She nodded. “I’ve been racking my mind trying to decipher the look on your face, yet I am still at a loss.”
“I cannot say I remember my exact thoughts.”
“They don’t have to be exact. Do you remember even the smallest bit?” She would have trouble forgetting that look until she had an inkling of what had been behind it.
He was quiet for a moment, then answered, “I believe I was thinking it was best to put distance between us.”
Distance? “Why? Because of Heart?”
He nodded. “I didn’t want him to catch us.”
She sensed the truth in his words, but she also sensed he wasn’t telling her everything. Leonora decided to let it go—she preferred not to dwell on one thing for too long. If Dare said that was what he had thought, she would believe him.
“Well, at least you need not worry that he would ever force you to marry me. You would be the last man on earth he’d try to force to marry me.”
“He said that?”
“Oh, yes.” Leonora smiled faintly. “He cried about his usual warnings to staying away from you and all that.”
“Perhaps you should listen to him.”
“I could, but I can’t help it when you show up in my chamber, now can I? This goes beyond flirting to something more clandestine, don’t you think?” Leonora chuckled, exhaustion tugging at her eyelids, yet she fought them like a cat refusing to walk away from a drip of milk. She wanted that last lick. She couldn’t resist.
He reached out to tuck a curl behind her ear. “I suppose that’s befitting a notorious rake.”
“It never gets old hearing you call yourself a rake.”
“It never gets old hearingyoucall me a rake andstillflirting with me.”
“There is not much I can lose, you know.” She meant it as a jest, nothing more, but his expression still darkened.
“That’s not true, Leonora. You have everything to lose.”
She placed her hand over her mouth and yawned. “I still can’t base my entire future on the hope that a secret never gets revealed. But I can seize all the thrills.”
“I’ll help you keep your secret.” His eyes softened. “And where I can, I’ll help you seize those thrills.”
“I’ll hound you if you break that promise, Dare.” She’d probably hound him even if he didn’t.
*
How much dowords cost?
This was the thought that raced through Dare’s mind as he made the first promise he’d ever made to a woman other than his mother. And the cost of this promise...
It couldn’t be calculated.
He never made promises to anyone that he couldn’t keep, and he never knew that he could keep any promise, so he simply didn’t make them.
But he’d just made one tonight. Mainly because he understood something about the fear of being discovered. He never fought the title of rake. It was a moniker assigned to men like his father, and Dare never denied that part of himself. However, the title also served as a convenient mask, hiding the shadows of him he didn’t want to be revealed to the world.
Shadows that could devour anyone if they came too close.
The same shadows that haunted his father.
He swept a hand through his hair, glancing to the balcony.
“It looks as though you bit into a sour grape. What are you thinking about now?” Leonora asked softly, her voice still a bit husky.
