Page 523 of From Rakes to Riches

“You mean because Gem’s a woman.”

Rake caught his mouth before it gaped open. “You knew?”

Artemis shrugged. “Of course. Anyone with eyes could see.”

“I didn’t.”

Artemis bit her bottom lip, as if on the verge of laughter. “I prefer not to comment.” Her careful diplomacy was worse than outright laughter.

“And you never said anything?” Rake demanded. Couldn’t she see this was serious business?

Again, Artemis shrugged, and Rake’s teeth ground together. “Then you understand why he…she…must go.”

“I understand no such thing.”

His sister was fiddling on his last nerve. “She’s a liar, therefore, she’s untrustworthy.”

Surely, Artemis would see the necessity of the situation.

But judging from the expression on her face, she saw no such thing. In fact, she was looking at him with such incredulity he began to wonder if he’d suddenly turned a noxious shade of mustard.

“How easy it is for you, Rake,” she said with an uncharacteristic burn of intensity. “Sometimes I forget that.”

“What are you on about, Artemis?”

He wasn’t wrong about Gem, that much he knew.

“Youare a duke with all the freedoms the title entails.”

“And responsibilities,” he pointed out. Responsibilities he’d never once shirked.

“You can do anything you please, any time it pleases you.” She hadn’t blinked once. “Anything, Rake.”

“And you can’t?”

“No, I can’t. For the simple reason that I’m a woman.”

“Artemis, what on earth have I ever denied you?”

“That’s just it, brother. It’s in your power to deny me. The life I live isn’t mine for the taking, but rather, mine because you’re a permissive brother who allows me to have it. Surely, you can see the difference.”

And he did.

He didn’t like it, but he did.

Artemis cocked a hip onto the billiards table. “I figure Gem has a good reason for disguising herself as a man. It’s not easy in the world of horses for a woman whose interests and talents range in that direction. Haven’t you considered as much?”

In fact, he had—therein lay the problem.

He wanted that to be the reason for Gem’s deception—too much.

But a feeling wouldn’t stop nagging at him. There was more to Gem.

And it was neither simple nor straightforward.

A light tap sounded on the door. “Expecting anyone?” asked Artemis.

Rake shook his head and called out, “You may enter.”

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