Page 114 of Just About a Rake


Font Size:

“What is it, Heart?” Leonora challenged, shoulders set. “You sorely underestimate me. You must know I’m not the sort of woman who bows to convention. If consequences arise from my associating with an infamous rogue, I shall face it the same way I face everything in my life—with boldness and without fear. You have no right to meddle in my relationships.”

“When it comes to your reputation, I have every right,” he boomed. “I have not protected you from fire and brimstone for twenty years only for it to be ruined by that blackguard!”

“Dare knows,” Leonora said flatly. “He knows I am a by-blow. He knows everything.”

The marchioness gasped.

“Youtoldhim?” Heart demanded, his face growing multiple shades of red. “Him?”

“I didn’t spell it out, but he guessed. How could he not, when the duchess who resembles me so well calls on him to warn him off? Not a fortnight ago—before that. Weren’t you there as well? He guessed. I didn’t deny it.”

The duchess’s brows gathered together.

Heart cursed and dragged both hands through his hair. His eyes looked almost hopeless. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“That’s enough,” the marchioness said firmly. “Calm your temper. If the earl knows, he knows. There is nothing to be done about it now.”

Leonora agreed. This was enough. She couldn’t believe they would do something so underhanded as to try to control herassociations in this way. And Dare! Did he truly care for her so little that he would agree without hesitation? She shouldn’t be angry or disappointed or even heartbroken at the fact that he didn’t love her. After all, she had known what she was getting into when she had flirted with him. When she had seduced him. However, quietly acquiescing like an obedient, well-behaved lady without speaking to the man himself was simply not an option.

Face to face.

Heart to heart.

She turned on her heel and marched off.

“Leonora!” Heart called after her. “Where the devil are you going?”

She stopped at the door to look over her shoulder. “If it was the past you didn’t want me to repeat, you are too late,” she smiled as his eyes widened, “for it has already repeated itself.”

*

Ah, what hellishdamnation.

He missed that little temptress.

A fist slammed into Dare’s jaw. His head snapped sideways, pain exploding along his cheekbone, snapping him back to the present. The taste of blood filled his mouth.

“You’re not focusing, cousin,” Drake taunted. Roars went up all around the warehouse, as they circled each other, both shirtless and bloody. The sting of his knuckles registered only faintly. He had lost track of how many punches he’d thrown.

He took comfort in the fact that Drake looked a bit worse.

“You’ve been challenging me every day for a fortnight,” Drake continued, rolling his shoulders. “Aren’t you tired?”

“You lied to me.” Knuckles cracked. “I’m venting.”

Drake spit out blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I withheld the truth.”

Dare sneered. “Omission might not be an outright lie, but your intention behind the omission makes it one. You used me.”

“No,” Drake corrected with a smirk. “You are using me. I wish to return to Brighton in this lifetime.”

“Then return.”

“Then hand over the deed.”

Dare’s fist flew through the air, aimed straight for his cousin’s face. Unfortunately, Drake ducked, and in the next instant, his knuckles connected with Dare’s ribs, sending a jolt of misery up his side.

The man had confessed to letting a word slip here, a threat there, all leading the duchess back to London—where she would find her daughter flirting with a rake. His cousin’s network, and his damned calculations, were deuced frightening.