Page 13 of Just About a Rake (Ladies Who Dare #5)

S he is your mother.

No.

She is your mother.

No.

She is your mother.

I don’t know.

Leonora thought she might be sick. All her life, or at least, since the age of fourteen, she’d known her life could change instantly if someone ever discovered those four words. Not the words themselves, exactly, but what they implied.

But no secret was eternal in this world. The time she’d had up to now, she’d hidden the truth behind layers upon layers of moments that no one could ever take from her.

What happened now?

There was never a time when Leonora believed she could hide it forever. Her family couldn’t hide it forever. They already hadn’t. She had learned the secret, after all.

That was how precarious a position a secret held. One person knowing could topple the whole thing.

You are illegitimate.

She’d understood all these years that she was an imposter. She didn’t belong with the title she had. But she hadn’t allowed it to bother her. She’d decided, no matter who she was or who she was not, she would live her life to the fullest while fully knowing at any moment any and all privilege could be taken away from her in a matter of a heartbeat.

That heartbeat had arrived with Dare’s words.

She stared at him. A droplet of rain fell on her cheek. The coolness of it startled her, but the sudden downpour of emotions was what made her shiver. She turned on her heel and strode in the direction of Mayfair. Her mind had drawn another blank. She wouldn’t deny it, even though she didn’t know the full truth of the matter yet. Whether the duchess was her real mother or not, she was still illegitimate.

And that was the truth.

“Leonora. Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Are you going to walk there alone? The skies have turned. There will be a downpour soon.”

Drat it. Soon? It had already started. One drop turned to two turned to three turned to a soft pelting of rain. She wanted to run, wanted to seek shelter, but that would mean stopping. And waiting.

“Leonora, wait.” Footsteps followed her down the street.

“No.” She wanted to escape. To escape him most especially. She’d flirted with him boldly. Unashamedly. She’d loved it. But that was before he knew the truth.

Now. . .

Leonora had never realized how inferior she would feel once the truth became known. Known to him . Whether he would keep her secret or not didn’t even enter her mind. The idea that he might look at her differently—that alone was enough to cause a throb in her breast.

Was she still the same person to him?

A hand clamped around her wrist and pulled her to a stop. “Leonora, do you think I care about such matters?”

She whirled on him. “Why wouldn’t you? Or do you not understand what the weight of what your words imply?”

“I understand.” His eyes burned into hers as though they wanted to impart a weight of their own. “But I don’t care.”

Impossible. “Why not?”

A gush of impatience blew from him. “I. Don’t. Care. You can just deny my words, you know. Tell me I’m wrong.”

No. “Why would I do that?”

He stepped up close to her, his gaze burning even hotter. “For your peace of mind.”

Her peace of mind? If he knew in what blank state of chaos her mind spun at the moment, he wouldn’t say such a thing. Acceptance, perhaps, but never peace. True peace. “This secret has never brought me that.”

“Peace, mayhem, you don’t have to hide it from me.” The sincerity in his eyes, his voice, wouldn’t be denied. “So she is your mother? The duchess. That is why you are so interested in her.”

Leonora averted her gaze. “I don’t know.”

He planted his face before hers, drawing her eyes to him. “But you suspect, don’t you?”

She gave a reluctant nod.

“Then Heart . . .”

Leonora suddenly laughed. Ah, yes. Heart. Her father. “Can you even say it out loud?”

A low chuckle followed the wake of her words. “I can’t.”

He stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. Leonora’s brows furrowed as her cheek rested on a hard, partially wet shirt. Around them, rain pattered, but she didn’t care. Her arms circled his waist. Time felt momentarily paused even though everything around them was still moving. The rain. The world. The beat of her heart.

A moment later her chin was lifted and soft lips claimed hers. Arms banded around her like steel as his tongue swept into her mouth, clasping her against his chest. Her body stirred at the contact, a comforting heat blooming within as the chill that had gripped her before began to fade.

The picture of his rippling muscle as he walked into the ring blasted any other thoughts from her mind, reminding her to live. Now. In this moment.

This was all she had.

And that drove her to spear her fingers through the silky strands of his wet hair, leaning into him more. Demanding more .

Dare didn’t disappoint.

The kiss took on a new depth as he gave his interpretation of more . Leonora had always loved flirting with rakes, and she loved flirting with Dare the most, but she had never kissed any of the other men she’d flirted with. So it would be too presumptuous to say that he was the best of the best when it came to kissing.

