Eleanor’s eyes narrowed. “So you married me.”
James flinched. “Yes.”
Eleanor’s breath came in a sharp line. “To use me?”
“To protect myself,” he corrected quickly. “To protect you. To protect the investigation.”
Eleanor’s jaw tightened. “How would marrying me protect it?”
“Because a newly married duke is expected to be distracted,” James said. “Expected to be settled. A man does not hunt in the shadows when he is meant to be smiling in drawing rooms.”
Eleanor stared at him. “So I was a cover.”
James’s voice dropped. “At first.”
Silence flooded the room. Eleanor forced herself to breathe through it.
James’s hands clenched on his knees. “Then I found Lady Whitcombe.”
Eleanor’s gaze sharpened. “Isidora.”
“Yes,” James replied. “She has been circling for years under different names and different introductions. She preys on men with money and reputation. She finds their weaknesses and sells them back.”
Eleanor’s mouth went dry. “She said she knew my father.”
“She was lying,” James said. “Or twisting the truth to make it useful.”
“She was with Norman,” Eleanor said. “I saw her.”
James’s expression tightened. “I know.”
Eleanor’s stomach turned. “She sent someone to my room.”
“Yes,” James said, the word heavy. “Because she knew it would punish me fastest through you.”
Eleanor’s fingers tightened in her lap. “Arabella was hurt because of you.”
James’s eyes closed briefly. “Yes.”
The admission was immediate. No defense. No evasion.
“It is my fault your life was in danger,” James continued. “I chose revenge over you. I chose obsession over my duty to protect you properly. And it resulted in you and your sister being harmed.”
Eleanor’s throat tightened. “You saved us.”
“I arrived barely in time,” James said. “And only because Lady Whitcombe told me she had already acted.”
Eleanor stared at him, the truth settling like lead in her chest.
James looked at her fully now. “I do not deserve you.”
Eleanor’s eyes stung. “James.”
“No,” he said, voice rough. “Not when I married you for strategy. Not when I left you. Not when you had to fight a man in your own bedchamber while I was chasing the satisfaction of a name.”
He looked away, jaw tight. “You should hate me.”
Eleanor’s heartbeat thundered. She did not know what she felt. Everything. Too much.
