Page 119 of Just About a Rake


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She’d hunted him down believing she had to face him with her truth, expecting to be rejected by his. She had wanted to reassure him that, no matter his decision, she understood even if every syllable of his response broke her heart. Dare she believe in a different ending to their story?

“Do you love me, too?” Leonora asked.

A pin drop could have been heard in the silence.

She didn’t care. If he couldn’t say it, she would ask. And if he couldn’t respond with words, she would see it in the way he looked at her, the way he had always looked at her. The way he acted. She’d arrived here tonight ready and prepared for everything and anything. Now she was about to find out what sort of anything it would be.

“Leonora.”

There it was.

That look. That stark, unguarded look in his blue eyes.

The moment to rule all moments.

Lightning struck, and she suddenly realized—all moments with him were moments that ruled all moments. How could she not have seen it before? When she was with him, time didn’t feel empty. It felt whole.

Leonora’s smile widened, and she lifted a hand, wanting to trail a finger over a bruise on his face but hesitating. “Do you know, fear can survive any calamity except love?”

A brow arched. “Are you calling love a calamity?”

“Is it not? It has so thoroughly claimed me that I don’t know what is left and what is right.”

He pressed his forehead against hers, saying, almost begrudgingly, “Ah, you are a tempting witch. Why can’t I resist you?”

“You were not meant to resist me.” She covered his hands on her face with hers. “Perhaps you should follow the stars as well.”

“I’m still worried. What if I hurt you?”

“And what if I hurt you?” Leonora countered. “There is no guarantee of a smooth partnership, Rake. There is only the promise that we might try. Also, I have my ways.”

“Ways?”

“Should you lack in thetrying.”

His voice dropped, turning gruff. “What ways are those?”

“Curious?” Leonora lifted onto her toes to place a kiss on his lips, uncaring whether anyone was staring or not. “Shall we find out?”

The chorus in the warehouse was . . .

Yes.

*

Dare couldn’t believehis eyes, couldn’t believe his ears, and most certainly couldn’t believe the hands touching him.

They were a dream. Her love. Her confession... everything. A dream. A beautiful, lovely, dream.

And he never wanted to wake up.

In a way, he’d lived his life prepared to let go of everything before it could be taken from him, which was why he didn’t get attached. But Leonora Heart was one attachment he hadn’t been able to shake free from. Now, he didn’t have to.

To think it had all started with a teasing remark, a playful exchange that had spiraled into something far deeper than he could have ever predicted. At first, it had been nothing more than a nightly pastime, a harmless dance of wit. But then he became acquainted with her, became acquainted with himself, in a way that left no hope of recovery. With each teasing exchange, she wrapped another tentacle around him, drawing him deeper into her depths. And he had allowed those tentacles to wrap around him, sinking willingly into that temptress’s world, inch by inch.

Another inch.

Another inch.