But he couldn’tnotspeak them.
Not in the interest of truth.
“I’ve always admired you.”
In the exhalation of a slow breath, she seemed to be releasing something more. “You truly never were my nemesis.”
“Never.”
And tonight, on this secluded stretch of Norfolk beach beneath a moon that wasn’t quite full, he saw in her eyes that, finally, she believed him.
He wanted to reach out and pull her toward him, press his mouth to hers.
So, he didn’t.
Because he knew.
What existed between him and Delilah was combustible, and one touch of his lips to hers would be all the spark needed to create a wildfire that would blaze through and consume them both whole.
But within her eyes he didn’t sense caution, but rather the opposite.
Within her eyes he saw daring and wildness and…
Determination.
He wasn’t sure he could hold out against a daring, wild, and determined Delilah.
And though he should, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
*
Only a tensesliver of air separating her shoulder from Ravensworth’s, Delilah understood something true.
Everything she’d thought about this man these last few years was wrong.
Except for one thing.
He was, indeed, a frustratingly, breathtakingly arrogant man.
“After what happened, why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded. “Why are you only telling me now?”
His eyebrows drew together in a dumbfounded crease. “I didn’t think it would matter to you.”
“Wouldn’t matter?” Truly, this man… “What on earth can you possibly mean?”
“If it was me exposing you or a bunch of rotten lordlings.”
“Why is that?”
“Because the end result was the same. Your dream was shattered.”
She could hear in his voice, see in his eyes, how that idea wounded him—as a patron of the arts and, possibly, as a…friend.
“You knew that you would receive no thanks from me, and that my ire would be directed squarely at you. And yet…you protected me.”
A novel feeling stole through Delilah. She wasn’t the sort of lady who ever thought she needed much protecting. In fact, she didn’t read romantic novels for that very reason. But the fact was she’d been a lady very much in need of protection—and this man had given it to her with no expectation of receiving the slightest measure of gratitude.
She knew what she needed to say next. “Thank you.”
