This was the best match for her.
It was the best for her, but he couldn’t stand the flashing images of the couple that blasted his mind. Her happy laugh as she gazed up at the duke. Them sharing...
Dare cursed, destroying that thought immediately. “Are you sure you heard right?” Could Knox be mistaken?
“The man was sitting right behind me,” Knox said. “I’m not deaf.”
Drake chuckled. “The life of you nobles.”
Dare shot a glare his cousin’s way. “Back toyourmatters. How did you discover the duchess had a daughter?”
Drake shrugged. “Let’s just say there’s a madam in a gaming hell who helped aid in the delivery of a child as well as a lady’s wedding to the Duke of Crane despite her ruin.”
The Lyon’s Den, no doubt.
“Remarkable,” Knox murmured, but not sounding all that interested.
“Drake,” Dare bit out.
“Don’t worry,” the man said with a smile that Dare didn’t appreciate. “The secret has been kept for round about twenty years and it shall be kept for twenty more.”
“How reassuring of you to point that out. I’m more concerned with how you plan to deal with the matter.”
Drake just smiled.
Dare wasn’t so easily fooled. And he hated that damn smile. Drake didn’t just have a plan—that plan was already in motion. He inwardly cursed. Just what was his cousin up to? He knew better than to ask. But one thing he didn’t need to ask—if it was about the duchess’s daughter, then it involved Leonora.
“Don’t worry,” Drake said, observing him lazily. “I’m not a monster. I just want what is owed to me and peace for my mother.”
“That damn Crane.” Knox lifted his lips in distaste. “He used and tossed women aside with no thought to the consequences.”
Dare flinched. Well, hell.
Did Knox have to frame it that exact way? Though his friend wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t his fault that the statement stabbed straight at Dare’s heart. Dare’s black heart, some would call it. And they wouldn’t be wrong, either.
Dare didn’t care about much. He didn’t care about whatever marriage he was expected to make in the future. He didn’t care about an heir. He didn’t care aboutduty. And he didn’twantto care. About Leonora. About Calstone. About the damn theatre. Caring didn’t do a man any good. Just look at Drake. Caring too much about old grudges had brought him here, though he couldn’t exactly fault the man’s intentions.
However, life was much easier if one didn’t care.
So why do I damn well care?
He glanced at the clock. It was already late. Whatever play Leonora had gone to watch with Calstone should he well underway.
It didn’t matter.
He cared but also didn’t care. He glanced back at the clock.
Damn it.
Dare leaped to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Knox asked, setting his glass aside.
“Out.”
“Out where? Drake promised we were drinking tonight.”
That was Drake’s problem. “Not in the mood,” he said, striding from the room.
