Page 46 of When the Rogue Returns
“You know I can’t.” Her breath was coming quickly. “I have a life in Edinburgh. If I stay out all night, my neighbors will notice, and I’ll be the subject of gossip.”
“Because you spent the night with your husband?” he bit out.
“They think my husband is dead, remember?” She faced him, her expression once more wary. “Of course, if you choose to tell them otherwise, there’s not much I can do about it. But then they’ll know that I lied about my past. And if you tell them why—”
“I wouldn’t do that to you, damn it.” He caressed her cheek. “Honestly,lieveke, I don’t want the world knowing about the theft any more than you do.”
She dropped her gaze to his chest. “You can’t avoid that if you pursue justice for Jacoba and Gerhart. The whole world will learn of it then.”
“You’ve made your point. And I admit it’s a good one. But there must be a way to solve this. I just need to think, to decide what to do.”
“I understand.” A small smile graced her lips as she met his gaze once more. “But you won’t get any thinking done if I stay.”
“That’s an understatement,” he muttered.
Already he was rousing again, wanting her again. It seemed he couldn’t be sensible or reasonable or even logical when it came to her.
“Fine,” he added and turned her so he could lace her up. “I’ll take you home.”
“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly. Even as he scowled at her back, she added, “That’s as bad as my staying here the night.” She glanced at the clock. “If a mysterious gentleman brings me home at midnight, my neighbors will almost certainly talk.”
He jerked the ties of her stays hard enough to make her gasp. “I daresay the baron has brought you home late a time or two.”
“Not that late. And my neighbors and my servants know him. They don’t know you.”
She had an answer for everything. But that didn’t change one essential fact.
He tied off her corset, then turned her to face him again. “Theywillknow me eventually,lieveke—I promise you that.” He clasped her head in his hands. “I refuse to lose my wife again. We will figure out how to manage it so we can be together, without ruining what you’ve built here. But let me make one thing clear: I’m not letting you go.”
The yearning that flashed across her face was unmistakable. “I don’t want you to.” She covered his hands with hers. “But unraveling this will take time. And I prefer to maintain my respectability until we can settle matters.”
Although he knew she was only protecting herself, it chafed him to watch her leave. “I’m beginning to miss the old Isa,” he grumbled, “the one who deferred to her husband.”
She grew solemn. “I hope not. She was the one who didn’t believe in you when she should have. Who didn’t stand up for herself.”
“Who was sweet and shy and guileless—”
“Not guileless,” she said earnestly. “I hid the imitation parure from you. I hid my family’s greed. I didn’t tell you what they wanted from me.”
“True.” Back then he had thought he knew her, but he’d been wrong. He wasn’t even entirely sure he knew her now. She was still hiding things from him. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he did.
Or was he just so used to distrusting her that he simply didn’t know how to begin trusting her again?
“So I don’t want that Isa back,” she said. “And you shouldn’t, either.”
The fact that she clearly regretted so much of what had happened made it hard for himnotto trust her. And he had to admit that he did like his new, bolder wife.
“Very well. We’ll put the old Isa to rest,” he said, running his thumb over her lower lip. “But the new Isa had best get used to my being around. Because I’m not going anywhere ever again. You’re still my wife, and that isn’t going to change. Young Lochlaw will just have to look elsewhere for a bride.”
“As if Rupert could ever be a match for you,” she said lightly, then brushed her lips over his.
With a growl he drew her back for a longer kiss, reveling when she wrapped herself about him like a tree putting down roots.
She might not yet trust him completely, and she might have doubts about how he wanted to handle the matter of her relations, but one thing was certain. Shedesired him as much as or more than the old Isa.
And that would be his way back into her life.
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