“I know.” Sighing, he took her hands in his. “I swore not to harm you, then acted most cruelly toward you upon my first test.”
“I forgive you,” she said, her gaze dropping to his cravat.
He ducked his head, finding her eyes with his. “I’ll not believe you unless you agree to marry me.”
Her head whipped up. “Your Grace?—”
“Levi,” he said, tightening his hold on her wrists.
“Levi.” She offered him a melancholy smile. “Your title won’t protect you from Humphrey. He doesn’t care if you’re a duke or even a prince.”
“He should,” Levi growled, his ire causing Miss Braddock to start and shrink away from him. “And neither he nor his sister will ever threaten my fiancée again.”
He released her, allowing her to scurry backward.
“If she’ll accept my proposal,” he added, softening his tone.
Miss Braddock chewed her lower lip, glancing at her dressing table. “I’m not going to refuse you.”
“That’s a relief,” he chuckled, exhaling the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“However, I’m going to give you something, and afterward, you can decide if you want to propose to me.” She trembled, but when he moved to embrace her, she darted out of his reach. “I’ll understand if we never speak again.”
He couldn’t fathom what item she could possibly give him to provoke such a drastic reaction. Stroking his chin, Levi strode to the open trunk on her bed and peered inside at the meticulously arranged contents. His chest constricted.
“If the result of this gift is that we never speak again, I must refuse it, for I cannot imagine spending the remainder of my life with you and not talking.” He closed the distance between them and wound his arms around her waist, molding her against his body. “Nothing will change my heart.”
He placed a finger on her lips, stopping her retort.
“I realize I made that promise once before. Know that the time I spent thinking I’d lost you was agony, and I will not be parted from you again… for any reason.”
She nodded once and unwound herself from his arms. Expelling a heavy sigh, she trudged to her dressing table and dragged the jewelry box to the edge.
“There’s something in here that belongs to you,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the wooden lid. “Something that I took.”
“What is it?” Levi asked, sidling close enough to Miss Braddock to inhale the intoxicating lily of the valley scent that clung to her skin.
She lifted the lid, stuck her fingers into the box, and removed a small item. Then, she spun around and held out her arm. Peeling open her fingers, she revealed a gold band with a ruby stone.
His father’s missing ring.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EVELINE/HELENA
“You stole my father’s ring?” The Duke of Lennox’s eyes oscillated between the glittering ruby and Eveline’s face.
She nodded once, not trusting her voice. It would only be a matter of minutes before he turned on his heel and strode from the room without a backward glance.
He swiped the ring from her palm and slipped the band onto his finger, releasing a soft sigh once the ring returned to its original location.
“Is there anything else you need to share with me?” he asked, his hard gaze locking on her eyes.
She took an involuntary step backward, crashing into the vanity, and swallowed. “I also took yours and your friends’ gold watch fobs.”
“Are you going to return them as well?” His disarmingly quiet voice caused her stomach to flip.
“I cannot.” Her lip trembling, she struggled to keep more tears from falling.
