“And I love you. This fortnight has been the longest of my life,” he murmured, his hands moving to her waist and pulling her close. He moved her against the wall, kissing her throat. “Why was Davonshire here? Did he bring the dog to see you?”
Shivers erupted over her skin, and her breasts tightened at the thrill of his mouth upon her. “Sebastian ran away, and he came to retrieve him.”
Matthew’s hands moved over her bodice, and she let out a shuddering breath as his thumbs grazed her sensitive nipples. Despite the corset and layers of fabric, she could feel the pressure of his touch, and it drove her toward wildness.
But then he stilled upon her and backed away. “How did he know the dog was here?” There was an edge in his voice, and she could not tell if it was jealousy or worry. “Davonshire lives nowhere near you. The dog would have had to travel for miles across London.”
“I thought the same myself. It might be that he intended to pay a call upon me, and the dog got away from him.” Even so, she found the entire situation strange. It almost seemed as ifDavonshire had placed the dog there for her to find, thereby giving him an excuse to retrieve him.
From the grim expression on Matthew’s face, his suspicions were heightened. “And he waited until your brother was gone.” His finger slid beneath the chain she wore, lifting the ring from her bodice.
“It doesn’t matter. Regardless, I told him I was going to marry you.”
“And how did he respond to that?”
“He…warned me about you.” She wondered whether Matthew would be offended by Lord Davonshire’s gossip. But it was better for him to know the truth, she decided. “He said there was a great deal of scandal surrounding your name. And that many people believed you were a bastard.”
At that, Matthew’s expression tightened, and he stepped back from her. His demeanor sobered, and he reached for the fallen package. “I learned of the rumors, too. And we should talk about it.”
“I don’t care about the gossip,” she said. “Let people say what they will. It changes nothing between us.”
He handed her the wrapped package. “Open it.”
The package was heavier than she’d expected, and she sat down, untying the string. When she pulled away the brown paper, she saw dozens of letters. “What are these, Matthew?”
“Open one and see. The rest are the same.”
She chose the top letter and opened it, reading the note in silence. Then she folded it and regarded him. “They no longer want you to attend their ball.”
“No. And every last invitation that I received in the past fortnight has been revoked.” He reached for the package and pulled the letters free. “All the invitations from families I believed were my friends. Even the invitations sent to my mother were rescinded.”
She was shocked to hear it. “Why would they do this? It’s just idle gossip, isn’t it?”
He took back the letters and set them aside. “And what if it were true, Lily?”
“What do you mean?” He was behaving as if he knew something, when she’d expected him to deny it. Hadn’t he dismissed the stories the last time?
Matthew took a seat near the hearth, resting his wrists upon his knees. “I recently learned that Charlotte was not my mother. She and my father adopted me as a newborn infant and claimed me as their own.”
For a moment, she could say nothing, for it didn’t sound like it could possibly be real. “If that were true, why would she reveal it now?”
“Because we are being blackmailed.”
She came to sit closer to him, listening as he revealed everything…how he had been conceived, that Juliette was his true mother…and Sarah Carlisle’s demands for money. While he spoke, she reached for his hand, realizing how difficult this was for him. His entire life had been built upon a lie, and he had to grasp a new truth.
But he needed to know that she would stand by him, no matter what. “Matthew, you are the Earl of Arnsbury, and nothing can change that. Your father—Lord Arnsbury—raised you to be his son, and since he swore to it, it must be accepted. Hewasyour father, in every sense of the word.”
He squeezed her hands. “I know it. But all the families in London suddenly don’t believe I am the earl. They think I am an imposter, as if I tried to deceive them. They want nothing more to do with me.” He reached for the notes and dropped them on the floor. “This would be our life, Lily. Ostracized from polite society. It’s not right or fair.”
She moved closer to him. “I don’t care. I want to be with you as your wife. For better or for worse.”
“But this isn’t the life I want for you.” He stood, stepping over the letters. “You’ve done nothing wrong, and I don’t want you to be isolated because of this.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She didn’t truly believe her friends would turn their backs on her. And Matthew was still the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her days with.
“Itdoesmatter,” he said dully. “And nothing I say or do will end the talk.” He took a step away from her. “It’s a war I don’t know how to fight.”
This revelation had changed him, tearing away the childhood he had known. She didn’t ask how he had learned of this. What mattered was letting him see that she loved him still.
