Lisa didn’t think she could stand that. And in truth, she didn’t want to win him this way. She wanted him to want to marry her. She wanted him to trust her. She did not want him marrying her out of duty and then always watching her, waiting for her to betray him. Life would be unbearable like that. There had to be another way.

The thought had barely entered her head when the candle gave its last flicker and went out.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The sound of the door opening and a splash of light in the dark room startled Robert from sleep and had him blinking sleepily.

“Oh, it’s dark in here, Chrissy. Let me grab a candle from the hall,” he heard Suzette say, and the words for some reason made him suddenly recall Lisa. Panic roaring through him, he glanced to the other side of the bed, but was unable to place her in the darkness and then Suzette reappeared with a candle revealing everything; she and Christiana still in their ball finery and the empty bed beside him.

Robert stared blankly at the spot where Lisa should have been and then back to Suzette and Christiana, who had paused halfway to the bed.

“Hi,” he said weakly, but his mind was racing as he tried to sort out where Lisa was and when she’d left. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep after. He should have made himself stay awake and talked to her. He had ruined her. They had to marry now. There was no choice.

“We just got back from the ball and thought we’d check on you,” Christiana said after a pause.

“Yes,” Suzette said, suddenly moving forward again. “How was your night?”

“Are you feeling well?” Christiana asked, casting Suzette a warning glance though he wasn’t sure what she was warning her of.

“I—yes,” he said on a sigh and sagged back in the bed. He’d had one hell of a night and was definitely feeling . . . hell, he felt great . . . well other than a slight tenderness from his wound. He probably shouldn’t have exerted himself this early after the injury, but Lisa in that damned gown of Morgan’s had been irresistible.

“Well . . . good,” Suzette said finally, though she sounded annoyed more than anything and suddenly turned back toward the door, taking the candle with her.

Christiana bit her lip and glanced after her sister, then she began to back away, following the glow of the candlelight. “We shall let you sleep then. We just wanted to check on you.”

Robert nodded, but as the women reached the door, asked, “What time is it?”

For some reason, the question made them both pause and exchange a glance and then Christiana said, “Not yet midnight.”