Even if he had had a reply.
* * * *
Nils readjusted his cravat, looking at the room reflected in the glass.
He was grateful that his eyesight had returned, although it had taken almost two days and multiple visits from the village doctor.
On the doctor’s orders, during the day, he had sat in this room with the drapes closed so he did not strain his eyes.
It was good that Tuthill’s assembly was being held after dark, or else Nils would have been unable to attend, for the sunlight still sent pangs shooting through his skull.
He glanced over his shoulder again and again as he finished pulling on his coat and adjusted his sleeves.
Only Linnea would understand why he was so edgy.
Jack just tried to stay out of his way.
Hearing a noise, he turned, but saw no one behind him.
Stepping away from the glass, he resisted rubbing his still itchy eyes.
Loki may have intended to teach him a lesson, but it was one he had already known.
Loki was as insane as some of the old stories had suggested.
Nils walked down the stairs toward the foyer.
The buzz of excited voices met him.
He was surprised to see Linnea standing off to one side with Dr. Foster.
While her parents and Martin and Minnie waited by the door, she seemed to be in intense conversation with the professor.
“How do you fare?” Lady Sutherland asked as Nils stepped down from the lowest riser.
“Much better.”
He bowed over her kid glove-encased hand.
“Such a freak accident.”
She shook her head.
“I have never heard of its like.”
“Nor I.”
Martin asked, “Has your eyesight fully returned? The doctor was hopeful that it would be restored completely by next week.”
Lord Sutherland clapped his heir on the back and laughed.
“Haven’t you seen how he keeps looking toward Linnea?
Of course the man’s eyesight has returned.”
Nils smiled at his host, but walked to where Linnea was still talking with Dr. Foster.
Although he could not hear her words, her expression held an earnest desperation.
Was she seeking some way to prevent their inevitable farewell?
He did not want to remind her that he was far more acquainted with the way of the
Norrfoolk
than Dr. Foster, because that might still the last wisps of hope.
He could not keep from admiring her beauty.
Her ebony hair was woven with small white flowers that matched the ones on her gown.
With her pink cheeks and enticing smile, she invited a man to come closer and explore every bit of her sensual warmth.
Her eyes glittered, but that light dimmed when she glanced at him.
The now familiar ache twisted inside him.
He should be making her ecstatic, not miserable.
Were the gods laughing along with Loki that, in helping him as she had promised, she was sacrificing her happiness...and his?
“Ah,
Barrington
,” said the professor with a broad smile.
“Now I understand why Lady Linnea’s attention has been wavering during my explanation.”
“I am so very sorry, Dr. Foster.”
Her words sounded sincere, and maybe they were, but Nils could think only of having a chance to speak with her alone.
“I think we are ready to leave now.”
Linnea was not surprised when Nils’s hand on her arm kept her from catching up with the rest of her family as they walked out of the house.
He drew her to one side, away from the lanterns on the house and the pair of carriages that would take them to
Randolph
’s estate.
“I must know one thing before we leave tonight,” Nils said softly.
“We have not spoken of Tuthill since...since the accident.”
She looked at where her family remained in earshot and understood why Nils did not mention Loki by name.
“No, we have not, but nothing has changed.
Randolph
expects to announce tonight that I will wed him.”
“I thought you told him you would not.”
“No matter what I say, no matter what I do, he refuses to acknowledge my words or my actions.
His mind is so set on a single course, he will not be shaken from it.”
“Only a fool will not heed the words of another, especially when they have been repeated over and over.”
His fingers swept up along her face.
“But then, I can understand his reluctance to let you go.
You do look like an
engill
tonight.”
“
Engill
?
You called me that the first day when you were in the pavilion.
What does it mean?”
He smiled, and something quivered deep within her.
“Your language and mine are not so different on many words.
Engill
and angel sound much the same, don’t they?”
“Angel?
I didn’t think...that is, do the
Norrfoolk
have angels?”
“At least one of them does.”
