“I won’t. I promise. I won’t,” he vowed.
Her hair tickled the side of his face when she snuggled against him.
Damn, Blackheart had been right.
With Bethany at his side, in this moment anyhow, he felt like he could take on the world.
“I like this.” Chase soothed her hair with one of his hands. “Holding you.” When he was in the company of Stone, Greys, Mantis, Peter, and even Blackheart, he pretended all was right with the world. All day he’d felt off-balance—until now, that was.
“I do too.” Her breath whispered against his neck.
“I thought you were leaving me. The things I said…”
“You don’t have to explain.”
He squeezed her. He wanted to promise that it wouldn’t happen again. With her in his arms, he could almost believe it. “I don’t want to lose you.” He’d found something special—someone special—and needed to fight to keep her. Even if that fight was with himself.
She squirmed and sat back. “Did you see your sisters today? I was thinking… Remember when Lady Rockingham sponsored Lady Darlington in society, but then Lady Danbury’s mother exposed her as a maid? The plan would have gone perfectly if not for Baroness Crone. What if I sponsored your oldest sister, but we said she was your cousin? Couldn’t Blackheart have some papers made up for them? Seeing as you’ve kept the secret so well…”
Chase raised his brows. She wanted to discuss… his sisters?
“It’s possible, I suppose. We can explore the idea. It wouldn’t be without risk—for them and for you…” And his mother. But for some reason, the normal flash of fear didn’t strike at the thought. His mother wasn’t the same person she’d been ten years ago. Was she stronger? Or did he feel differently because he wasn’t alone in this secret? “I actually didn’t go by Farm Street today.”
She had every right to ask him where he’d gone but she didn’t.
“I ran.” He’d share himself this way. After all he’d told her, this didn’t seem nearly so difficult. “And then I went to Knight Manor. Spent much of the day—”
“Drinking?” She inhaled, and then sniffed the lapels of his jacket before leaning back, a teasing glint in her eyes. “And smoking and making wagers?”
“You know me too well.” This was a new sort of intimacy for the two of them. Perhaps compromising hadn’t been such a terrible thing after all. Which reminded him. “Your brother is expected in London any day.”
“And Charley,” Bethany added, although that went without saying. “I feel guilty that they’ve cut their honeymoon short because of me. I begged Mother not to send word. It wasn’t necessary.”
“None of it is your fault,” Chase insisted. He didn’t need to tell her that he had sent for her brother. Marriage or not, he and Westerley were going to have to hash this out. He had no doubt that would only be accomplished on a field of honor at dawn.
She slid one arm around his neck while absentmindedly stroking his chest with her other hand. And then, presumably, counting his buttons.
She could count his buttons anytime.
She frowned but then met his eyes. “Will you promise me something?”
He wanted to promise her the world but wasn’t so arrogant to think he could give it to her. “You need to tell me what it is first.”
She nodded. “If Westerly calls you out, if he challenges you to a duel, promise me you’ll decline? Please?”
Such a notion was akin to fingernails being dragged along a chalkboard. Refusing to defend one’s honor would emasculate the most giant of men. Hell, he’d be more ruined than she had nearly been.
Worse than that, it would be an unforgivable insult to her brother. And to her.
“He won’t. I won’t let him.” Chase had married her. The scandal had already been dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction. He’d do his best to talk sense into Westerley.He had to.
“It’s just that…” Bethany bit her lip. “He is my brother and you’re my husband and I love … and I love him. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to either one of you.”
“It won’t come to that.” Chase smoothed the muscles along the back of her neck.
“After what happened with my father—what with Westerley thinking his death was all his fault—I’m not sure he’ll be thinking clearly.”
“It could have happened to anyone, and we’ve all told him as much.”
