“Not enough,” she retorted. “I want to know the full you, Phineas. All the good and all the bad. I’m tougher than you think. I can take it.”
“I think you’re tough,” he whispered.
She smiled, a hard, sly smile. “Then show me.”
Phineas was finding it difficult to breathe. The force of her gaze, and the honesty and bravery of her words, winded him. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but the idea of opening up to her even more was terrifying. But if she could tell him what she really wanted, surely he could be open with her as well.
“What is it?” she asked, leaning instinctively toward him. “You can tell me.”
Phineas exhaled slowly. Her eyes were beseeching, even tender. They were trying to tell him he could trust her. And he wanted to, so badly.
“You know my parents died when I was young,” he said at last. She nodded, her eyes still wide. “What is less commonly known is that they were killed during a tragic carriage robbery. The men who set out to rob them also robbed them of their lives.”
Iris clapped a hand over her mouth. When she lowered it, she whispered, “Phineas, I’m so sorry…”
“It was a very difficult time.” He swallowed. There was a throbbing pain in his chest, as there always was when he spoke of his parents’ deaths, and he had trouble meeting her eyes. “I was plunged into a deep state of melancholy. For weeks, I could not sleep or eat. I was like a ghost, half-dead, haunting the halls of Eavestone Castle. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t handle the responsibility of the estate.”
“You were grieving,” she murmured.
“Yes. During that time, your father was a comfort to me. He’d been close to my father, and I thought he was on my side. But it turned out that he used his closeness to my family to sell off many of our valuables, as well as small parcels of land, to his friends. It started small at first, little things I wouldn’t notice or miss, so he could gain favor with other powerful business owners. It ended with this land—the land with the mines. And this, your father kept for himself. It was the real prize, I understand now. The thing he had wanted all along.”
Iris shook her head. “So you have spent the last ten years going after the men who bought what my father stole?”
Phineas nodded. “Your father is the last among them. He is also the most well-protected, which is why it has been harder to take revenge on him. His wealth has insulated him from attacks. He employs protection officers and has many of the Bow Street Runners on his payroll. And he and his friends are well-connected in the ton. Meanwhile, I spent years too angry and grieving to socialize much with the peerage. As a result, I am considered an outsider, an unknown entity. It wasn’t hard for your father and his friends to paint me as a dangerous, villainous man, especially when I was so hell-bent on bringing them down.”
They were both quiet for a moment, looking at each other. Iris seemed calm and understanding, her breathing deep and rhythmic.
“I am so sorry for all that happened to you,” she said at last. “I’m sorry that your parents were killed, I’m sorry for what my father did, and I’m so sorry that you had to spend years isolated and despised, when what you really needed was love.”
Phineas’s breath caught in his throat.
Did she just say love? Does that mean she…
But he couldn’t even finish the thought. It was too much to hope for. After ten years without love of any kind, Phineas could not allow himself to believe that this beautiful, brilliant, compassionate woman could love him.
Iris seemed to realize the implication of the word because she blushed and looked away, and for the rest of the meal, they spoke only of trivial matters.
After dinner, they retired upstairs. The chamber that had been prepared for them was simple but comfortable, with a large bed and a dressing table, water basin, and screen, behind which Iris changed into her nightdress.
Phineas changed quickly as well, and by the time his wife emerged from behind the screen, he was already in bed with a book in his lap. However, he couldn’t read. All he could concentrate on was his wife’s movements, which he watched out of the corner of his eye. She went to the wash basin, where shesplashed water on her face. She then sat down at the dressing table and began to brush her pale blonde hair.
The movements were mesmerizing. Phineas had never known that a woman brushing her hair could be so bewitching. But now, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her delicate wrist, her shiny hair, and the glimpse of her face in the dressing table mirror.
Iris finished brushing her hair, then stood up and came to the bed. She wasn’t looking at him as she slipped under the covers. Phineas tried to read the words written in front of him to no avail. All he could think about was the scent of her perfume—like vanilla and roses—and how it was wafting toward him from her side of the bed.
At last, he set down his book and looked at his wife. She was staring determinedly at the canopy above them.
“You were wonderful today,” he said. She turned to look at him. “Your care for others is truly inspiring.”
“You’re the one who cares for others,” she returned. “You’re the one who is trying to break my father’s hold on the mines.”
Phineas shook his head. “Yes, but until today, my goal for doing so was purely selfish. I wanted to ruin your father’s business in order to take back my family’s land. It was about revenge and nothing else. It’s not that I didn’t care about the plight of the miners, I just hadn’t considered it. But after today… Well, I’mnot merely fueled by revenge. I’m also fueled by compassion—the need to make the miners’ lives better.”
Iris’s eyes were shining, and Phineas reached out and touched her cheek very lightly. Still, it seemed to send a shiver through her.
“You inspired that,” he murmured. “Your concern for the miners changed me.Youchanged me, Iris. From the moment we met, you have challenged me to think more about others and put those less fortunate before myself. You have made me a better person, and for that, I am forever grateful.”
Iris opened her mouth, then closed it again. At last, she murmured, “I don’t know what to say.”
