“I’ve thought this for a while,” he went on, “but you’re quite the outspoken chit. You shouldn’t be telling rakes about rake things.”
Leonora leaned back on her elbows, too, lifting her face toward the sky. “My brother was one, if the rumors about him are to be believed.” She suddenly laughed. “Had I been born a man, I probably would have been one as well.” She caught his stare from the corner of her eye. “What? You find that so hard to believe?”
He shook his head. “Just... I have no words.”
“See. I must have beyond-average charm to leave you without words.”
“You aren’t wrong about that.” He rolled onto his side to study her. “Will you tell me this grand family secret of yours?”
“Now, why would I do that?”
“Because I’m growing more curious by the minute even though I know I shouldn’t. And we are friends.”
Friends... “That still doesn’t warrant a tightly kept secret to be revealed.”
His eyes probed hers. “Aren’t you a bit too cavalier with this family secret? If it were that much of a secret, I shouldn’t even know that the secret exists.”
She pursed her lips. “That’s true.”
He fell onto his back, covering one arm over his face. “How bothersome. I never knew curiosity could be this horrible.”
Leonora bit her lip to keep from laughing. His tone had taken on an air of complaint, but it still held a smidgeon of amusement. “In any event, I suppose I should thank you. You were right, she is here.”
“Of course.” He smirked. “I—”
“You are always right?” she finished for him.
“Lord, no. Not always. I have been wrong too many times in my life to claim such a thing.”
She eyed him askance. “Well, it’s good that you aren’t overly confident. What were you going to say then?”
His arm remained in place over his eyes, but a smile played on his lips. “Merely that I have my moments. So, how is yourobservationgoing?”
“As well as observation can go. I haven’t gathered the courage to approach her yet. What would I even say? It’s not like I can ask her my questions outright.”
He lifted his arm to look at her. “Why not start by asking your family?”
“Heart?” No, she couldn’t do that.
“Wouldn’t it be easier?”
“You’ve met Heart, haven’t you?”
“I wish I could say that I hadn’t.”
Leonora flicked her gaze to the boats in the lake. “I’m not always even sure I want to ferret out the truth. It was buried for a reason. Yet I still have this burning curiosity within me that’s growing each day.”
“Will it make you happy to know the truth?”
She couldn’t quite say. Would it? “Perhaps, but it is sure to make others unhappy.”
“Don’t worry about them. Just worry about you.”
“That is more easily said than done.” And also, “I’m scared to ruin things.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.” Leonora glanced at him and chuckled at his brow attempting to reach his hairline. “You are the boldest woman I know.”
“You know a lot of women. Are you sureI’mthe boldest?”
