Page 90 of The Secret of Flirting
His gaze grew distant. “Father and I were at the top of the stairs—the ones right outside that door there, actually—and I got so angry that I thrust myself between them, determined to keep him from hurting her. I’d done it often enough before. She’d done it for me, too.”
Snatching the glass of brandy back from Monique, he took a long swallow. When he continued, the matter-of-fact tone with which he’d begun his recitation shifted to something more tortured. “Father pulled his fist back to punch me, and I shoved him. He fell, all the way down the staircase, head over heels. He—” His voice cracked a little before he gathered himself to continue. “He ended up in a crumpled heap at the bottom. His neck broke on the way down, and he... died instantly.”
“So you didn’tmeanto kill him,” she said softly.
He uttered a harsh laugh. “Didn’t I? I’ve never been sure. Perhaps I did. Perhaps I took my chance to rid us of the plague that was my father.” His voice hardened. “All I know is that when he died, I had not one moment of remorse. Do you hear me? Not. One. Moment.” He downed the rest of the brandy, his eyes bleak. “If anything shows that I’m a killer at heart, it’s that.”
“Oh, Gregory, that’s not true. You did feel remorse, or you wouldn’t have spoken of the ghosts that torment you here.”
“Only because I remember so much of what my father did to my mother. Only because every time I return, I realize how little... I regret killing him.”
“You were twelve!” she cried. “You were acting as impulsively as any lad that age and trying to protect your mother. No one would blame you.”
“You think not, do you?” He poured himself more brandy and stared into its depths as if finding the past in them. “As a result of his death, I inherited everything. I gained my title and my fortune by shoving my father down the stairs. Plenty of people will see only that.”
Unfortunately, that was probably true. “Then you must do what Mr. Danworth says. Vote for Prince Leopold. Use your power to get him chosen as king.”
Even if it meant that she had to return to Dieppe with Grand-maman and take a protector. She couldn’t watch Gregory and his mother be destroyed in the press by... by a devil like Danworth.
“I amnotgoing to let that arse win,” he said fiercely. “I’m certainly not going to reward Leopold by giving him what he wants after he used such tactics to gain it, assuming that he knew what Danworth was up to.” He set down his glass to fix her with a tortured gaze. “And I damned well will not overlook the fact that Danworth tried to murder you in order to gain his aims.”
She swallowed. She’d heard that part, too, after all. “You don’t know that for certain.”
“I can’t prove it, no.” He caressed her cheek. “But Iknowit as surely as I know that Danworth is up to no good. And I won’t let him get away with it.”
“Then you and your mother will suffer. You’ll lose your career and your future,” she whispered. “I can’t bear that.”
He stared at her a long moment. “Why do you care? All I’ve done is give you grief, threaten to expose you... take your innocence. You ought to be handing me over to Danworth on a silver platter.”
“I would never do that!” she cried, her heart in her throat. “I love you! So I can’t stand by and watch while you are destroyed.”
I love you. The words rang in his ears. Clearly, he was losing his mind, because never had three words sounded so sweet.
And so very maddening. All he could think was how he wanted to take her to bed and make love to her until the sun came up. She’d just heard how he’d murdered his father, yet she was on his side. He didn’t know whether to exult or to despair. If Danworth—and possibly Leopold—had his way, she would be headed back to Dieppe in two days, with nothing to show for all her effort.
He couldn’t endure that. “I don’t care what Danworth says—Aurore will be chosen as queen of Belgium. And you and I will marry. Somehow. I shall not stand by and watch you suffer at the hands of Danworth or anyone else.”
A despairing look crossed her face. “Yesterday you told me you couldn’t allow the masquerade to continue, and now you’ll put Aurore, whom you’ve never met, in the position of queen of Belgium? Why?”
“Because she’s the best choice politically, assuming she lives.”
“That’s not the main reason. You just don’t want Danworth to win. But Aurore may not even live. So choose Leopold, save your career, prevent a scandal, and stop being stubborn about it, for God’s sake!”
“Iamstubborn,” he growled. “It’s why I’ve progressed this far in my career. I don’t give in to blackmail, and I especially won’t give in to it if it means watching you suffer.”
“Gregory—”
He dragged her into his arms. “You’re mine,chérie. And I think it’s time I convinced you of that.”
If he couldn’t convince her with words, then he would convince her this way. He took her mouth, reveling in how she melted against him. There had to be a way for them to marry. He wouldfinda way, damn it.
In the meantime, he would show her that they were meant to be together. He’d been at a disadvantage before, not knowing she was an innocent. But he knew now, so he could show her what thingscouldbe like between them... if he took her the way she deserved.
Pulling back from her, he drew her toward the door that led to his adjoining bedchamber. “Come with me, my sweet. This time we will do it right.”
She didn’t even pretend to be confused about what he meant. “Did we do it wrong last time?” she said with a tender teasing that lodged somewhere down deep. “Because it certainly seemed right to me.”
“I could have taken more care with you,ma chérie.”
