“Aye,” Simon said without hesitation.
“I don’t know whether I should be relieved that you have finally told me the truth or angry at you.”
“Both,” he said, surprising her. “I’m relieved that ye know and angry at myself that I could have contemplated such dishonorable behavior. Do ye think ye could believe me?”
She wanted to say yes, but she didn’t see how she could. “I—” What could she say?
Simon’s eyes seemed to grow hard. “I understand.” He released her hand at once and stepped away from her. He thrust the box he’d been holding in his other hand at her. “This is for ye. I made it.”
Her heart began to pound as she took the box, looked down, and worked the lid off. Inside was a pair of beautiful shoes. She frowned, even as she ran a finger over one of them. “You made me shoes?” she asked, looking up.
“Aye. I know the ones ye were wearing pained ye, and I wanted ye to be able to dance as long as ye desired. These should help with that. Next time ye wish to dance, ye will be free of pain. I put a lift in it similar to the one currently in yer shoe but with softer edges.”
“Is this where you were today?” she asked, her throat tightening with emotion.
“Aye,” he said.
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
He smiled wryly. “Say ye believe me about Lady Mary.”
She had been such a fool before with Ian. Was she repeating that same mistake with Simon?
“I would like to believe you,” she said.
“I suppose,” he replied, taking her hand in his, “it is up to me to find a way to prove my honesty to ye.”
He looked toward the window, then back to her. “Might I kiss ye? Yer brother-in-law has moved away from his watch.”
She knew she should say no, but she nodded. His lips came to hers, soft, reverent, and searching. She returned his kiss with the passion she seemed to feel in him, yet it was so hard to believe he truly wanted her. She broke the kiss and placed a palm on his chest. She stared up into his eyes. “What is it that draws you to me?” She wasn’t sure what sort of answer she was hoping for, but she felt the need to ask.
“Ye are perfect to me, Anne.”
“Now I know you are lying to me,” she said, feeling a tug of disappointment. “I have one leg shorter than the other, for goodness’ sake!”
“Aye,” he agreed, “ye do. And ye have not allowed it to slow ye down. Ye do not bemoan yer lot. Ye are beautiful, but ye don’t see it. Ye are loyal, fierce, and kind.”
“Either you are telling the truth or you are the most dangerous rogue in England and I the most foolish woman.”
“Ye are no fool, and ye know it.”
She didn’t know it; that was the problem. Such doubt would either save her from heartache or cause her the greatest loss she had ever known.
After seeing Simon and his sisters out, Anne entered the sitting room to find Jemma waiting there with an expectant look on her face.
“Well?” her sister demanded, patting the unoccupied settee cushion beside her.
Clutching the box that Simon had given her, Anne made her way to Jemma and sat. She opened the box and showed the contents to her sister. “Simon made me shoes because he saw that I was wincing yesterday when he was teaching me how to dance.”
Jemma’s eyes popped wide. “He was teaching you to dance? He made you shoes? My, my—” Jemma smirked “—now who thinks the Duke of Kilmartin is divine?” She wiggled her eyebrows at Anne. “It almost makes one think he’s a rogue the way he seems to charm each lady he meets,” Jemma exclaimed with a laugh.
“Oh, Jemma,” Anne moaned. “He may well be a rogue…”
Anne quickly told her sister all that had happened, even that which she had not been willing to confess before now. The time had come for her to seek advice from someone she could trust utterly and completely.
“So,” Anne finished as Jemma stared at her with an almost shocked expression, “as I told Simon earlier, either he is telling the truth about not seducing Mary and no longer wishing to continue his plan of revenge on Grandfather, or he has made a fool of me with his wicked roguish ways. For if I allow myself to fall under Simon’s spell—”
Jemma snorted. “I daresay you are already quite under his spell.”
