Page 66 of The Duke and the Lady in Red
They’d been visiting for less than an hour when Harry seemed to wither and shrink. Setting aside her glass, Rose got up, crossed over to him, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “We’ll leave you to sleep now.”
After she stepped away, Avendale moved in and extended his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Longmore.”
“Harry,” he replied, the word still slurred, but Avendale’s ears must have become attuned to the tortured sounds because he clearly understood what was being said.
“Harry, then.”
The man’s hand, warm and strong, closed around Avendale’s, and Avendale thought it more unfair that the remainder of Harry’s body had betrayed him as it had. Nature could be both wondrous and cruel, creating immense beauty and then offsetting it with ugliness. Perhaps it did it so people would never take beauty for granted.
Avendale followed Rose from the room, closing the door in their wake. In the hallway, she turned into him and he folded his arms around her.
“Will you come over tomorrow?” she asked.
“I’m not leaving, Rose.”
She craned her head back to meet his gaze as though she didn’t quite trust his words, as though she didn’t quite understand their meaning. He skimmed his thumb along the edge of the darkening bruise. “I’m rather insulted that you’d think I would.”
Slowly she shook her head, staring at him as though she could not find the words. He envied the ease with which she’d spent an hour talking to her brother, and yet with him, she measured words as though she thought he would judge each one. “I haven’t what you need here.”
“You’re here.”
Instead of relief or even warmth at his words, which sounded far more sentimental and foolish than he’d intended, she appeared all the more worried. “I have no servants, no one to wait on you.”
“I suspect I can manage. You won’t convince me to go so you might as well save your breath.”
“You don’t have to worry that I’m going to leave London. Harry is far too weak to travel. I see that now. I think trying to take him to Scotland would have killed him.”
So that’s where she’d been planning to traipse off to the night he caught her loading her carriage. Was there someone there to care for her? No, if there had been she’d have gone there long ago. His money would have tided her over for a while, but eventually she would have had to resort to another swindle in order to survive. Or perhaps she would have found legitimate means.
She clutched his arms, gave him a little shake as though she recognized that he was sorting things out, and she needed his complete attention. “He’s dying. Sir William said as much. He’s not long for this world. Help me, Avendale, help me make whatever time he has left as pleasant as possible. Afterward, you can ask anything of me and I’ll comply. I’ll stay with you as long as you want. I’ll sign papers attesting to that. I’ll sign them in blood. Life has been so unfair to him. I just don’t want him to have to worry anymore.”
“Anything at all?” he repeated.
“Anything.”
“For as long as I want?”
“For as long as you want.”
He could not imagine what it would be like to love someone that deeply, to be willing to give up one’s own hopes, plans, dreams for someone else’s happiness. It was beyond the pale, beyond his grasp. What was not beyond his grasp, however, was how badly he still wanted her. Already he had begun to regret that their bargain kept her with him for only a week. Now she was presenting him the opportunity to hold her near until he tired of her. A better man than he would have felt guilty for taking advantage of the situation. He supposed there was something to be said for his character that at least he recognized that he should feel some remorse. But she was offering what he wanted, and he didn’t have to give up anything he cared about in order to acquire it. Only a fool would have turned down her offer. He was no fool.
“It seems we’ve struck another bargain,” he said.
Her smile of gratitude was as bright as a thousand stars beaming in the heavens. “You won’t regret it, I promise,” she said, and he found it telling that she thought another promise was needed to seal the first. “However, I still want to stay here tonight, so I can look in on Harry periodically.”
“As I said, I’ll be staying with you. I sent my driver back to Buckland after he fetched Sir William. He’ll return for me in the morning.”
“You knew I’d want to stay.” She said it with surprise.
Not that he blamed her, as he was taken off-guard as well. Hehadknown. He hadn’t really given it much thought, and it was unsettling now to realize that he’d had no doubt regarding what she’d want to do. He hadn’t needed to ask. He’d simply known. “It was logical.”
She gave him a skeptical look before saying, “Would you like a tour?”
“Upstairs, perhaps. I’ve already seen everything down here.”
Straightening her shoulders, she became the confident, bold woman with whom he was familiar. “I should be angry that you broke the terms of our agreement. You were not to bother me when I was here.”
“On the contrary, you were gone more than the allotted time. I was well within my rights to seek you out. I may be a scoundrel, but I do honor bargains made, expect others to do the same.”
