Page 12 of The Taming of a Wicked Rogue

“Where are you going?”

She blew out a breath. She’d been putting off this visit as it was, but she did not need Leo questioning her about it too. It was the last place she could think of that her father’s belongings might be, but she had dismissed the idea as any discoveries of riches in the house would have been declared, sold, and the profits would have been paid to her father’s many, many creditors. She had to conclude he had either hidden them well or they were not at the house at all.

“A walk,” she finally replied.

“And here I thought you were set on being rather secretive.”

“I am allowed a walk, am I not?”

“I am allowed to accompany you, am I not?”

She glanced back at the house. “Return to your guests.”

“I’d rather walk.”

“That, I do not believe.”

His lips quirked. “It seems you believe you still know me, Rebecca.”

“I know of you, Leo. Hardly a day goes by when the newspapers do not write of the Moncrieff brothers and their exploits.” Continuing along the path at a speedier pace than before, she bit back a groan when he took a couple of big strides and caught up with her.

“I am gladdened to know you cared.”

She bit down on her bottom lip. Of course she cared. How could she not? Leaving Leo amongst a storm of scandal and dishonor hurt her more than anything in her life.

However, that was a long time ago and whether she cared for him or not was irrelevant. She had no desires to return to her old life, no matter how tempting. Leo had changed, she had changed, and more importantly the world had changed. The warm greetings she enjoyed as a child, before the truth of her father’s life had been revealed, were long gone. People wrote of her father almost as much as they wrote of Leo and the majority of it was a lot less flattering.

“You are going to the old house, are you not?” he pressed when she continued on silently.

“No.” She kept her gaze fixed ahead.

“There is little else in this direction.”

“I told you, I’m walking.”

“To the house,” he finished for her. “Though, I must warn you it is in a terrible state. No one was willing to purchase it once it was stripped of its assets.”

A lump tangled in her throat. The house had been warm and beautiful to grow up in, set amongst wildflower fields and the steep slopes of the hills. She’d read of her childhood home’s fate and known it would not be the same place she’d grown up in anymore.

But if she was ever to make up for her father’s behavior, she needed to find this blasted diamond.

“It doesn’t matter,” she murmured.

“So youaregoing to the house.”

“I am, but there is little need for you to accompany me.”

“Well, I have nothing better to do.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are still stubborn I see.”

“And you are still a pain in the rear.”

She sucked in a breath, stopped and faced him. The last time he’d called her that, she had been five and ten. She would never forget it. She’d jabbed him in the chest, accusing him of being ungentlemanly.

Then he’d kissed her.

She had been lost from that point on. They were never apart, and all expected them to marry once older.

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