
Jasper froze. ‘Good news?’ All his instincts were screaming that whatever the news was, it wasn’t going to be good for him. Otherwise she’d have told him first.
‘Yes! That she’s taking the job at Stonebury with Felix.’ The earl’s eyes widened a fraction. ‘I assumed she’d spoken to you about it first...’
‘Well, she hadn’t,’ Jasper snapped. Around them, awkward partygoers were starting to sidle away, but he didn’t care. Suddenly, things were falling into place. This was why she’d been distant upstairs, earlier. She’d already made her decision to leave, without even talking to him about it. He’d thought their lovemaking had been the start of something. But apparently Tori had been saying goodbye.
‘When she said she needed time to consider, I interpreted that as a conversation between the two of you. I mean, it was obvious that you two were, well, fond of each other, and with you staying here at Flaxstone now—’
‘I never said I was staying.’ But he wanted to. He wanted to stay here with Tori. Or at Stonebury with her. Except she’d be there with Felix, apparently. The half-brother he hadn’t even managed a full and unstilted conversation with, yet. The one she’d chosen over him all the same.
This wasn’t a steak and ale pie she was stealing. She’d taken their whole plan, the project they’d designed for his mother, and handed it over to Felix instead, without even considering him.
‘Well, maybe that’s why Tori didn’t talk to you about it, then,’ the earl said, far too reasonably for Jasper’s liking. ‘If you’re not here what does it matter where she goes?’
‘You know why it matters.’ Anger was rising through him now, red hot as it burned through his chest, up his throat and out of his mouth. ‘We planned Stonebury as an escape for Mother, you know that. And now you’re taking whatever you want and screwing it all up again, just like you did nearly thirty years ago. You always want everything, don’t you? To have your cake and eat it. You wanted to marry Mother for her money, and you wanted your mistress on the side. You wanted your legal heir and your illegitimate son growing up together, even if neither of them knew the truth. And now you want to tell the world that Felix is your son and damn the consequences for anyone else, and even if it means stealing away the woman I’m falling in love with from me.’
It was the gasps—those sharp intakes of breath that spoke of total shock—that made Jasper realise he was shouting. And the instant chatter that followed that alerted him to what he’d actually said.
Oh, God. He was in love with Tori Edwards. When the hell had that happened?
The minute she kissed you, you idiot, his brain retorted.
But it wasn’t until he turned and saw Felix and Tori standing in the open doorway, their eyes wide with horror, that he realised what it all meant.
‘Well, son,’ his father said softly. ‘I think you’ve outdone me this time, don’t you?’
Jasper blinked, and Tori and Felix were gone, probably running away, but he couldn’t even blame them. Who told a woman they loved her in front of an entire party while yelling at their father and spilling family secrets? Although, in fairness, he hadn’t known he was going to say it until it was out there.
He hadn’t even known he felt it. But now, looking back at their meandering relationship...it seemed impossible that he’d ever not known. When he’d returned to Flaxstone, he’d thought Tori was just unfinished business—one night that could have been more but never got the chance to be.
But now he knew better. He knew she was his future. Or she could have been.
‘Yes, Dad,’ he said, his voice faint. ‘This time it’s all me.’
And he wasn’t even sure he deserved forgiveness.
* * *
Tori hoisted her overnight bag onto her shoulder as she stormed down the path to her cottage, Felix hurrying after her.
‘Are you this furious with him on my behalf or on your own?’ Felix asked as she fumbled with the key in her lock. ‘Because, you know, this wasn’t exactly how I wanted the news to come out, for sure. But he said he loved you.’
‘Because he’s trying to make me feel guilty about taking the job. Or manipulate me into turning it down, one or the other. I’ve been here before.’
She knew how this went. She’d been exactly here with Tyler, and she wasn’t going to let herself get caught up in it again.
‘Or because...he really means it?’ Felix suggested, eyebrows raised.
Tori sighed. She liked Felix, really she did. But considering his birth and upbringing he had a surprisingly uncomp
licated view of the world. Opening her front door, she tried to find the familiar sensation of home. Of security.
It wasn’t there.
She stepped inside anyway, turning back to stop Felix on the threshold.
‘Look, I appreciate you trying to help, but unless you want to do my packing for me you might as well go back to the party.’ She caught the uncomfortable look on his face and realised: he couldn’t go back either. Everyone would be talking about him and him being there wouldn’t stop that. If anything, it would make it worse.
Yeah, maybe Felix was having a worse night than her.
Fumbling with her key ring, she removed a silver key and pressed it into his palm. ‘Sneak in through the locked garage entrance, and head up to the Yellow Room,’ she suggested. ‘I’m not going to be using it again tonight.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Very.’ She wasn’t going back to Flaxstone Hall tonight. Or possibly at all, until she was sure that Jasper was safely on another continent. ‘Wait!’ She took another key from the ring and handed it to him.
‘Why do I need your cottage key?’
‘Just...in case,’ she said. She didn’t know in case of what—or didn’t want to think about it. In case I never come back. ‘And maybe you could water my Christmas tree while I’m gone?’
Felix rolled his eyes, but took the key and left. As she shed her dress and changed into normal clothes, grabbing her overnight bag, Tori felt a pang of guilt for leaving Felix to weather this night on his own, but she had to get moving fast, before Jasper—