“Horrid woman,” she blurted. “I don’t know a strong enough word to describe the ugliness of her.”
“Bitchcomes to mind.”
Rolling over, she faced him and gazed into those brown eyes. “I should have stopped her. I should have fought harder.”
“Vivi, you were a young woman, nearly a child yourself. You’d just gone through childbirth.” Tenderly he combed his fingers through her hair. “Do not take responsibility for what she did. You are not to blame. If I’d kept my cock in my trousers—”
“No.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “You can’t take the blame either. I just wonder if it will always hurt like this.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never hurt like this.”
The sobs broke free again, and she wept for dreams lost and a life unlived. She cried for a child she’d never held, never rocked to sleep. A child to whom she’d never whispered,I love you.
She cried until there were no tears left, no strength remaining. Then against all odds, she drifted off to sleep.
When she awoke, he was still holding her close, his gaze on her face, his hand roaming over her hair. The room was not as bright as it had been. The late-afternoon sun was allowing the shadows to creep from the corners.
“You need to eat something,” Finn said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Try, for me, lest I worry about you all the more.”
A knock sounded on the door, and she rolled her eyes. “Seems you already sent for supper.”
“No, wait here. I’ll see who it is.”
He rolled into a sitting position. She placed her hand on his broad back. “No, I will. What will people think to find you here?”
As she clambered out of bed, she nearly laughed at the thought of worrying over her reputation now. What did it matter when she’d never return to Society? She was done with it for good.
He didn’t object, but he did follow her as though he expected her to collapse on the floor again. So much for worrying what the staff might think to find him in her chambers.
She opened the door to find Meg standing there. She bobbed a quick curtsy. “Sorry to bother you, miss, but there’s a gent here looking for a Lady Lavinia. I don’t know who that could be, and I can’t find Mr. Trewlove to ask him about it, but he’s rather insistent that this is where she lives. Mayhaps he’s mad.”
Finn stepped up behind her. “Have him brought to our office.”
Meg’s eyes widened, but she had the good sense not to comment on his being there while Lavinia’s hair was cascading down her back and her feet were bare. “Yes, sir.”
She bobbed another quick curtsy and hurried down the hallway.
Closing the door, Lavinia sighed and faced Finn. “Maybe it’s someone who saw the handbill.”
He furrowed his brow. “Perhaps, although I’d have thought he’d have just snatched you when you stepped out. Whoever it is, I’ll dispatch him quickly enough.”
In no mood for visitors, she merely nodded. Tucking his finger beneath her chin, he lifted her mouth to his and placed a gentle kiss there. “Think about what you’d like to eat while I’m gone. Perhaps I’ll even cook it for you myself.”
“Will it be edible?”
“No promises.”
She could hardly fathom that her lips sought to create a smile. As he closed the door behind him, she pressed a hand to the wood. Perhaps he was right, and she would feel better after she ate. Perhaps they both would.
Returning to the bedchamber, she grabbed a brush and began sliding it through her hair. She would wear it loose tonight. She wanted to feel young and free. She wanted—
She heard the door open, and Finn call out, “Vivi!”
She dashed into the front room to find him standing beside a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties.
