Page 90 of Romancing Daphne

“And has not yet attempted to beat down the door. That shows both sense and self-control.”

Daphne rose, confused.“If his presence upsets me, why did you make him stay?”

“Doeshis presence upset you?”

“Of course it does. How could it not? After everything he did, after everything I have endured, his presence most certainly upsets me.” Theimpulse to shout in frustration proved nearly as unshakable as the need to cry out all her pain.“This is supposed to be a safe haven, Adam. I am supposed to be safe here, safe from him and from the tabbies of thetonandfrom . . . from . . . everything.”

Adam said nothing for the space of several uncomfortable moments. Daphne glanced back at him. He wore the expression that always indicated he was sorting out something complicated. Daphne had no desire to be dissected and evaluated.

“Daphne.”

She waited for whatever final assessment he meant to offer.

“There is a vast difference between a safe haven and a hiding place,” he said. “One brings a person peace, the other unending loneliness. I refuse towatch you dwindle away in fear.”

She faced him, attempting to look determined and confident despite the unnerving ring of truth to his words.“I am not afraid.”

“You are terrified.” The declaration came without pity or question.“Terrified of being brushed aside and forgotten.”

“Adam—”

“I’ve hired Lord Tilburn away from Hartley. He will be staying here for the remainder of the Season.”

“Youwhat?” Daphne felt her eyes widen even as her stomach dropped to her toes.“Are you mad?”

“I am tired, is what I am. Tired of waiting for you to pull yourself out of this hole you’ve dug for yourself.” His expression was stern, unrelenting.“No more sulking, Daphne. No more hiding.”

She could feel herself closing in at the prospect of facing James every day, of reliving all the pain he’d caused her.“I cannot do this, Adam. Though you no doubt see it as a weakness and a failing, I cannot so easily dismiss ridicule and censure and heartache. Those barbs may bounce off you, but they pierce me. They pierce me every time.”

The look of disappointment that entered Adam’s eyes came as a blow.“Life is never entirely painless, Daphne. But you cannot have the happiness without passing through the sorrow, and doing so makes you stronger. Hiding from it only makes you a coward.”

She flinched at the declaration. While Adam had at times been stern with her, he had never spoken so harshly.

He left her standing there in the doorway. Without another look in her direction, he sat at his desk and took up his paperwork once more. A single set of tears pooled in her eyes, followed closely by another. For the first time in years, she made no attempt to stem the tide of emotion.

She slowly made her way to her bedchamber. Curled in a ball on her bed, she allowed a lifetime of heartache to escape. The tiny child desperate for her father’s affection wept alongside the young lady in love with a gentleman who did not love her in return.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Daphne tugged at one kidglove as she descended the stairs. Uncertainty slowed her steps, but determination pushed her forward. A nearly sleepless night spent in contemplation and internal debate had finally solidified herdecision in the quietest, darkest hours of early morning. Though she felt almost overwhelmingly nervous, she refused to go back into hiding. Shemay have been a plain and uninteresting nymph, but she was not a coward.

Artemis stood in the entryway, her open palm pressed to her heart. Thelook she gave Persephone dripped with dramatic suffering.“I shall wasteaway to a mere waif if made to pass another hour in the confines of mydungeon.”

“Your bedchamber is hardly a dungeon,” Persephone said.“And you have not been confined to that room. You have the entire house and the back grounds at your disposal, and you have made any number of excursions out into London.”

“A free spirit must go about in the world without restrictions, Persephone.” At this, Artemis’s eyes turned heavenward, creating the perfect picture of longing and heartbreaking agony.“Walls and gates stifle and suffocate a heart meant to fly beyond the bounds of—”

“I am sorry for your suffocating heart, my dear, but you cannot venture out into Town unaccompanied by your family, no matter its appeal.”

“I wish only to go out into the park. I can see it from my window, calling out to me, just out of reach.” She clutched her hands together before her as though a condemned prisoner at once pleading for mercy and praying for the welfare of her soul.“And I solemnly vow to give any criminals—thoughyou realize meeting anactualcriminal would be wonderfully exciting—avery wide berth.”

“Adam’s insistence on storming the halls of Westminster only moments after the Prime Minister was murdered is the closest any member of this family will be permitted to come to the criminal element,” Persephone insisted. “I will not allow you to go searching for one—and do not argue that you won’t go looking. I know you.”

Daphne took a fortifying breath. She had anticipated this contretemps and recognized the opportunity to put her newfound determination to the test.“I will walk about the park with her,” she offered with more assurance than she felt.

Her sisters turned toward her in perfect synchrony. Their looks of surprise would have been identical if not for the hint of triumph that touched Artemis’s face.

She reached her sisters’ sides and acted as though she didn’t notice how very shocked they were. A turn about the park was hardly reason for such amazement. She didn’t think she had been that withdrawn.

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