However, she’d wager that he was.

Her entire being was covered with gooseflesh. And she was free. Free from the hidden title she carried, her history, her birth. She was simply herself with him. And that was enough. All ill thoughts disappeared. He had brought back her perspective of her situation that she’d almost forgotten. Her family, at least the ones in her life, had no ill intent. What they’d done, they’d done for her. It didn’t matter whether her place in society was fragile. What mattered was the people who stood by her side no matter what.

And in this moment with Dare, she felt something was different. A foundation beneath her feet. Not something brittle, but something that might hold up in the face of a storm. Perhaps she didn’t have to carve out a more permanent place for herself, something unshakable. Perhaps she’d had it all along.

She didn’t need to find a rock to lean on. She could just be the rock.

She also realized she liked this kiss.

A lot.

He drew unhurriedly away from her mouth, releasing her lips to look at her. A finger traced down her cheek. She blinked through the drops of rain.

“That’s better.”

Her brows furrowed. “What’s better?”

“The look on your face right now.”

Leonora didn’t even want to imagine how flushed her face was or what look had entered her eyes. All she knew was a soft warmth had spread through her entire body.

“How can you say such a thing to a woman you just kissed?”

“Quite easily, I assure you.” He grinned down at her. “If it’s you.”

If it’s you.

“Even knowing what you now know about me?”

“What is it that I know about you? That the circumstances of your birth are different from mine? Lord knows, half the ton are illegitimate if you ask me. That doesn’t define your character unless you allow it.”

“Fine words, Dare.”

“You sound surprised,” he said with another little smile.

She returned his grin. “I always am when it comes to you.”

He chuckled, glancing up at the pouring sky. “Shall we find shelter, or do you wish to become as bedraggled as you were that day in the lake?”

Honestly, at this point, she didn’t care. She scarcely felt the rain or the chill. But they couldn’t stand here all day. “Let’s find shelter.”

Dare snatched her hand and pulled her under the overhang of a low sagging roof of an old, forgotten building. She could scarcely believe that he had come to terms with her secret so quickly. So smoothly.

Did he truly not think differently of her?

Was it because he was a rake?

She eyed him skeptically. “You’re not going to tell anyone about my secret?”

His affronted gaze snapped to hers. It was the first time she had seen such a look appear on his face. It was almost funny. “I would never do such a thing.”

She nodded. “Good.”

He leaned in close. “I never kiss and tell.”

*

How many times could a heart beat in a minute? Dare had never felt anything as fast as the racing of his heart in that moment as he stared into her eyes, lips hovering over hers. He started counting each beat while his body calmed down. He calmed down.

Ah, entanglements.

“I don’t kiss and tell, either.”

Christ, no words a rake ever wants to hear.

Dare straightened and dragged a hand through his hair, the same path she’d used, his scalp still alive with prickles. The drizzling rain created a cloak of privacy around them, setting them in a world of two. A world of their own. A dangerous world, one where he could feel her presence as clear as the sun in the summer sky.

But he had no business lingering in it.

His eyes tracked the streets, everywhere but her, his brain racing.

Escort her back.

Get a grip on his wits.

Continue on.

But it was in that continue on that his befuddlement lay. Continue on how ? Flirting? As they had been? Dare had never kissed a woman and continued on. He got the urge to kiss a woman, to seduce a woman, he succeeded, and he never looked back. He didn’t do entanglements.

Leonora was an entanglement.

A big, bright one.

She was such an entanglement she might as well sprout tentacles and latch on to him. He could feel those invisible tentacles lacing around his limbs.

They threatened to choke him to death.

He let out a low chuckle, but it came out rougher than he intended. “Good, then we kiss and never, ever tell.”

She stared at him, bemused.

Dare cursed. That didn’t sound right either.

Fortunately, she nodded and said, “Heart must be looking for me.”

He stole a glance before looking away. Color once again infused her cheeks, and the sparkle that had left her eyes had once again returned. A relief.

Her situation . . .

He still couldn’t fathom how she could call Heart her brother in such a manner with a straight face knowing the truth. It might have reduced a lesser woman to a puddle of tears and hysteria. Not Leonora.

How admirable.

Ah, hell. Another tentacle.

She was dangerous to him in a way no other woman had ever been. Which, in hindsight, didn’t come as any surprise. The surprise was the depth of danger. That, he had never fully grasped.

