Page 39 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
“Go on,” she replied, grateful that Piers was holding his tongue.
Robert slowly shook his head. “I didn’t initially mean to take things as far as I did. But you offered me a way out of this life. And I found myself torn. You are an enchanting woman, Maggie.”
But you didn’t ever love me.
All his little tricks and sweet endearments had been lies. He hadn’t ever given a damn about her. A man capable of such villainy didn’t know the first thing of what it meant to care for another.
What sort of man steals a woman’s love for a lark?
A hotel waiter appeared at Piers’s shoulder. “May I take your orders for some refreshments? We have a freshly baked lemon cake available this morning.”
Maggie quickly nodded. Anything to make the attendant go away. She chanced a look at Piers, silently pleading for him to deal with the pressing matter of cake and tea.
“The lady and I shall have a pot of tea. And a slice of cake each, thank you. The other gentleman will pay the bill,” he said.
As soon as the waiter had disappeared, Maggie turned her attention back to Robert. “Go on. And just stick to the bare facts; I am not interested in anything else you might feel you need to say.”
“Of course. I had been with Catherine, my wife, before I came to London. She had been in love with me for many years and was heartbroken when I left. I treated her poorly. I probably still do.”
That actually sounds like the truth.
“Unlike Maggie?” Piers asked. She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I was ready to walk away from my old life to be with you, but then a letter came from Coventry. Catherine was pregnant again. It pulled me up short. Made me realize what a cad I had become. I had lied to two women. And was about to ruin both their lives.”
“So, you decided to come back here and do the right thing?” she replied.
Robert winced. “To be honest, I was still unsure. But it was your father who convinced me of what I should do. He sealed things for me.”
“My father? You told him?”
“No. But the last time you and I sat through one of His Grace’s sermons at St. Paul’s, he talked about loyalty. Responsibility. Of what being a man truly involved. It meant making the right choices. After listening to him, I knew I had to return to Catherine. Try to be some sort of husband.”
This revelation made clear something which had always puzzled Maggie. On the night before Robert was meant to ship out, she had offered herself to him. They had shared enough kisses and touches for her to know he desired her, yet he had refused.
At the time, she had been hurt. Viewed it as rejection. Now she understood why. The last thing he’d have wanted was for her to carry his baby. She should be grateful for such luck.
“But why lie? Why not just call things off? You didn’t have to go through with the whole charade of going to war and pretending to be dead. A simple letter telling me you were not going through with our wedding would have sufficed.”
Robert nodded. “I panicked. I had lied about being an officer. Your father was asking which clubs he should nominate me for; I knew I would be asked to prove my army rank in order to join them. I was also worried about your family.”
“My family?”
“When I first met you, I didn’t realize how well-connected they were, how powerful. Upon my return to Coventry, I figured that if I ended things with you and you took it badly, your family would come looking for me. But if I was dead, all my problems would be solved.”
The waiter arrived, carrying a tray. He set a pot of tea, two cups, and some plates on the table. When no one paid him any attention, he had the good sense not to linger. The air around the table was thick with tension.
“But you didn’t reckon on Maggie’s steadfast loyalty. Nor do you seem to care about the fact that she has wasted over two years of her life grieving for a thoughtless, heartless, dirty fraud.” Trust Piers to be able to take her pain and put it so succinctly into words. That was exactly what she had lived through, what this liar had done to her.
She gave a tired laugh. “I was going to have a statue erected for you. It was going to be unveiled during a service with local dignitaries in attendance. I even sketched a memorial garden that it would be placed within. You have no idea what your little deception, your trifling affair, has done to me. And even now, I think you couldn’t care less.”
Robert finally met her gaze. “Oh, Maggie, that’s harsh. I do care.”
“You only care that this is coming home to bite you,” she replied.
His faced hardened. His eyes lost all their gentleness. It was as if a mask had suddenly been removed and she was now seeing the real Robert. “Alright. Yes, I haven’t thought about you more than once or twice over the past couple of years. But you have my full attention now. What are you going to do?”
Those were the words of a man who’d suddenly realized his whole world was in peril. It wouldn’t take much for Maggie to destroy Robert’s life.
