“Did you ever get Guinevere back?” She tilted her head, giving him a sweet Aubrey smile.
He wanted that very smile in his life every day. “I did. She returned to the Fainting Goat Inn, in fact, where you and I met.”
She blinked away tears, but her smile grew. “I am glad.”
“I have her with me, here in London.” Perhaps he could lure her with his horse… but she had asked him a question before this one.
“I asked Mr. Daniels to drive you slowly, because I knew I wouldn’t have much time before you arrived.”
“Mr. Daniels knew?”
“One of the drivers at an Inn recognized me. I purchased his silence the day you saw me giving him money. I wasn’t ready…” Chance shrugged. “Anyhow, I had my solicitor investigate the details of your inheritance.”
“Wouldn’t that be personal information? Is that even legal?” Aubrey was frowning and then, “Is your solicitor, by chance, a man by the name of Mr. Burleson?”
Ah, yes. HisPrincessewas not dull of mind.
“I didn’t want you to meet up with unnecessary difficulties when you arrived. I knew you would be down hearted.”
“Devastated.”
Chance winced at her correction, but then nodded. “Devastated…. I told him what you wanted to do here. We arranged a few… improvements to your townhouse. Mr. Carrington supervised the preparation at your house and I spoke with one of my mother’s old friends. I didn’t have any time afterward… I had to leave for Margate…”
He’d stunned her, he could see. When she finally spoke, she didn’t look at him. “Mr. Carrington was very obliging. I want to be mad at you for it, Chance…” And then another question. “The money? Who paid for everything? I was assured I had plenty of funds…”
She would barely have survived on what her husband had set aside to maintain the townhouse. Chance rubbed his chin. “I may have… augmented the trust.”
She buried her face in her hands with a moan and began shaking her head. This time he did put one arm around her. But only to comfort her. In that moment he could not consider his own reaction to having her so near, to feeling her body touching his.
“I thought I’d done it on my own… with my own resources.”
“But you did… Practically.” Damn his eyes. He’d complicated everything for her by coming back.
“I had not even considered that it might be you. I’d thought perhaps that Milton had had a change of heart. What does this make me…? Was it some sort of payment?”
“Hush.” He drew back so he could look into her horrified eyes. “No! God, of course not, Aubrey! I’d decided to do all of it before that last night—for my friend. We were friends first. I only removed a few barriers to make your new life a easier. You’d been through too much already.”
He used his thumb to catch a wayward tear. “Aubrey.” God, he felt like crying himself. “Please, don’t let it take away from anything you’d done. It was a little thing. I wanted to give you so much more. You could have made your life on your own, eventually, with or without my help. But I was tormented having left you. I knew you’d be upset. I had to do something for you. Anything…” She wasn’t looking at him but seemed to be staring at the top button of his shirt. “Won’t you give me another chancePrincesse?” He’d have dropped to his knees if he thought it might help. “I beg of you.”
“I am happy. I was happy.” Her voice shook. She seemed to be waging some sort of war within herself. “I can’t… It took so long for the hurting to stop. How can I ever trust you again? I’d always wonder…”
Chance removed his hands from her. God, what a state he’d made of everything. There was still so much that she didn’t know. He was continually reminding himself that he was doing this for both of them, but was that the truth? Was he only doing any of this out of selfishness? Because he needed her in his life in order to be whole?
If she didn’t think she could trust him now, how would she feel when she learned about Groby?
She rose from the bench, still reluctant to meet his gaze. “I’m… I’m going inside.” She hugged herself with her arms. “I’m afraid. I thought I could put all of this behind me.”
“I’m sorry,Princesse.” He didn’t know what the hell else he could possibly say, but he felt he was losing her.
She nodded again and sent him a sad wobbly smile.
Long after she had returned inside, Chance sat looking at the back of her house. He’d added flowers, and a hothouse and now a bench but none of that seemed to matter. He’d been away too long. He’d lost her.
By the time he made his way home darkness had long since fallen.
Chance greeted the butler who held the door wide for him but didn’t attempt to go to his chamber. His townhouse was massive, ridiculously so, and so he paced the hallways, he haunted them. A few of the sconces had been lit by servants, but mostly he walked, unseeing, through dark and empty corridors.
“I am happy. I was happy.”
