Page 600 of From Rakes to Riches

Yet there was one she would miss above all…

Rake.

Through the night, they’d slept entwined. Again this morning, they’d made love, in silence, their bodies speaking to each other in the language only they knew.

Even as she tried to keep her mind clear and concentrate on Hannibal, words from last night kept returning to her. The words he’d spoken—and the words he hadn’t.

The words she hadn’t allowed him to speak. Words he would’ve surely regretted today.

As were the words she’d left unspoken.

Words that ached for release.

Words she tamped down and hoped would eventually go quiet.

It was too much to ask that they disappear entirely, unexpressed.

These words had burrowed deep inside her heart.

They would never disappear.

You don’t have to live in the shadows any longer, Gemma.

More words that yet resonated through her. She wanted them to be true with every fiber of her being.

The irony wasn’t lost on her. A life out from beneath the shadows was the very life she’d been striving and deceiving for. A life where she could be entirely herself.

An honest life founded upon dishonesty.

To Rake…to the world…to herself.

And yet, even through the layers of deceit—so many layers she’d lost track—he saw the truest her. Thehershe could be only when they were alone together.

But it was the untruths that made any sort of relationship—jockey…mistress…that other unspoken word—impossible. He’d offered her protection, and what a temptation to accept it and shelter beneath his wing.

But that life would always be a lie.

And while she mightn’t deserve better, he did.

A throat cleared at the gate. Clad from head to toe in saffron yellow, Lady Artemis stood watching her with a little smile. “Obsessing over race strategy, are we?”

“Something like that,” replied Gemma, attending to the braid she was plaiting in Hannibal’s mane. She silently hoped Lady Artemis would go away. While she’d come to admire the woman, and even like her, she needed to keep her distance from Rake’s too-perceptive sister.

But the lady remained, smiling and unmoving. “You won’t be returning to Somerton after today, will you?”

Gemma continued braiding. “I won’t.”

“I figured as much,” said Lady Artemis in her usual breezy manner.

And still, she didn’t move along.

“How is Dido this morning?” asked Gemma, for something to say.

“High of spirits,” said Lady Artemis on a little laugh. Gemma detected nerves in that laugh. “But aren’t we all?”

“Aye,” said Gemma, sensing Lady Artemis needed her to say as much to allay her own high spirits.

Lady Artemis stepped inside the stall and stroked Hannibal’s nose. He gave a whicker of approval. “This fellow looks to be his usual stalwart self.”

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