Eliza closed her eyes, letting his words wash over her. “Nor I, you,” she said, looking up at him again.
His handsome face broke into a grin.
“But what about Theresa?” she forced herself to ask. She didn’t want to, but she had to know how Harrison felt about his betrothed.
Harrison’s smile fell away. He dropped her hand and turned his back on her. It was the longest moment of Eliza’s life.
“I care for Theresa. I do,” Harrison said passionately, facing her again. “We’ve known each other all our lives, and I don’t wish to hurt her.”
Eliza’s heart panged miserably in her chest. Perhaps she should have waited just a few minutes longer to ask the question. Perhaps she should have allowed herself just a couple of moments to bask in the bliss of Harrison’s attention before causing it all to crumble away.
“But you should know, Eliza, our engagement . . . it’s not real,” Harrison said. He stepped forward again, and this time he took both her hands in both of his.
“It’s not?” she asked, confused but hopeful.
“I have to admit, last summer when it became clear to everyone that Theresa Billings had turned her attentions to me . . . I was very flattered,” Harrison said. “All the fellows coveted her. They were all jealous. Of me.”
Eliza swallowed hard.
“I got swept up in it,” he said, lifting his shoulders. “Suddenly everyone was asking me when we’d be engaged, where we’d make our home together, where we’d honeymoon, and it just seemed like . . . that was what I was supposed to do. If Theresa Billings loves you . . . you love her back.”
Eliza looked at the ground. Tears blurred her vision.
“But Eliza . . .” Slowly he drew her fingers up. Her breath caught as he tentatively, sweetly, brought them to his lips. “Eliza,” he said again. “I don’t love her. I realize that now. I could never feel about her the way I feel about you.”
“And how is that?” Eliza said, feeling weightless.
Harrison swallowed hard, his eyes searching Eliza’s. “I feel . . . I feel . . .”
With his right hand he gently cupped the back of Eliza’s neck. He was going to kiss her. She could see it in his eyes. As his lips edged closer to hers, she realized that all she wanted in the world was for him to kiss her. Her eyes fluttered closed and she tilted her head back, aching for the feel of his lips against hers.
And then they heard a shout. Harrison backed away, his eyes scanning the dark trees around them.
“What was that?” he asked.
There was another shout, and this time, Eliza recognized Catherine’s voice. A gust of wind whirled through the trees, drowning out the next words, but Eliza could have sworn she heard Theresa respond. Her heart flew into her throat as a flash of lightning was followed quickly by a clap of thunder.
“Someone’s out there,” Harrison said, reaching for her protectively. “Come. I’ll take you back to Crenshaw.”
“No,” Eliza replied. Harrison looked at her, his face creased with confusion. “I mean . . . no, thank you, Harrison. I can find my own way back. If you’re caught on the Billings campus—”
“What is that to me when your safety is on the line?” Harrison said, placing his arm around her waist.
Eliza glanced over her shoulder as another shout was whisked away by the wind. Theresa and Catherine were out there right now, arguing, and she knew it most likely had something to do with her. She had to go to them. She had to stop this.
I’m sorry about this, Harrison, she thought. Then she placed her hand flat behind him, palm facing his back.
“Domicilus,” she whispered.
Instantly, Harrison released her and walked off, his eyes unfocused as if he was in a daze. He was headed for his own dorm on the Easton campus, just as the spell intended. Eliza bit her lip as his foot slipped on some wet leaves, but he righted himself and kept walking. She only hoped he would get there safely and not encounter anyone along the way.
“Stop it, Theresa!” Catherine’s voice shouted, closer than ever this time. “Let’s go back! Just come back with me!”
“Leave me alone!” Theresa responded. “You’re no friend to me, Catherine!”
Once again, the rain picked up, this time breaching the protective canopy of the trees and soaking Eliza through. She blinked the water off her lashes, hitched up her skirt, and ran toward the arguing voices, only hoping there was something she could do to help.
Broken