“So you offer me this now in exchange for distancing myself from Lady Leonora?” He let out a dry laugh. “Drake gets what he wants, you get what you want, and I get nothing. Convenient.”
“It does seem unfair, does it not?”
“But you don’t care about that, do you?”
She merely shrugged. “It may not look it, but Heart was once a dear friend of mine. I would hate to see his sister disgraced or ruined because of men like you.” Her voice cooled. “As for thematter of your cousin, all I will say about that is that I’m tired of fighting. I’d rather put the past to bed.”
“You should have put it to bed two years ago. Why now?”
She paused before answering, “I was angry. Angry for a long time. But I’ve come to learn that some things matter far more than clinging to hurts you are better off letting go.”
Now, why did it sound like she was referring to him and Leonora?
“But you don’t just want me to stay away from Lady Leonora, you want my cousin to back down as well, correct?”
She inclined her head. “Once he has the deed, there is no reason for him to keeping fighting. It’s in all our interests to let matters go.”
“I cannot control my cousin.” He could throttle him, however.
“I’m willing to wager you would find a way to do the right thing, to get him to do the right thing.” Dare sighed, and she continued. “I shall give this to you, and all I require is your word.”
His word that he would walk away from Leonora.
“You must hold Heart in high esteem to go this far for him and his family.”
“I am indebted to his family, so yes. Will you accept this offer or not?”
His tongue wouldn’t form the wordyes. Every word associated with resistance fought against thatyesfrom rolling off his tongue. It bloody annoyed him, this request, as equally as Drake’s damn puppeteering. He pushed, he prodded, he rattled the tree and let others scramble for falling fruit until they were exhausted. But he neverforcedan outcome. An impressive ability Dare might have admired, if he hadn’t been caught up in the shake as well.
“Let us dispense with the niceties and come straight to the point. You wish me,” and his family, Drake, “to stay away from your daughter in exchange for this deed of property.” He was no longer in the mood for pretense and roundabout speech.
Her composure slipped. “Your cousin told you.”
“No. She did. Leonora.”
The woman’s face went as pale as a blank sheet of paper. “I beg your pardon?”
“Leonora already knows you are her mother. Or suspects, at least. She knows Heart is her father. She deduced the rest. I shall keep your secret because I have already been keeping it. For her. I will also take that deed.”
She suddenly rose to her feet, rubbing at her sable skirts. “If you know this, then you know why I am asking you to stay away from her.”
He did. He damn well didn’t want to know, but he did.
He was also curious. “How long have you been wearing black?”
“Twenty years.”
Bloody hell.
His gaze dropped to the parcel on the table between them. It shouldn’t be a difficult choice. He had no future with Leonora, no matter the stir she caused in his heart. He had already walked away, had he not? That was certainly his intention at Drury Lane. So why did his fingers tremble at the mere thought of accepting that deed?
But he’d taken her innocence. He couldn’t take any more. Could he?
No.
He couldn’t.
Only pain would follow acting on his stubborn affection. No. It was better for him to bear the pain than her. He would not risk seeing Leonora share the same fate as his mother because he’dfailed like his father had. But hecouldaccept this arrangement. He could accept this deed and in return never approach Leonora again.
