“I preferred it that way,” James said.
“Because it hurts,” she replied.
“Yes.”
She stepped closer, lifting her hand to his cheek. “You do not have to hide this from me.”
James closed his eyes at the touch. “I did not want you to see my sorrow.”
Her thumb brushed gently beneath his eye. “It does not diminish you.”
He opened his eyes. “It makes me vulnerable.”
She met his gaze steadily. “It makes you human.”
Something in his chest fractured.
“I forgive you,” Eleanor said softly. “For the rules. For the distance. For all of it.”
He leaned down and kissed her. It was not hurried. It was not desperate. It was quiet and full and devastating in its simplicity.
For a moment, he allowed himself to rest in it.
Then the weight returned.
The investigation. The truth. The man who had taken everything from him.
James pulled back.
Eleanor blinked. “James.”
“I cannot,” he said, voice low and strained.
Her hand fell from his cheek. “Cannot what?”
“Allow myself to forget,” he replied. “Even for this.”
Her expression softened with understanding, but hurt flickered beneath it. “I am not asking you to forget.”
“I know,” James said. “That is why this is dangerous.”
He stepped away, forcing distance between them. “I have to finish this.”
Eleanor nodded slowly. “And if it costs you us.”
James did not answer.
He turned and left the room, the door closing behind him with a finality he felt in his bones.
He did not look back.
Because if he did, he feared he would not be able to leave at all.
CHAPTER 26
Eleanor woke with a foolish sense of happiness.
It lingered even as she dressed, even as her maid braided her hair and fastened the buttons of her morning gown. It was not giddy or reckless. It was quieter than that. Settled. As though something had shifted into place during the night and decided to remain there.
