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Rolfe shook his head. “I did not marry you to hurt you, Cassia, nor did I marry you to gain anything from you. I told you once you were no fool, so stop acting like one. And stop looking at me like some sort of empty-headed cow. I married you for one reason. To protect you from whoever it is that is trying to harm you. Need I remind you that someone has already killed your father, and then attempted not once, but thrice, to harm you? That someone could very well be your cousin, Geoffrey, who would be next in line for the title. This has put you in a considerable amount of danger. You forget that your father left a condition that would make whomever you wed the next Marquess of Seagrave. By marrying you, I have effectively transferred that danger onto myself. He would now have to kill me as well to get his hands on your inheritance. Even an idiot like Geoffrey can figure that out. And even an idiot like Geoffrey will see I’m a much more difficult target than you. ”

What he said made sense. Cassia wanted to believe him, but something held her back. “Do you expect me to believe that you did this thing simply out of concern for my well-being?”

Rolfe knelt down before her, taking her hand. “Is it really so difficult to consider?”

Cassia looked at him, her eyes filled with doubt. “Having lived the life I have, it is nigh impossible.”

Rolfe dropped his head forward, resting it on her knees.

Cassia felt the urge to reach out, stroke her fingers through his hair, and, in fact, she actually lifted her hand, but dropped it back down when Rolfe peered up at her again.

His face was a mask of total frustration.

“Cassia, answer me just one question, if you would.”

“Yes?”

“After you are proven innocent, and I promise you this, you will be proven innocent, what then are your plans? How will you spend the rest of your life?”

His question took Cassia aback. No one in her life had ever asked her what she wanted in that respect.

“Truthfully, I haven’t really given it much thought.

I’ve been too concerned with proving that I didn’t kill my father, I haven’t considered what I’d do if I finally succeeded.

I know I will leave the city for a while, probably to go to Cambridgeshire. ”

“Believe me when I say that running away does not make your troubles disappear. They only follow you wherever you go. But what about the future, Cassia? I’ve seen you with small Robert and Dana these past days. Do you ever think about having children of your own someday?”

His question sent a tremor over her. Cassia had thought of it.

When she’d watched Robert playing at the lute with his mother that day, she’d pictured herself doing something similar with her own child.

When she’d been singing to Dana as she slept, she’d wondered at having her own child to rock to sleep.

She wanted to give her children the love her mother had never given her.

She wanted to spend her days watching them grow, teaching them about the world.

And the truth was, whenever she pictured any of this in her mind, somehow the figure of Rolfe was always there with her.

But what about him? He certainly hadn’t offered her any declarations of love.

She had no idea how he felt about her except that she knew he still believed her to be a mistress to the king.

If she decided to stay as his wife, there would come a time when he would learn the truth.

He would learn that she had never in fact bedded with the king.

He would learn that she’d never bedded with any man.

He would learn that it had all been a sham, a disguise for her to hide behind. What then?

Finally she said, “It is something I have considered, having children someday. But I will only have children with someone whom I love.”

Rolfe felt something inside of him twinge at her words.

... with someone whom I love.

Someone who obviously wasn’t him.

Rolfe stood. It felt like history was repeating itself. And just like with Daphne, he was powerless to do anything but watch.

“Very well, Cassia. If an annulment to this marriage is what you truly want, I will not try to prevent you from it.”

And with that, he turned and left the room.

Later that night, Cassia sat on the chaise in her bedchamber, alone. Her legs were curled in front of her, resting her chin on her knees while she wondered why everything had to be so difficult.

Rolfe’s explanation of why he had married her seemed plausible.

Actually it sounded almost too good to be true.

All her life, everyone close to her had acted only for their own benefit.

Her mother had used her as a tool against her father.

Her father had tried to use her as a means of gaining status and power in his attempts at marrying her off.

No one had ever done anything just for her .

Except Rolfe.

From the moment he’d come into her life, he had been her protector, and now he was her husband. Yet she continued to fight against him, refusing his help at every turn.

Could she believe him? Dare she?

She closed her eyes and tried to find the answers.

Thrice he had come to her rescue when her life had been in danger. If not for him, whoever had murdered her father would have succeeded.

He was right. No matter how much she tried to tell herself differently, she needed his help to find out who had killed her father, who was trying to harm her, and why.

Her father’s cryptic note had not been any help.

All it had done was to leave her wracking her brains, trying to figure out where this mysterious document could be.

She might spend the rest of eternity trying to figure that out and still never find it.

Cassia stood and walked over to the bed. She slid beneath the coverlet. As she laid her head against the pillows, she remembered how she’d heard Rolfe’s voice when she’d been ill, how she’d clung to it, fighting to live only on the strength of his words and the touch of his hand holding hers.

She thought of the day they’d gone riding in Hyde Park, of the need that had filled her then, overpowering her.

She’d wanted to be his that day. She’d wanted him to take her there in the midst of that field.

The touch of his hands, the feel of his mouth had filled her with excitement and joy. She wanted to feel that way again.

As she closed her eyes to wait for sleep to claim her, Cassia realized that she wanted all that and more. She wanted Rolfe to be with her, like Mara and Hadrian, to share the happiness and tears. She wanted to know that he’d always be there.

Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.