He pulled her more deeply into the shadows, and his laugh warmed her mouth as his tongue glided along her lips, decorating them with liquid longing. When her fingers curved along his nape, his kiss deepened until her swift breaths thundered almost as fiercely as her heart.
“Linnea!
Where did you go?”
Her mother’s question was impatient.
Linnea put her hand on Nils’s cheek, then hurried to where her father was waiting to hand her into her brother and Minnie’s coach.
She wished she could shake this feeling that tonight she would be saying good-bye to all she had dreamed of.
* * * *
The ballroom was filled with so many candles and lights that it could have been midday.
As Linnea sipped on her wine and listened to the myriad conversations around her, she could not help worrying that this would hurt Nils’s eyes.
She might have asked him, if she had seen him.
He had ridden here in the other carriage with Dr. Foster, and the professor had been talking enthusiastically to him when they entered Tuthill Hall.
By the time she had finished greeting
Randolph
and extracted her fingers from his grip, the two men had disappeared into some other room while Nils was congratulated for saving her from a thief.
Did he understand why she had let him be lauded for the deed?
She feared he did not.
It had been a futile attempt to show him that he could have the glory and honor he craved in this time, too.
But he knew the truth.
She had killed Kortsson, and he could take no honor from that.
The only way he could expunge the shame on his family would be to return with the knife to the past and present it to his chieftain.
Minnie was waving her fan in front of her face, which was, Linnea noticed with sudden alarm, a sickly shade.
Taking her sister-in-law’s arm, Linnea steered her to a chair near an open window.
“Thank you, Linnea,” Minnie said.
She waved her fan more quickly.
“Is it extraordinarily hot in here, or is it me?”
“It is warm...and it is you.”
She sat next to Minnie.
“Do you want me to have Martin come over?”
“No, he is too squeamish.
I fear he will sicken before I do.”
The air from the fan wafted the curls on Minnie’s forehead.
“If I sit quietly, I am sure I will be fine.”
“If you want me to call a carriage, I can.”
She shook her head.
“That would mean explaining to everyone about the baby.”
“Mayhap it is time anyhow.”
She chuckled.
“
Randolph
has wanted to have an announcement made tonight.
Why not a happy one?”
Minnie did not smile.
“You sound as if you expect to be making a not-so-happy announcement as well.”
“I would rather not speak of it.”
Grasping Linnea’s arm, Minnie said with rare intensity, “You must speak of it.
With Lord Tuthill, and without a delay.”
“He will not heed me.”
“You must make him heed you.”
“And then what?”
The words slipped past her lips before she could halt them.
“Marry Lord Barrington.
He clearly dotes on you.
He could pay no mind to anything but you when he saw you at
Sutherland
Park
tonight.”
She flung out her hands.
“He saved you from that horrible interloper as well, risking his life and his eyesight to make sure you were unharmed.”
“No, I cannot marry Nils...
Niles
.”
Linnea hoped Minnie did not notice her mistake.
“Why not?”
Coming to her feet, Linnea said, “There are many reasons.”
“He loves you, Linnea.”
Minnie snapped her fan closed, halting Linnea’s reply.
“Do not argue with me and tell me that I am mistaken.
I know I am not.”
She took Linnea’s hand.
“And I know you love him.”
“Sometimes love is not the only reason to marry or not to marry.”
“I agree.
Not being in love is a reason
not
to marry, but, if you love him and he loves you, do not forfeit this one chance at true happiness.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Martin and I fought the opinions of others to wed, even our families who did not understand that we had more than a calf-love for each other.
I have no idea what is standing in the way of you marrying Lord Barrington, but ask yourself if you will think, even a few years from now, if it was worth throwing away this chance for a lifetime together.”
Linnea nodded, but said nothing as she went to where her father was gesturing at her.
The tears that had glistened in Minnie’s eyes now burned in hers.
A lifetime together?
She and Nils had had two lifetimes together, but not a single one they could share beyond these precious days.