Dare cleared his throat. “He should suspect that you suspect the truth by now, should he not?”

A small sigh. “I’m not sure. He can be quite dense at times. Though I have no doubt he will interrogate me once I return home.”

Of course he would. The man seemed to act first, his head trailing behind. Leonora certainly didn’t inherit her intelligence from him. “Interrogate him back.”

She tipped her chin, her gaze meeting his. “Interrogate him back?”

“Why not? He caught you red-handed in a place you’re not ought to be with a person you’re not to be with. You did the same.” Dare impressed even himself with his reasoning. And Leonora could best Heart in any argument, he was sure.

Her eyes lit up. “That is true.” Her lips pursed. “It’s about time I questioned Heart over his actions and got to the bottom of some of the truth.”

“Only some?”

“Whatever his reasons, I know he didn’t want me to get hurt.”

Dare had to agree. That man was protective and yet at the same time appeared to be at a loss. He couldn’t say he would have done anything differently had he been in his exact position. If an infant were dropped at his door? He shuddered. No, he couldn’t even imagine such a thing or what he would have done.

Do not get involved.

That he needed constant reminders spoke volumes. There was also the matter of Drake and situation with the duchess. His cousin wouldn’t say anything about what had happened between the two of them, but he couldn’t imagine that Lady Leonora would be embroiled in their affairs. Neither had anything to do with Dare, and he was glad he hadn’t made a decision to help Drake.

You are on your own, cousin.

He dragged hand through his hair again. He wouldn’t pry, no matter his curiosity. But they did need to get home and out of this rain before the wind picked up.

He took her arm. “Shall we make a dash for it? The carriage should be around the bend ahead of us.”

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.” He tucked a wet, matted strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you want to cover your head with my jacket?” His gaze dropped to his jacket that she still wore. That still clung to her body. Not like second skin, but like his skin.

All this, Christ, and Heaven. Where are your thoughts going, man?

Not in any good damn direction.

“No need.” She patted her head. “My hair is already wet, and I don’t mind it. It’s rather refreshing.”

Dare didn’t question her. He nodded. “Very well, let’s go.”

He took her hand and they dashed through the rain to the carriage, each step feeling more like they were running through mud. The shallow puddles of water were quickly being replaced with rivers running down the narrow street.

“Heavens! Where did all this rain suddenly come from?”

“The sky.”

She shot him a filthy look, and Dare laughed, the tentacles that seemed to squeeze around his neck loosening.

Yes, that was right. He was Dare and she was Leonora. There was comfort in that, comfort in who they were: an heiress who had no intention of reforming a rake and a rake who could never be reformed.

The tentacles disappeared.

However, he could be imagining this, but something lingered in their stead. A shadow of their presence. A whisper of something unexplainable, curling at the edges of his senses. A slither of a touch that should not exist. Because the air had shifted. The silence had a pulse. And whatever had been there... was not entirely gone.

He cursed.

It would vanish eventually.

They had just reached the carriage when a shout echoed off the buildings lining the street. Leonora skidded to a halt and glanced over her shoulder.

“Heart?” he asked.

She nodded. “Sounds like him.”

“A furious him.” Dare yanked open the carriage door, nodding at the driver. “Let’s go before we are beheaded today.”

A light, amused chuckle. “How dramatic, even for you.”

Dare began to follow her into the carriage, but a chill skittered down his spine. Nothing good would happen if Heart caught them together. His foot halted midrise before he lowered it back to the ground.

Her eyes cut to him. “What are you doing?”

Dare nodded at the driver. “Take her home.”

“Dare? Aren’t you coming?”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Heart . . .”

“Don’t worry. I still have something to discuss with my cousin, and it’s best for you if your brother doesn’t catch us together. You have enough to worry about as it is.”

“What about you?”

Him? What about him? He had things he worried about as well. All of which had to do with what had happened here, and none of which he wanted to dwell on, which left him in a hell of a predicament.

“What if I want you to come?” she said. “What if I want to escort you home to today?”

“No need.”

They stared at each other. Another face overlapped with Leonora’s, an older face. His mother’s bright and smiling eyes had once glistened like hers. But it hadn’t lasted. It never lasted.

He was his father’s son.

Never forget that.

Dare quirked his lips into a smile that felt all too familiar, all too natural. A mask he’d trained his face to bear well. “I’ll be fine.” He shut the door and took a step back.

And he would be fine.

After all, he always had been.