What Lettie had her first taste of with Anthony on those visits was the closeness enjoyed by her siblings and their love matches. Their relationships were not stilted or based on practicality, but rather, they were true partnerships among souls who shared interests and passions.

And she never wanted to stop eating of that fruit.

Reading an article that Anthony had brought her about the locomotive, she should be completely absorbed in the fascinating details about the post office one day converting mail transport from coach to rail.

Normally, she would be.

Instead, her gaze continued to drift over to the man seated opposite her.

With his long legs stretched out before him and a writing desk on his lap, he took notes about the latest parliamentary efforts on labor conditions.

How easy it was to imagine a future with him.

And surely he must have similar thoughts about her. After all, would he, despite all that had come to pass between her family and his, be here with her regardless of the past?

Lettie went absolutely motionless as her heart thumped erratically in her chest.

Where had those thoughts come from?

She was musing about a future with Anthony? It was dangerous. It was impossible.

It was…what she wanted.

She’d only just accepted that a marriage to Lord Exmoor was not something she could ever agree to. Not when Anthony was right there in her life. Not when she knew what it was to be with someone who shared her interests, someone who was both a friend and also a man she yearned for in all the ways a woman should yearn for a man with whom she wished to spend the rest of her life.

And unlike before, the fear of that realization left her, replaced with an absolute sense of rightness.

Why could they not have a future with each other?

Yes, there was the small problem of Rhys.

Rhys, who just one week earlier had evinced a barely suppressed fury at the mention of the other man’s name.

Yes, that was why she and Anthony could not have a future together.

And yet, she felt that Rhys should find forgiveness for Anthony, particularly as he’d fallen in love with Alice and was happy with her. There was also the fact that what had transpired between Rhys and Anthony had happened years earlier.

As if he felt her gaze upon him, Anthony glanced up. “What is it?” he asked.

She also wished to be with someone who was so very in tune with her own thoughts that he detected those subtle shifts in how she was feeling.

Lettie set down the newspaper she’d given up on attempting to read and drew her legs up to her chest, hugging them close to her body. “Lord Exmoor,” she said softly.

Anthony stilled and peered his head around the bushes that served as a slight cover for his and Lettie’s meeting.