“I said to talk to him!” Kate said as she flew to her husband’s side as both men entered the hall. Despite her scolding tone, her eyes were filled with concern as she touched Anthony’s bruised and bloodied face.

Edwina quickened her steps to Lucas and began to reach out for him when she realized that, unlike Kate, she was not married to the injured man before her. She was not free to touch him.

Lucas’s face was bloody, though not as severely as Anthony’s, whose blood still ran freely out of his nose. Lucas’s right eye was slightly swollen from a cut just above it. His jacket and cravat were missing, his waistcoat torn, and his shirt was bedraggled and pulled free from his trousers.

He looked at her bashfully as if he was caught doing something not befitting his station or his character, which she supposed was true. She had seen him in a fight before with the footpads and though he was overcome with anger then, he acted with cool precision. This…this was different. Either Anthony brawled like a demon or something had truly upset Lucas in the stables.

Anthony laughed. “Do not worry, my love. Lucas and I have come to an understanding. However, I can certainly use some of your tender ministrations.” He leaned heavily into Kate’s shoulder. She scowled at him and slapped him across the arm. Anthony winced in over exaggeration causing a reluctant smile to blossom across his wife’s face.

Edwina didn’t miss that Anthony called Lucas by his given name instead of his title. Nor did she miss the wry smile shared between the men. What had happened in the stables?

“What understanding?” Edwina asked.

Lucas’s gaze dropped to her before moving away to Anthony. “I should take a look at your nose.” He turned to a footman. “Fetch my bag.”

Kate led the group back into the drawing room where the rest of the family sat. Eloise looked up from her book and rolled her eyes as Anthony and Lucas entered the room in their disheveled state. Mary gasped out in surprise.

Colin shot an accusatory glare at his elder brother. “You should have told us that there was to be a brawl. I’d put ten pounds on Greymoor.”

“I’d taken that wager,” Benedict said. “You haven’t been at the end of Anthony’s fists for as long as I have. Our brother can be a brute.” He scrutinized both Anthony and Lucas. “Though, by the looks of it, it was a close fight.”

“All the better,” Colin said.

“I’d taken the wager, too,” Hyacinth chimed in.

“For who?” Gregory asked.

Hyacinth thought for a moment. “Lord Greymoor. He has the longer reach, I think. And, he is a surgeon.” She looked at Anthony. “I’m sorry, brother.”

“Ladies do not place bets,” Anthony reprimanded, his words lacking any heat but still earned a frown from his youngest sibling.

“Well, who won?” Gregory said.

“As much as it pains me to admit it,” Anthony replied, falling into the settee. “Lucas.”

“I wouldn’t call it a victory,” Lucas said, wincing as he pulled up a chair across from Anthony. “We will both be suffering the repercussions for some time to come.”

“I hope you haven't broken his nose,” Kate said, cooing over Anthony’s bruises. He seemed to relish in his wife’s attention. “I am rather fond of my husband’s face.”

“At least it will give it some character,” Eloise quipped from behind her book.

The footman returned with Lucas’s valise. A maid followed with a basin of hot water. Lucas washed his hands briskly while Edwina opened his valise and took out a clean towel and handed it to him. He nodded his thanks.

She handed Kate a dampened towel and her sister began wiping the blood from her husband’s face. When she was finished, Edwina could see the extent of the damage. Anthony’s nose was swollen and red and dark bruises were beginning to form under his eyes.

Lucas held his hands out a few inches from Anthony’s face. “May I?”

Anthony snorted, though with a bloodied nose, it sounded more like a wheeze. “You certainly may as you were the one who dealt the blow.”

Lucas ran his fingers up and down her brother-in-law’s face. Suddenly, he sat back and after a moment’s pause, he stood.

“Edwina, wash your hands and come tell us what you see.”

Edwina started and did as he asked. The room fell silent as Edwina took Lucas’s vacated seat across from Anthony. She could feel her mother’s and Kate’s eyes on her as she touched Anthony’s face.

Her skin flushed with embarrassment from the attention, but she swallowed down the discomfort and focused on the task before her. Edwina ran her fingers up and down Anthony’s cheeks and the outer edges of his nose. She pressed down gently along the bridge and Anthony winced slightly under her touch.

Edwina sat back, satisfied. “It’s not broken.”

“How do you know?” Lucas asked.

“Mainly from observation. Anthony’s nose is not crooked.”

Lucas smiled at her encouragingly. “And?”

