Page 109 of Wicked Rivals
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“Stop.” Ashton tried to calm his racing heart and focused on how good it felt to have her back in his arms, even if she was spitting like a wet polecat.
“No! Let me go!” She tried to tug loose, eyes full of that Scottish fire he’d come to love.
He held fast. “Not until you listen to me.” Lord, he just needed to say it. So much for not being a bloody fool. If he said what he needed to say, it would take a weight off his shoulders if nothing else. And if she returned to London with him, he would be the luckiest fool in the world.
“I didn’t come here for the letters. I didn’t even know they existed until just now. I came here foryou. Come back with me, Rosalind.”
Whatever she’d expected him to say, that clearly hadn’t been it. Her brows drew together and her lips parted. Her look of surprise and confusion was adorable. He wanted to kiss the tiny lines above her brow and ease the worry shadowing her eyes.
“What?”
“I want you, Rosalind. That has never changed. Everything I said and promised to you was all true. I want only you.” He rubbed his fingers along her wrists as her hands still pressed the letters to his chest. He would let the letters go if it won her back. She was more important.I can find another way to bring Hugo down, but I cannot lose her.
Her long dark lashes fanned up, and she glared at him through stony eyes.
“All of it was true?” Her tone turned dangerously silky, and her brogue thickened slightly.
Hell and damnation, he was treading on dangerous ground. He recognized that tone. His hellion was furious with him. But he would not lie to her.
“Yes.” He waited to hear the coffin lid snap shut on his fate.
She met his stare with a pulsing ferocity. “I willneverbe a puppet or a tool for any man. Do you understand me? There will be no more strings for you to pull, Lord Lennox.”
His name upon her lips sounded like a curse, and he felt sick all over again. A puppet? The memory of the night he’d said those words was a bleak one. While he had intended to use Rosalind to destroy Waverly, he wouldn’t have put her in harm’s way or done anything without first telling her the truth. All of it.
He sighed, his shoulders heavy with the weight of his secrets.
“I was being manipulative, but not toward you. I needed Charles to be at ease. It was always my intention to tell you what I know about Waverly before we acted. I wanted to tell you everything, but I also had to know how you felt about me before I could.” If he was ever going to win her back, he had to tell her the parts of his life that made his soul bleed, starting with the night in the river Cam.
She raised her chin. “I don’t want any more pretty words from you, Lord Lennox.”
“Woman, will you hear me out for one bloody minute?” If she said she wouldn’t, he was tempted to kiss her—it was the only way he could silence that spirited creature into submission, at least for a few moments.
She narrowed her eyes, and he sighed.
“Please, Rosalind. I need to tell you. Hear me out, and then you can send me on my way.”
Rosalind glanced away and then back at him. Her body’s tension eased in his hold.
“Do you remember how I told you someone tried to drown Charles? That he was bound and gagged and carried to the river?”
Rosalind nodded.
“That man was Waverly, and he vowed revenge for that day for foiling his plans. For a long time we thought nothing of him—our titles and privileges saw to that. We became complacent, not realizing that Hugo, now Sir Hugo, had been biding his time. Waverly has been trying to kill us and those we love in one way or another for the last year. When I learned he was partnering with you, I thought I might learn something of his actions through you. The man’s resources go far beyond those of a simple businessman, yet other than that we know little of what he’s capable of. As he invested in your ventures, I saw an opportunity. I knew I could use your connection to him to draw him out and, with luck, learn things that could keep us safe from him. But then you bewitched me, and I became afraid to put you in harm’s way.”
She stiffened in his arms. “I bewitched you?”
“Yes, my little hellion. You were the perfect partner, the perfect woman, even the perfect enemy when you were so inclined. I didn’t want to lose you, and I knew once I shared everything with you, you might walk away. That’s why I waited so long to tell you.” He didn’t add how he would have chased her to the ends of the earth to convince her she was the only woman in the world for him.
He swallowed hard and spoke. “I was going to tell you the truth and let you decide whether you wished to help us. I wouldneverhave forced you on that matter.”
“Of course you would have, you arrogantSassenach,” she muttered, trying to turn away from him, but he pulled her closer.
“Your safety as the woman I love will always come first,” he said fiercely. “No schemes of revenge or business matters will ever be more important than that.”
Her eyes widened, and he saw a glimmer of doubt in them that tugged at his heart. “Do not say things you don’t mean. I have no illusions. I’m not the sort of woman that a man would feel that way about. I’m…” Her lip trembled. Did she not believe she could be loved or desired?
