Chapter 25
“Here’s my sweet Diana.” Her father lifted her high into the air and began turning around, making her legs and dress lift away as he twirled her. “And where is Princess Collette?”
Diana’s father lowered her to the floor, and she hugged his legs. She and Collette never failed to meet him in the foyer when they heard the familiar sounds of his boots stomping in the entryway. After greeting his two daughters, he’d then turn his attention to their mother. Any occasions when he was able to escape his other responsibilities was a happy one at their cozy home on Farm Street.
“I wasn’t expecting you, Darling.” Their mother stepped into their father’s arms. It was hard not to be proud of such a man, who was strong, charming, and handsome, even if he was a stinky baron.
“You know that I come when I am able, Frances.” Diana had heard the phrase in some form or another more times than she could count. But that didn’t matter today because her father was here now, and they could pretend to be the very real family they were.
But then he reached inside of his coat and withdrew a velvet drawstring purse, coins jingling inside.
“What is that for?” Diana asked, head tilted back.
“To pay my mistress, of course.” The man standing in the foyer wasn’t her father at all but Zeke, outfitted magnificently in maroon breeches and a velvet aubergine jacket and matching silk waistcoat.
And she was not a child, but herself, at Knight House, wearing a cape that matched his jacket. “Where are you going, my lord?” Fully aware that she was a grown woman, she nonetheless felt as inadequate as she had as a child.
He cocked a brow, looking like her marquess but also a complete stranger.
“I must find more light.”
“No!” Diana reached out, but her hands came up empty. She tried to move but was underwater, and when she stared up, she felt herself floating down into the darkness… down… down.
“No!”It was her own voice that woke her up, and she sat up in her bed, her body trembling. This was not the first dream she’d had about her father, but it was the first that had included Zeke.
And no wonder, after all that had happened in the Ravensdale’s Garden.
Honestly, she was surprised she’d managed to sleep at all.
She had been so close to accepting him—to thinking anything was possible. She’d wanted reassurances from him.
She groaned and buried her face under her pillow. She’d naively hoped he could convince her that she was wrong—address her concerns in that rational way he had.
She’d hoped he’d share some infinite wisdom and rally the confidence she needed to entertain his proposal. But, instead, he’d gone and done just the opposite.
Never, in her entire life, had she been so livid. So angry.
“All your mother had was the delusion that a man who paid for her services loved her.”
She’d never felt so hurt.
Recalling his words pierced her all over again. He’dknownher insecurities surrounding her parents’ relationship, and still, he’d used them against her.
Diana rolled out from beneath the pillow to stare up at the ceiling in the filtered light of early morning.
Before that, she’d been satiated from his lovemaking, euphoric from being with him. She’d felt her resolve begin to weaken.
She had been seriously considering accepting him.
Until he’d gone and shattered her heart.
“The delusion that a man who paid for her services loved her.”
Diana hugged her arms in front of her.
Her dream had been a warning. She was out of her depths with him: the water—the light.
She would never be enough. He would tire of her and take a mistress, and she would forever feel as though she’d betrayed who she really was.
