Page 48 of The Rake is Taken

Chapter 16

There were traces of Finn all over Julian’s townhouse.

If one looked closely. Which, during her extreme and deadening misery over the past two days, she had.

Russian language texts, puzzle boxes, a handkerchief hidden in a desk drawer that carried his scent as solidly as her clothing did the faint zing of nutmeg. Thepièce de résistancewas a small portrait of him Agnes found her standing before, Victoria’s gaze likely as lost as it was enchanted. When she walked down the hallway the next day, the painting was gone, only a whitish mark on the wall to show where it had previously hung. Like Finn leaving her life with only a bleached mark staining her memory.

And just yesterday, she’d received a fateful memorandum from Rossby, brief but respectful, stating he couldn’t stand in the way of true love and would allow her to break their betrothal agreement. She could only stare at the missive in dry-eyed wretchedness while wondering how much Finn had to do with it. He’d removed the Grape from her life’s equation, and for this, she owed him.

But she was still stuck marrying a man she didn’t love.

Humphrey, Aggie, Belle, and the servants were handling her like someone being dispatched to the country for a recuperative period instead of what she was, a forthcoming duchess who’d yet to have a conversation with her duke. On the streets of Mayfair, the rumors connected her to Ashcroft, but inside these fashionably stenciled walls, everyone knew it was the endearing half-brother of the viscount who’d…

Victoria slumped to the marble bench hidden amidst a thicket of lilac bushes in the townhouse’s walled garden. Gazing at a turbulent sky the color of wet ash, she searched her mind, her breath scattering.

What, exactly,hadFinn done to her?

Shown her a side of herself, a wanton, unaffected side she quite liked. Forced her to question her commitment to her family, to blind obedience, to sacrifice. Caused her—for the first time—to consider whatshewanted from her life.

Did her happiness mean less than her father’s because she was a woman?

Were her options limited by her sex?

Everyone in her world certainly thought so. Without batting an eyelash thought so. Ashcroft had sent an admittedly agreeable message stating he’d visit her at three o’clock to discuss the details of their arrangement as if this expressed all that needed expressing.

A done deal. Which she supposed it did, and it was.

Finn understood what living on the fringe of society was like and had impressed upon her the certainty that securing her heart’s desire meant being banished to the nether reaches.

She didn’t care about being banished.

Buthecared.

Enough to push her away, enough to turn his back when she’d gotten closer to him than anyone ever had. When, maybe, just maybe, he loved her, too. A flush lit her skin as she recalled the glorious things they’d done to each other in his stark bedchamber above the Blue Moon. True love or brief liaison, she couldn’t end their story for him. Not if he’d regret it every time they entered a shop, and someone gave her the cut direct.

And it appeared as if he wasn’t going to offer a way out when Ashcroft could provide everything she allegedly needed—security, wealth, standing.

Everything except love. Happiness. Contentment.

She wanted Fig Alexander’s children, not the Fireball Duke’s.

Drawing her slippered feet to the bench, Victoria dropped her cheek to her knee, cried out, hollow, absolutely empty inside. She sniffled and breathed in the overwhelming scent of lilacs, proving there were more tears in there somewhere.Finn Alexander, you coward. Except he wasn’t. He was an honorable man intent on doing the right thing, and she loved him for it. His bloody sincerity. His exemplary kindness. His sincere concern that someday she would need protection only a duke could offer.

Victoria stilled, her fingertips tingling.

Ashcroft.

Rolling her head to the side, she watched the duke cross the terrace with a purposeful stride, saddened that she felt nothing for the tall, menacingly handsome man. Not a single burst of heat, not even one goosebump. Enigmatic and intimidating, he would be hard to tame.

Victoria liked puzzles.

And, heavens, he was aduke.

An interesting man if she were interested.

Maybe she could pretend.

Until she figured out how to get Finn to run away with her.