She nodded in agreement. “Indeed, we do.”
Dev felt the storm gathering on his brow. She was being too readily agreeable for his peace of mind. “You first.”
She shrugged her robe onto her shoulders and said, reasonably, “Well, it’s obvious.”
He had no liking for this conversation or the way they stood facing one another like adversaries. Only a moment ago, they’d been lovers. He wanted that moment back. “Please explain the obvious to me.”
“Our arrangement has reached its inevitable conclusion. It’s time to end it.”
Annoyance flared through him. The woman was being too bloody reasonable. What they shared had nothing to do with reason.
“Are you so eager to be rid of me?” He tried for levity.
Her eyes had gone frustratingly opaque. “We’ve achieved what we set out to do.”
“Refresh my memory.”
Truly, he needed reminding, for whatever it was, it no longer mattered. Didn’t she see that?
“The countess will be yours, and I’ll… I’ll be paid for my services.”
“Ah, yes… So you can have that good, solid future you’ve always dreamed about.”
If he wasn’t very mistaken, fury flicked behind her eyes. “So I can pay Blaze Jagger.”
“Well, that happens to be one of the things we need to talk about.”
“Youaregoing to pay me, correct?”
“Of course,” said Dev, annoyed she would even ask. “But as for Blaze Jagger, he’s been relieved of Lydon’s debt.”
Her eyebrows crinkled with bewilderment. “Lydon settled with Jagger?”
“He didn’t.”
Her brow released with revelation. “You…youpaid the debt.”
“Jagger won’t be bothering you anymore.”
A few moments passed while she took in and assembled these new pieces of information. “Now, I’m indebted toyou.”
“You owe me nothing, Beatrix. Your future is yours to decide.”
He started to say more—to say what was in his heart. That the future she wanted might be with him…
“Oh, yes, my good, solid future.” She laughed, no humor in it. “And you’ll pursue your glorious future with your Imogen, no?”
Dev couldn’t articulate the exact moment he’d stopped thinking about that future, except he had. A vision of a different future—abetterfuture—had replaced it.
Yet what Beatrix was saying struck something within him…something he’d been thinking for a while now and wanted to say to her… “That good, solid future you’ve always wanted, well, it’s so ordinary, isn’t it?”
She looked utterly nonplussed. “Pardon?”
“You deserve better dreams,” he continued. “You could have an extraordinary life, Beatrix, if you could only risk it.”
A pin could drop in the room and they would hear, so still was the silence.
“Why do you want that ordinary life?” he pressed.