“Most breaks occur here,” Edwina said as she placed a single finger at the bridge of Anthony’s nose. “At the dorsum, but when I touched it, I didn’t hear any crunching sounds that are indicative of a break. Though, Anthony will have difficulty breathing due to the swelling and there will be redness and pain for some time.”

“How long?”

“One to two weeks, I believe. Less if he keeps ice on it to reduce the swelling.”

Lucas nodded in agreement, his voice filled with pride as he said, “Edwina is right. It isn’t broken.”

Even though he spoke to Anthony, he kept his eyes on her and Edwina began to feel hot for a different reason. She wetted her lips, the action abruptly breaking Lucas’s gaze as he cleared his throat and turned to a footman standing at the door. “Fetch some ice for the viscount.” The servant disappeared into the hallway.

“Did you teach her this?” Mary said. Edwina noted the stunned expression on her mother’s face.

Lucas smiled. “No, I did not. We’ve never discussed broken noses before. Edwina learned it on her own. She was meant for this.” He didn’t explain, but from the dawning awareness on the faces of her family, they understood his meaning. Edwina was meant to be a surgeon, that she possessed the knowledge and natural talent for the occupation. That he, one of the best surgeons in London, perhaps in all England, recognized and recommended her skills.

Edwina felt a rush of pleasure as the different members of her family looked at her anew. It was as if they were seeing her, her true self, for the first time.

“Brava, Edwina,” Eloise said in awe.

The footman returned with a bowl of chipped ice from the ice house. Lucas wrapped a few in a clean piece of linen and handed it to Anthony. “As Edwina said, the ice will reduce the swelling.”

“Where do you go during the day? You’ve missed so many of our games,” Hyacinth interjected. Edwina noticed the disappointment on the younger girl’s face. It seemed that the youngest Bridgerton sister had made it her personal quest to befriend Lucas, an attempt he’s effectively thwarted in the past few days as he purposely distanced himself from the Bridgerton family and from Edwina.

“I do apologize,” Lucas replied and to Edwina’s surprise, he appeared to be genuine. Perhaps not in participating in the different diversions manufactured to keep the family busy and in good spirits, but in simply disappointing the young girl. “I am helping one of the farmers rebuild a stone wall. A section of it collapsed during the last storm. He is old and lives alone, his sons having left for London decades ago.”

Anthony’s eyes lit with interest. “Benedict, Colin, Gregory, go change. We will assist you, if you will permit it.”

Lucas looked up in surprise at Anthony’s offer. “Your assistance will be welcomed. Though, as a surgeon, I do recommend that you rest and allow your injuries to heal.”

“Will you?”

“No.”

Anthony stood. “Then, neither will I.”

Lucas shook his head ruefully. “I was on my way to the farm earlier. If you wish to accompany me, we can leave in a quarter hour before the day becomes too hot. I will meet you all in the main hall.” He picked up his valise. “If you will excuse me, I will tend to my own injuries.”

***

Lucas entered his chambers, not bothering to close the door behind him. He heard her footsteps following him since he left the drawing room.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he said, turning to find Edwina standing at the threshold. She wore a loose-fitting light green morning dress with sprigs of daisies embroidered along the edges. It was beautiful, but he already knew that he would find anything she wore beautiful.

“I’ll leave the door open. Your reputation is safe with me.”

“You’ve said that before. Why don’t I believe you?”

Edwina only smiled in response and closed the distance between them, taking the valise from his hand and setting it on the table next to them. She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed. “Sit.”

Lucas fell back into the chair and watched as Edwina retrieved the basin of clean water from its stand and brought it to the table where he sat. She stepped between his opened legs. He sucked in a breath as he felt her skirts brush up against his thighs.

Edwina dipped the corner of a small towel from his valise into the cold water and brought it to his face. She leaned down close, her eyes focused on the cut on his brow. He hissed as he felt her begin cleaning the wound. “Anthony’s signet ring?”

“Yes.”

“That seems a little unfair.”

“We didn’t intend to take it as far as we did.”

Edwina drew back slightly and Lucas gripped the arms of his chair lest he pulled her in closer, onto his lap, and breathed her in. He hadn’t realized until this moment how much he missed her. Despite seeing her every day, it wasn’t like the mornings they spent together treating his patients– their patients. The ease of her company as they discussed the different diagnoses, their successes and concerns. The way she questioned him and he challenged her in return.

He missed those mornings desperately.

