Page 13 of The Earl's Secret
“I suppose anything is a possibility, although she would never admit it if she did,” Gideon said.
“Nor could she ever wear them in public.”
“But if they are worth as much as it appears they are, perhaps she could have sold them.”
“Perhaps. We haven’t seen her in so long.”
“No,” Gideon shook his head. “She far prefers Bath to London, and we have not ventured that way in some time. Perhaps we shall have to make a trip there soon, if we do not find what we are looking for. In the meantime, why do you not write her and ask what she knows of them? Now, it is time for me to depart as there are a few things that I really must take care of. Be careful, Cassandra, promise me that? And do allow Devon to help you. I know the two of you have not always got on well, but I trust him more than any other man. He would never let me down.”
Cassandra doubted Gideon would say the same if he knew the truth of their past.
“Very well. Thank you, Gideon, and best of luck.”
He patted her rather awkwardly on the shoulder before leaving for the study. Without his presence, Cassandra allowed the emotion of seeing her father to fill her, her shoulders falling as she wished that he was not as ill in the mind as he was, that he would see her and know her, as Cassandra, his daughter.
But all she could do was be grateful she still had the opportunity to be in his presence, she decided, as she turned toward the other side of the staircase to take some time alone in her bedchamber.
Until a figure emerged from the shadows, his arms behind his back and concern over his face.
She lifted her shoulders, putting her armor back on.
“Lurking again, are we?” she asked.
“Actually, no, not this time,” Devon said, shaking his head as he took slow steps toward her, as though he considered her prey he was worried that he might scare away. He wouldn’t be far from the truth, except that Cassandra was not the type of woman who would ever back down, no matter what she faced. “I had a question to ask Gideon before he left, but then I saw the two of you emerge from your father’s room. You looked like you could use a friendly face.”
“So then why would you provide me yours?” She regretted the words as soon as they left her lips, knowing that he was merely trying to be kind, but she was unable to help herself. This was Devon. The man she had allowed in, which had then led to her entire life veering off course.
“Cassandra,” he said, looking at her in supplication. “When have I not been kind to you?”
Cassandra didn’t know if there was any way to further express her incredulity with him than she had already attempted.
“When have you not been kind? Was it when you placed a toad in my bed? When you convinced my governess that I was the one playing practical jokes to try to be rid of her? When you offered to take me rowing and ended up depositing me in the pond? Or when we—when you—”
She stopped, unable to say the words aloud, especially when he was staring at her with such intensity in his dark brown eyes. She remembered what those eyes had looked like when his body was flush against hers, when he—actually, come to think of it, they looked rather like they did right now. She hurriedly stepped back.
“I thought I was mostkindduring that time,” he said in a low voice, and she allowed him to feel the full extent of her glare.
“I thought so at the time as well. Until afterward,” she said, and he tilted his head to the side.
“Is there something you are not telling me?” he said, concern causing his shoulders to rise, his voice to drop, his body to tense. “You had said there were no consequences. I thought—”
“There was no consequence as in no babe. In that, you are correct,” she said, stepping back once more, having no wish to speak of this any further. “There was nothing for you to concern yourself with.”
“I feel as though I have done something wrong, anyway,” he said, lifting a hand toward her, dropping it when he realized there was no point in offering it.
“Nothing to worry yourself over,” she murmured, turning her head away, hoping he wouldn’t see the anguish in her eyes.
“Be that as it may, I am still worried,” he said, closing the distance between them once more until they were but a foot apart. “I am trying to make it up to you, Cassandra, truly I am. Allow me in, tell me what you are feeling.”
That, she couldn’t do. She would never. For to reveal any vulnerable part of herself would be giving him far too much power.
“It makes perfect sense that I would feel some sadness after visiting my father, for he is unwell,” she said. “Now, why do you not go and give Gideon a shoulder to cry on? He is the reason you are here, is he not?”
“He did invite me here, although now I am here to watch over you,” he said. “So watching over you is what I am doing.”
He tilted his head down toward her, and for a moment, Cassandra felt the familiar tingle that began in her toes and was readying itself to race upward. Fortunately, her head prevailed, and she stepped back just in time.
“I am not a child, Lord Covington.”
