Every time he thought he had Melanie figured out, she surprised him. She faced scrutiny without flinching, deflected the sharp edges of gossip with more grace than he’d expected. Just when he presumed to know who this woman was, she showed him another side—catching him off guard.
He should have minded, but he didn’t.
Their fingers remained threaded together, relaxed, natural, even though no one was watching them now.
He was beginning to wonder if his performance today had perhaps been a little too convincing, fooling himself along with the rest of their audience.
“It was surprisingly easy, wasn’t it?” she said, breaking the silence. “Showing affection.” The lilting in her voice was like music.
She wasn’t wrong. Leaning in to whisper something that drew her laugh, brushing a stray curl from her cheek, catching a hint of her scent—all of it had been easy. Too easy.Disturbingly so. Malum merely nodded.
“I wonder if that’s what it’s like…” She let out a nervous laugh. “Being in love for real.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Really? I would have thought someone like you?—"
“No,” he cut her off. “I was betrothed once, but we were both young. Our parents arranged it but then had a falling out.” He grimaced at the memory.
“But were you in love?”
Malum shook his head. He didn’t have conversations like this. “No. I hardly knew the lady.”
“But have you ever been in love?”
How the devil had they come to be discussing this damning topic?
“Was she… one of your workers?”
“No. I told you I don’t—” Malum sent her a sharp glance. “I may have fancied I was.” He shook his head. “There was someone… before I opened theDomus. You don’t need to hear this.”
“You were young, then.” She was undeterred.
Young and ridiculously foolish. It was a memory he hadn’t revisited in ages.
Clarise—a dancer with a talent for making him feel as if he were the only man in the room—had been nearly a decade older. She would lie in his arms, look into his eyes and swear he was her one and only, so sincere he’d been willing to overlook the warnings of others. Until, of course, he arrived early once and…
“What happened?” Perhaps it was the quiet of the trees, or the soothing tone of Melanie’s voice…
“She preferred my father.” A duke, who was also diseased and careless. And in the end, had cost Clarise her life.
Malum dropped Melanie’s hand.
Her silence was proof that he’d shocked her.
A few years later, compelled by the merciless exploitation of the world he’d witnessed, he’d opened theDomus. Stella de La Cour’s name slammed into his thoughts, reminding him that there was more work to be done.
They’d arrived at a small clearing overlooking the lake, and the horses halted with the gentlest of tugs on the reins. It was just in time, too, before he spewed all the ugliness of his past.
‘I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly filling the silence.
“For what?”
“That people who should have loved you, hurt you instead.”
It was laughable, really, but instead of mocking her misplaced sympathy, Malum instead, inexplicably, found himself struggling to swallow a thicker feeling.
“Don’t be.”
