The woman’s eyes widened. “He told you that?”
Leonora nodded. The duchess seemed oddly surprised. Why would he not? Before she could ask her next question, however, Heart shot a heated glance to the duchess and growled, “I thought you said he agreed to stay away from Leonora if you handed him the deed of that other fellow.”
Wait, what?Leonora’s heart threatened to stop.
“I did,” the duchess murmured. “He accepted the condition without hesitation.”
Leonora froze.
The words rang in her ears, hollow and heavy all at once. Accepted the condition without hesitation? Deed? That other fellow? But her heart only latched onto the first part. Accepted the condition. And Heart said Dare had agreed to stay away from her.
The truth settled in her chest like a stone. She knew it as surely as she knew the sun would rise each morning—this condition was their leverage to keep them apart. Heart’s reaction had already been a giveaway, but any lingering doubt crumbled at the duchess’s pinched expression.
Leonora’s breath caught.
And then, her heart moved to the most devastating part of the statement.Without hesitation.
That blasted rogue! How could he do this to her?
Drat it. Her heart threatened to burst as everything started to fall into place. Heart and the duchess had meddled in her affairs. They had made a deal with Dare. And the cad had accepted.
Without hesitation.
Leonora rose to her feet, drawing all eyes back to her. “When was this?”
The duchess’s brows furrowed. “A fortnight ago. I was only...” Her voice trailed off as Leonora balled her hands into fists, pretty certain from the expressions on all three faces looking back at her that the composure in her own had cracked.
This was why she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of his shadow at any event. He had made a deal for the thing his cousin was in search of. The deed.
This is what you get for falling in love with a rake, Leonora.
Curse it all!
She’d fallen in love with a rake even though she had never intended—nor even attempted—to reform him. But then, she hadn’t intended to fall in love with him either. Yet even if she had set out to reform him, she would have failed, simply because she had no desire to change anyone. She’d understood all this and had still fallen supremely hard.
Her family hadn’t made it any easier, either. “How could you do such a thing?” Leonora demanded from the duchess.
“Leonora,” Heart warned, his brows scrunching even more.
Hah! “That tone will not work on me today, Heart. You knew about this, too. How could you stoop to such low tricks?”
“Heart didn’t know until after the fact,” the duchess said. “I was merely trying to look out for you.”
“I can look after myself.” She sent her a pointed look. “I’ve been doing it for years.”
“Nevertheless, Dare is no good for you, Leonora,” Heart said. “The man is a lothario. Cassandra did you a favor.”
A favor? How could this be borne? “You ruined the thing that mattered most to me!”
“The thing that mattered most?” Heart sneered. “You mean your chaste friendship with that libertine? He must not have thought it mattered so much, since he walked away from you so easily.”
A vise tightened around her heart.
“Heart is right, Leonora,” the duchess said, casting a brief, knowing glance at Heart, who responded with a grunt. “A man like Dare will only cause you grief. The last thing we want is for our past to repeat with you. It’s better to stay away from him before it’s too late.”
“You mean before I’m seduced and must give up a child?”
Heart leaped to his feet. “Leonora!”