She looked down at him quizzically. “Why were you fighting in the first place? What was the understanding Anthony mentioned that occurred between you two?”

“About you and Lord Bridgerton last season.”

Confusion clouded her face. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“He mistreated you then. He hurt you. And, he needed to be held accountable for it.” Lucas hesitated. It wasn’t until the viscount brought it to his attention that Lucas behaved in a similar, if not worse manner, that Lucas realized how poorly he had treated Edwina himself. “I needed to be held accountable as well. These past few weeks…I have not acted as a gentleman should, not when it concerned you. I apologize.”

Instead of the concurrence he expected, Edwina appeared more confused than before. “There is nothing to apologize for.”

“Yes, there is everything to apologize for.” The kisses, the touches, the ones that would haunt Lucas for the rest of his life. “I led you on, as much as Lord Bridgerton did last year.”

“No.” Edwina set aside the damp towel and began digging through his valise. “Whatever we shared together, I wanted as well.”

“I cannot promise you more.” It panged him to say it aloud, but it was the truth. The only truth he could offer her.

Edwina’s fingers faltered and stilled over the various glass bottles. “I am not asking for more.”

“I do not believe you.”

Edwina found the small jar of his ointment and pulled the cork free. She dipped her fingers in and began spreading the substance across the cut on his brow. It stung slightly, but not as much as Edwina’s next words.

“You must be arrogant, indeed, to think I wish to marry you.”

Lucas laughed in disbelief. “I am an earl.”

“Possibly your only redeeming quality.”

“I am rich .”

Edwina shrugged one of her shoulders. “So are many of the gentlemen of the ton. Including Lord Lumley.”

His temper flared, but something else as well–a wretched ache in his chest.

Lucas seized Edwina’s hand as she moved away to replace the jar into his valise. “You want me.” He rubbed his thumb against the sensitive skin inside of her wrist. He heard the sharp intake of her breath and felt her pulse begin to quicken. “Your body exposes you. I can feel your desire.”

“Only a physiological response,” Edwina whispered, though to Lucas’s satisfaction, her eyelids fluttered at his touch.

Lucas growled and tugged her closer until she was wedged between his spread thighs. She fell into him, her hands clutching his shoulders, the length of her body up against his. He felt the hard points of her nipples against his chest. A rush of hot blood flooded his senses and he groaned as he brought his face to hers until his lips brushed against her cheek. Her breaths increased in short tight bursts against his own cheek.

“You want me,” he repeated as he squeezed her waist and felt a tremor pass through her body.

When she did not reply, his hands skimmed down her backside and he pushed them both forward, pressing his face into the soft swell of her stomach. He breathed deeply the floral scents of lavender from her bath the previous night that still clung to her skin. He moved lower. “I can still taste you…here,” Lucas said as he kissed her outside of her skirts at the apex of her sex. “Sweet, like a summer peach.”

Edwina’s thighs quaked, her hands balled tightly in his hair. He smiled up at her confidently. “You want me, Edwina. Let me prove to you how much you do.” He released her. “Close the door.”

Edwina backed away from him, her eyes unfocused and her face flushed. She would be his in minutes, no seconds. He knew that their attraction to one another was explosive, that Edwina could not resist him as he could not resist her. He was right in this. He needed to be right in this.

She stumbled toward the door. Instead of closing it as he asked, Edwina squared her shoulders and said in a shaky whisper, “You are consumed with your desire to be right always, nothing more.”

Edwina walked out and closed the door behind her leaving Lucas stunned, alone, and painfully aroused in his chair.

What the hell?

Lucas took three steps to the door and threw it open only to find Benedict standing on the other side dressed casually only in a shirt, trousers, and riding boots. The man raised an eyebrow. “Are you ready?”

“For what?” Lucas said impatiently, looking over Benedict’s shoulder and down the hallway. Edwina was gone.

“To meet the others down in the main hall. To go build that stone wall of yours.”

Lucas gritted his teeth. Damn, he had forgotten. Where the hell had Edwina gone off to?

As if reading his mind, Benedict tilted his head, examining Lucas closely. “Careful there, Greymoor.”

“It is not what you believe,” Lucas bit out, turning back into his room. He stalked into the dressing room and yanked down a clean shirt.

Benedict hummed to himself. “Is it not? Do not forget, I am an artist , thus an expert on all manifestations of affection.”

“Do not say it.”

