Page 69 of Just About a Rake


Font Size:

Now. . .

Leonora had never realized how inferior she would feel once the truth became known. Known tohim. Whether he would keep her secret or not didn’t even enter her mind. The idea that he might look at her differently—that alone was enough to cause a throb in her breast.

Was she still the same person to him?

A hand clamped around her wrist and pulled her to a stop. “Leonora, do you think I care about such matters?”

She whirled on him. “Why wouldn’t you? Or do you not understand what the weight of what your words imply?”

“I understand.” His eyes burned into hers as though they wanted to impart a weight of their own. “But I don’t care.”

Impossible. “Why not?”

A gush of impatience blew from him. “I. Don’t. Care. You can just deny my words, you know. Tell me I’m wrong.”

No. “Why would I do that?”

He stepped up close to her, his gaze burning even hotter. “For your peace of mind.”

Her peace of mind? If he knew in what blank state of chaos her mind spun at the moment, he wouldn’t say such a thing. Acceptance, perhaps, but never peace. True peace. “This secret has never brought me that.”

“Peace, mayhem, you don’t have to hide it from me.” The sincerity in his eyes, his voice, wouldn’t be denied. “So she is your mother? The duchess. That is why you are so interested in her.”

Leonora averted her gaze. “I don’t know.”

He planted his face before hers, drawing her eyes to him. “But you suspect, don’t you?”

She gave a reluctant nod.

“Then Heart . . .”

Leonora suddenly laughed. Ah, yes. Heart. Her father. “Can you even say it out loud?”

A low chuckle followed the wake of her words. “I can’t.”

He stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. Leonora’s brows furrowed as her cheek rested on a hard, partially wet shirt. Around them, rain pattered, but she didn’t care. Her arms circled his waist. Time felt momentarily paused even though everything around them was still moving. The rain. The world. The beat of her heart.

A moment later her chin was lifted and soft lips claimed hers. Arms banded around her like steel as his tongue swept into her mouth, clasping her against his chest. Her body stirred at the contact, a comforting heat blooming within as the chill that had gripped her before began to fade.

The picture of his rippling muscle as he walked into the ring blasted any other thoughts from her mind, reminding her to live. Now. In this moment.

Thiswas all she had.

And that drove her to spear her fingers through the silky strands of his wet hair, leaning into him more. Demandingmore.

Dare didn’t disappoint.

The kiss took on a new depth as he gave his interpretation ofmore. Leonora had always loved flirting with rakes, and she loved flirting with Dare the most, but she had never kissed any of the other men she’d flirted with. So it would be too presumptuous to say that he was the best of the best when it came to kissing.

However, she’d wager that he was.

Her entire being was covered with gooseflesh. And she was free. Free from the hidden title she carried, her history, her birth. She was simply herself with him. And that was enough. All ill thoughts disappeared. He had brought back her perspective of her situation that she’d almost forgotten. Her family, at least the ones in her life, had no ill intent. What they’d done, they’d done for her. It didn’t matter whether her place in society was fragile. What mattered was the people who stood by her side no matter what.

And in this moment with Dare, she felt something was different. A foundation beneath her feet. Not something brittle, but something that might hold up in the face of a storm. Perhapsshe didn’t have to carve out a more permanent place for herself, something unshakable. Perhaps she’d had it all along.

She didn’t need to find a rock to lean on. She could just be the rock.

She also realized she liked this kiss.