Page 61 of One Dangerous Desire
“Leave it with me, sir.”
“I can’t leave it, Jack.”
Sullivan exhaled a rare sigh of resignation. “Let the law do its worst, Mr. Leighton.”
Rex suspected his father had done plenty that could get him locked away for years, if not the rest of his days. But there was one small dilemma. “Proving it. That’s the challenge.”
“Just a matter of finding evidence. We can start with his attempts at extortion and carry on from there.” The detective spoke as if uncovering his father’s secrets would be a simple. “I was quite good at putting away lawbreakers once upon a time.”
“Do your worst. As quick as you can.” He couldn’t open a hotel when George Cross and his accomplices were ready to bring violence to his door. And May. How could he marry her if there was any chance he’d expose her to harm? Another thought, as dark and insidious as the East End streets they’d visited tonight, sparked in his mind.
He would always be the son of a criminal, forever connected to men like Cross. What right did he have to bind May to all of that ugliness with an exchange of vows? Devenham might have bored her to tears with a life of tea parties and horse races, but at least she’d be safe. Coddled and pampered, as her mother had always intended. And now her father had offered her another choice entirely.
May didn’t have to choose between tedium with Devenham or the risks of marriage to a criminal’s son. She could be a businesswoman in her own right.
May is mine.And he was hers. She had him, always had, from that first sunny smile. From the day she’d reminded him he possessed a heart, his had been hers. But he’d never had her light, never hoped with her openhearted sweetness. He’d been ruthless, told lies, stolen what wasn’t his. But could he do this? Take what he wanted, regardless of the danger he might bring into her life.
He knew the honorable thing to do. Knew what the upstanding sort of gentleman he pretended to be would do. He knew he should let her go.
MAY SAT STARINGinto the embers of the fire for so long that her neck stiffened and her legs began to ache. She glanced at the little gold-edged watch fob she kept pinned to the sash of her gown. It had been hours since her father’s press event and the terrible choice he’d asked her to make. She still felt numb. Shocked. Confused. Completely upended, when just yesterday her future had seemed so certain.
Rex.She looked around the drawing room, almost expecting him to be there. Wishing for his strong, steadying presence.
From the moment her father dispensed his impossible terms, she’d sensed Rex’s doubts. Doubting her and the choice she would make. He’d withdrawn. Not only rushing off with an excuse of business that required his attention, but he’d chilled toward her too. Barely touching her arm and sparing her a single glance before taking his leave.
After a suffocating carriage ride back to their Grosvenor Square townhouse, during which she’d been unable to speak to her father and he’d kept silent, she’d written and sent a note to Rex, inviting him to call for dinner or as soon as his business matter was settled.
She’d already postponed dinner for an additional hour to give Rex a chance to join them, but now she feared he wouldn’t come.
“May I join you, Miss Sedgwick?” Mr. Graves put the question gently from the drawing room threshold, as if seeking permission to disturb her solitude.
“Of course, Mr. Graves. Have you come to advise me?” May grinned and gestured toward the settee across from her. “Please say you’ve come to advise me.”
His body shook with a low chuckle, so different from her father’s raucous guffaws.
“Do you require advice?” He unbuttoned his suit jacket, settled onto the sofa, and crossed his arms as he assessed her. “Is there some decision you must make?”
“My father certainly thinks so.” The man had been at the press event, hadn’t he? As she studied Mr. Graves’s kind face, she found herself wondering just how much he’d known before her father’s revelations.
“Did you know he would make me choose?”
“No,” he answered immediately. “But I know that Seymour can be a bully, especially in commerce.”
He was right. Despite the convivial public persona her father cultivated, he could be ruthless in business matters. Even when he was being reckless at the gaming table.
“So he’s treating me like a business associate?”
Graves leaned forward and clasped his hands. “He is treating you like a young woman with a will as strong as his own. Your father wants to protect you, Miss Sedgwick. Perhaps he thinks bending your will to his own ends accomplishes both goals.”
“That’s monstrous.” May closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
When she gazed at him again, Mr. Graves shrugged. “Then beat him at his own game.”
“How?”
“Your father must return to New York to salvage the stateside businesses. You will be here in London when the new Sedgwick’s opens. Now that he’s mentioned your involvement to the press, they will be eager to see a young woman at the helm of the store.” Mr. Graves settled back against the upholstery and offered her a rare smile. “You are Seymour Sedgwick’s daughter. I suspect your determination and powers of persuasion are unparalleled.”
The compliments were lovely but left May no more certain of what she should do.