“You have the unmistakable look of a man in–”

Lucas quelled Benedict with a glare. The other man had the nerve to smile brazenly back at him. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. What were the words you said once?” Benedict snapped his fingers. “Oh, yes, that love was nothing but a delusion. And, you, my lord, have the look of a deluded man.”

Lucas caught his reflection in the mirror. His face was bruised and slightly swollen from a fight in which he fought to defend Edwina’s honor for an event that occurred a year ago in which he wasn’t even present for. He didn’t even know that Edwina existed then, yet he was overcome with the desperate urge to protect her from the past and thoughtless actions of the man who married her sister. A man she had already clearly forgiven.

Benedict was right. He was deluded.

Fuck. What was happening to him?

Lucas raked his hand through his hair. His chest hurt. Even now, he resisted the urge to shove Benedict out of his way and chase after Edwina. What did she mean that he only wanted to be proven correct? Did he only plan to seduce her so that he could prove to her that she wanted him? His stomach roiled at the thought. That was precisely what he had done and Edwina saw straight through his disgraceful intentions.

He pulled off his tattered waistcoat and shirt.

“Bloody hell,” Benedict cursed, wide-eyed as he took in Lucas’s battered half-naked form.

The stab wound had healed, but left a long pale red scar that contrasted sharply against his skin now that it had darkened in the sun from the long days working on the stone wall. Lucas’s back was still bruised from his fall from Edwina’s window two weeks ago, not to mention the pounding from Anthony’s fists the night they returned from The Hothouse. The fading bruises were now overlapped with fresh black and purple ones from the fight in the stables.

Lucas exhaled. “It’s been a long three weeks.”

***

Lucas was right, of course. Edwina wanted him, desperately. But, not like that…a cold, calculated seduction only to prove his point.

She hurried back to her room and closed the door behind her. She was shocked she made it as far as she did considering her legs shook with every step and demanded that she turn back and crawl on top of Lucas, to pleasure them both until the ache between her legs was satisfied.

But, anger propelled her forward. Edwina bit back a frustrated scream as she listened to the murmured voices of Lucas and Benedict in the next room. She couldn’t make out the words, but heard the sharp annoyance in Lucas’s voice.

Good . He deserved to share in her frustration.

Lucas’s door shut and their voices faded away. Edwina rushed to the window and in a few minutes watched as Lucas and the Bridgerton brothers emerged from the manor with Hyacinth trailing behind them. Benedict’s head was thrown back in laughter as he slapped Lucas across the shoulder. Lucas did not pull away, but only shook his head at whatever Benedict said.

“Edwina?”

Kate entered and crossed the room to stand next to Edwina by the window. They both watched as the group of men made their way to the stables. The grooms began leading out the horses. Hyacinth stomped her foot down in a pique. Even from a distance, Edwina could see Gregory roll his eyes.

To her amazement, Lucas knelt down before Hyacinth, speaking with her. She brushed a hand across her face, wiping away tears, and began nodding vigorously.

Kate smiled. “Looks like Hyacinth made another conquest. From what I heard, Simon promised her a pony before he even wed Daphne.”

“Then she has better luck with Lord Greymoor than I do.”

Edwina knew her heart was in for a pummeling, but there was nothing she could do. Her heart had chosen him of all the men in London, perhaps in the entire world. The man that drove her to distraction with his contradictions.

“Have you told him?”

Edwina shook her head, watching as Lucas expertly mounted his horse in one smooth motion. He glanced up at that moment and their gazes caught, his eyes hard on her. Her heart leapt into her throat. He turned his horse toward the manor as if he intended to ride back to her. Anthony said something to Lucas and Edwina watched him tense with indecision before he responded and turned his horse away from her and down toward the path. Soon the group disappeared around the bend.

“There is something between us. Something he is not telling me. He says he ‘cannot’ give me more, not that he ‘will not.’” She caught the distinction, subtle as it was. Edwina intended to ask Lucas to explain his meaning, but things quickly got out of hand afterward.

“Give him time. I cannot pretend to understand the internal workings of a man’s mind, but he holds you in the highest regard even if he does not know it himself. From what I learned about him thus far, us, our family , is a sharp contrast to his own experiences. This must be all very bewildering for him.” Kate paused, before continuing, “Lord Greymoor is a lonely man. And, there is only one solution.”

“The Bridgertons?”

Kate laughed and pulled Edwina into a hug. “And, the Sharmas. Do not worry, bon, we will draw him out into the open.”