“You look ridiculous,” she said flatly. “You are not remotely convincing as a man about town.”

“I know.” Philippa let her cigar tumble from her mouth into her glass of port. “You would be splendid at it. But being splendid at something does not mean a body is obliged to do it.”

Tommy crossed her arms, but edged aside enough to allow Philippa farther into the room.

Philippa stared down at her goblet. “My parents have always believed I’d be a fine countess or duchess. They’re probably right. Yet I never wanted that life.” She looked up and met Tommy’s eyes. “I have no right to saddle you with a role you don’t wish to have, either. No matter how well we might play the part.”

Hope filtered through the cracks in Tommy’s defenses.

“I am so sorry.” Philippa’s pretty face twisted in agony. “I did not mean to hurt you, but I did. I was thoughtless and selfish. I so wanted to find a path to ‘forever’ with the person I love more than any other, all I could think about was—”

“Wait.” Tommy’s heart beat faster. “What did you just say?”

“I love you. I’ve loved you for longer than I’ve dared to admit it, even to myself. Saying the words aloud terrifies me. I’ll say them again anyway. I love you, Tommy Wynchester. You. You haven’t left my mind from the moment you blushed and ran away from me at Faircliffe’s gala. I was halfway in love with ‘Baron Vanderbean’ and I don’t even like men. It was you who won me, from the start.”

“You love me?” Tommy repeated. Her head swam. “The real me?”

“With all my heart. I understand if you don’t love me back anymore,” Philippa said. “If I lost your love when I lost your trust, it’s no more than I deserve. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

“You did hurt me.” Tommy hugged herself. She loved Philippa madly, but was no longer willing to settle for temporary. She wanted it all. “You made me feel less than a fictional character. I wasn’t even second best. When you couldn’t have him, you left me without another word.”

“It is indefensible.” Philippa placed her goblet on a side table and pressed a hand to her heart. “I wasn’t even running from you. I was running from my fears and my insecurities and my embarrassment.”

Tommy knew what it was like to let one’s fears guide one’s actions. She had fled rather than speak to Philippa at the end-of-season gala. And it had taken her siblings’ intervention and several false starts to prance up to the York carriage at Hyde Park and introduce herself.