“Instead of just a devil.”
A hot flush shot up his neck. Now, he was angry. “You’re testing my patience. Not to mention my good will. You’d place our friendship on the line over your children’snursemaid?”
Ash paced to the window and then grasped the sash. “Mrs. Montrose is, I understand from Alicia, very much alone, and she is now a valued part of my household. Need I remind you that, in the past, I failed to protect those in my care?”
As Hurtheven studied his friend, noting his pale-knuckled grip on the window frame. His fury drained. Ash hadn’t been able to save his mother or his first wife, both of whom suffered at the hands of Ash’s murderous father.
Of course he understood.
“You’re speaking of thedistantpast,” Hurtheven said.
“I have many faults, but Ido notrepeat my mistakes.” Ash turned around and then propped himself, knee bent, up against the wall. “I cannot allow her to come to harm—and not just from you.”
“Mrs. Montroseisin trouble, isn’t she?” A cold, pointy-footed sensation tripped up Hurtheven’s spine. “This impromptu visit is a means for her to conceal herself from someone.”
Ash held his breath for an extended moment. He exhaled in a rush. “Her confidences would not be mine to extend even if I knew them in their entirety, which I do not.”
“But you know enough to tell me if my assumptions are correct.”
Ash grimaced. “They often are.”
“Are the children at risk?”
“No. At least, I don’t believe the threat extends to them?—”
Hurtheven gripped the back of a chair in front of him, nearly lightheaded with relief.
“—The risk is only to Mrs. Montrose.”
A darker, primal feeling flared within him. What could she be facing that would cause her to use a false name, hide herself away at Wisterley, and then need to flee in haste?
“Has she committed a crime?”
“To my knowledge, no. The pursuit is...of a personal nature. And that is my final word on the matter. For more, you will have to apply directly to Mrs. Montrose.”
An unwanted paramour, then. Someone who thought to take advantage of her vulnerable state. He frowned. “You may trust me...as you always have. She will not come to harm while in my care.”
Ash’s cheek twitched. “Iambeing hypocritical, aren’t I?”
“I’d hardly accuse you if you weren’t,” Hurtheven replied pointedly.
“And yet I cannot commend her to your care withoutsomeassurance.” Ash sighed, clearly thinking. “Give me your word you will not seduce Mrs. Montrose. But if a...carnal entanglement should arise?—”
“Ash—” he said warningly.
“If,” Ash repeated over his objection. “Then, you will do everything in your power to restore her respectability.”
He blinked, not at all as surprised by the demand as he should have been. “Are you telling me you’d force me to wed the woman?”
He was not as adverse to the idea as he would have expected, either.
“I cannot force you to do anything,” Ash replied. “I amaskingthat you keep in mind her honor, as well as your own.”
He searched Ash’s expression. Never in all the years they’d known one another, had Ash asked anything of him such as this.He’dbecome the hypocrite if he did not acknowledge the current situation was unique.
And volatile.
“Very well,” he said finally. “I give you my word...”
