Free What You Propose (Anything for Love #2) by Adele Clee Page B

recalled one particular patron who entertained two of her girls on the night of his wedding.
    "Then you are much wiser than I."
    Anna doubted that. She had not been wise enough to avoid Victor's cunning trap.
    "How long has it been since you last spoke to her?"
    Tristan exhaled. "Five years. We were eloping when my father caught up with us on the road north. He dragged us both home, despite our protests. When I woke the next morning, he had taken Isabella away with him. Sometime later, she wrote to me and told me she had married Lord Fernall."
    "I'm so sorry, Tristan." Anna had heard many tales of ladies tricked into marriage; perhaps Isabella had suffered a similar fate. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but have you never found love with another?"
    "No. Although my mind and body function in the present, it is as though my heart and soul are stuck in the past."
    Anna smiled to hide the sudden wave of sadness his words roused. "I do know how it feels to be detached from reality." When Victor had forced her to work at Labelles, she'd left her heart and soul safely back at her home in the country. "But you have not said why you must return."
    Tristan exhaled deeply once more and closed his eyes briefly. "My brother …" He paused and shook his head. "My brother has died without issue. You are looking at the new Viscount Morford. My mother insists I am to return home to take my rightful place as head of the family."
    Anna was left utterly speechless. The poor man looked so lost and forlorn. "I am truly sorry to hear of your brother's death. But your mother is right. The ton needs strong, selfless gentlemen to take the lead. You are a good and loyal person, Tristan, and will serve your family well."
    "It is not the life I wanted or envisaged for myself. And I cannot bear the thought of leaving Marcus here alone. I do not wish to speak ill, but he is more of a brother to me than Andrew ever was."
    Anna's heart lurched as she imagined Mr. Danbury stomping along the cloisters with no one to talk to, no one to help him on his nightly crusades.
    "What did Mr. Danbury say when you told him?"
    "That's part of the problem," Tristan said. "I haven't told him. The letter arrived yesterday, but I recognised the seal and only opened it this morning."
    Mr. Danbury would console him, ease his conscience and convey nothing of the inner turmoil hidden inside.
    "Come." Anna stood and pulled him to his feet. "Let me wish you well. Then we will go together and break the news to Mr. Danbury."
    "I cannot ask you to do that."
    "You didn't ask. I offered." She held out her arms, and they hugged — as friends, as though they were kin. "I will stay at the monastery as long as Mr. Danbury needs me or wants me here, although that may only amount to one more day."
    Tristan smiled. "He does like you, you know. For the last few years, I've been suggesting he goes down to the fair, yet he's not come within a mile of the place."
    "Selene did seem rather shocked he'd agreed to go. I would go as far as to say the woman is terrified of him."
    "As I told you when you arrived, his growl is worse than his bite. But wait until he discovers I'm a peer. You'll want to put your fingers in your ears for that."
     
    Marcus hovered at the door of the chapter house and watched them embrace. Tristan and Miss Sinclair cared for one another. That much was obvious. He could see a glimmer of tenderness in his friend's eyes when he spoke to her. During their brief conversation, she had touched his arm numerous times.
    Bloody hell.
    The whole thing was driving him insane. Part of him would be glad when Miss Sinclair left. Then they could return to how things used to be. To a time when he didn't feel jealousy slithering through him leaving a poisonous trail in its wake.
    As they stepped apart, Marcus closed the door gently with both hands and marched round to his desk. Last night, he had followed two men from Lenard's inn to an abandoned cottage set back in a copse just a ten-minute