Page 84

“I do not believe it. I will not. Moreover, my uncle is not well. Dr. Wells told me he’s developed an odd cough, and, at times, seems to be in a stupor, though he’s never taken sick a day in his life.

It is relieving to know that Dr. Wells sent a servant to procure an elixir for what ails my uncle.

” She stopped pacing, as if processing what she’d just told him.

“My cousin, Samuel, however, is my uncle’s heir.

If anything happened to my uncle—” She strode to the window, peering out.

“As much as I loathe my cousin, his taunts and persistent gambling, the truth is I cannot lay the blame at his feet. He has been with his regiment.”

“Has he?” If the papers in Grimes’s possession were any indication, Hawkesbury had been investigating his own son.

The reports from Jonathan ‘Jew’ King, Howard and Gibbs, and King’s Hamlet’s could explain why.

London moneylenders were notorious for refusing to forgive debts.

“Evil has a way of seeping under the securest doors.”

She whirled to face him. “What do you mean?”

“Samuel could have hired men to do his bidding.”

“With what? He’s gambled any blunt he’s had away. No.” Her wretched expression lanced him. “My father and uncle would have to die before Samuel receives another farthing.”

“The plan, surely,” he suggested. From her shocked expression, Lora had not considered such a betrayal. He pressed on. “Think on it. Your father suffered an unlikely hunting accident. How?”

“The girth strap on his saddle failed.”

“I see. Someone murdered your brother.”

“I just told you that.” Her eyes narrowed. “By a man in an orange neckerchief.”

“Who stands in the way of your cousin inheriting Winterbourne?”

“Papa and my uncle.”

“And your cousin just returned from the Continent and your uncle has conveniently become ill.” As he aired the facts—he suspected, confirming her fears—the tension in the old lodge thickened. “Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”

Anger lit her eyes. “Samuel is many things, but he is not a killer. He prefers to prolong his cruelty.”

“Reckless gambling can make good men do horrible things.”

She stiffened. “He has been acting strangely lately, as if he is afraid of his own shadow.”

“Moneylenders employ men who often take matters into their own hands. Is it possible your cousin intends to liquidate the estate to pay off his debts? If that is the case, maybe they sought to speed up his inheritance by killing your brother and poisoning your uncle.”

She gasped and he drew her into his embrace. “Do you think someone poisoned my uncle?”

“The signs are there—the cough, the stupor, and instability. I almost saw him collapse the night of the ball.”

She tilted her head back to look up at him, blinking back bafflement.

“Perhaps we should bring this to your father’s attention. He has been kept in the dark for far too long, don’t you agree?”

“I’ve been trying to protect him.”

“You cannot shield him from the truth or keep dashing off into danger, Lora. The longer you deny your cousin what he considers to be his birthright and the longer he owes dangerous people money, the more crazed and unpredictable he will become.”

“I cannot involve my father. He’s lost so much.

” She abandoned his arms and moved to the table.

There, she picked up the red cloak and held it up to her nose, inhaling its scent.

“This is all I have left of Nicholas. All I know how to do. Without revenge, I am nothing but a wallflower waiting to be asked to dance.”

“You are not shy and silent, Lora. You are bold and beautiful and brave.”

“That is not the impression you left me with three years ago at the Templetons’ ball. You danced with everyone else in the room but me.”

Bollocks! She remembered.

“What would you say if I told you that I didn’t ask you to dance because I found you attractive?

Don’t turn away, I am being honest. Doting mamas and eager young ladies surrounded me on all sides.

It was a Herculean effort just to speak to my fellows.

I had no intention of forming an attachment.

Love would have impeded my scholarly pursuits.

” He reached out to caress her cheek, wiping away an errant tear.

“Lady Vengeance, you have carried this burden alone for too long. Forget the past—my mistakes, the horrors you’ve faced.

I am here. Now. Standing before you as a man besotted, offering my help and pleading for you to take care with my heart.

” Lowering his forehead to hers, he whispered, “Dance with me?”

The silence became deafening as he waited for her to acknowledge that he’d unlocked his soul and heart.

“You are daft. There isn’t any music.”

“Then we shall make our own.” He raised her chin gently, his spirits soaring, coaxing her to meet his gaze.

“From the moment you beguiled me at the Templetons’ ball—patience and propriety your only weapons—I have wanted only you.

” To kiss the pulsing beat at the base of your throat and feel your heartbeat thud against mine.

But he couldn’t tell her that now. Nothing could make up for the years he’d allowed to pass unchecked, or the heartbreak she’d endured alone.

“Despite everything—outside threats— the courage you have shown to right wrongs, and the losses we have both experienced, you still make me want to be better, stronger, cleverer. If I could, I would strut about like a peacock to win your heart.”

“That would be a sight, wouldn’t it?”

“It would be the start of many things.” He ran his finger along her jaw.

“What kinds of things?”

He peered at her intently. “This.” He kissed her forehead. “This.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And this.” The moment their lips met, the ground fell away. “Now,” he said, hardly recognizing his voice. “Imagine that, but all over.”

Her eyes widened. “All o?—”

“Everywhere.”

“Show me,” she said, her breath as light as a sigh.

“Now?” he asked, slipping his hands over her arms. “What about your plan to catch the man in the orange neckerchief?”

“I have not been able to catch him for a year and I am tired of chasing ghosts. I am weary of this heartache and long for the good in this world. I need assurance that my life is not doomed. Show me there is more than death and deceit, tears and torment. I fear if I do not experience love now, I never shall.”

“ ‘Fortune and love favor the brave.’ ” He pulled her to him, whispering in her ear. “And you have been fearless for far too long.”

“Show me,” she whispered, her breath fanning his face.

Driven mad by need and desire, he could hardly resist her invitation.

If he lost her, he would never find her equal again.

She deserved to be loved, to know that the rest of her days would be filled with joy and happiness.

“Are you sure this is what you want? Once you cross this threshold, there will be no turning back. You will be mine, and I yours.”

She relaxed into his embrace. “Haven’t we always been?”

He chuckled. “I guess you are right.” Indeed, instinct diverted him to years of caprice, which he regretted wholeheartedly. The young woman she was then, however, was not the wild, untamed creature in his possession now.

No man walked away from such a woman.

“A look across a ballroom floor. Secret yearnings and public partings.” She pressed her lips to his, giving him his prize.

The heady sensation increased his desire.

“I never set out to be a wallflower. Yet, after I saw you, no one else could compare. Even when life thwarted plans for another season, I knew we were destined for each other. My aunt, good soul, has always been a wallflower. She instructed me to seize happiness when it comes, no matter the cost, the sacrifice.”

“You have sacrificed more than anyone I know.”

“Whatever happens, Your Grace.” She brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. “Do not let me become her.”

“Perhaps to start,” he suggested, “you should call me Myles.”

“Myles.” Her voice was a soft entreaty that touched his soul. “Promise me. I want love, marriage, children.”

“I promise.” He crushed her to him, filled with a burning desire and an aching need to soften her hurt and make her his.

As he roused her passions, his determination to be everything she needed grew stronger.

Dipping into divine ecstasy and buffeted by savage hunger, hope sang in his veins. “Lora. Let me love you.”

But would love be enough to help them put the past behind them?