Hux’s expression became confused and he shook his head. “I don’t…I don’t know what that means.”
“You gave me my strength back. You protected me.You. Everything is because of you. Yes, I can give something to Richard, I can enjoy what he offers without fear or struggle. But that is becauseyoutaught me to trust myself again. And it doesn’t hurt that I know you would tear limb from limb any man who ever hurt me.”
“I would,” he whispered.
They held stares for a long, charged moment and even though he hadn’t said he loved her, she saw it in his warm eyes. She felt it in every fiber of this man who stood before her. She smiled because she couldn’t help but do so. “Everything you are is what I want, not some idealized fairytale you imagined me living without you. And if you think I would lose you, you are a fool. I’m not going to lose you, Hux.Ever.”
“Neither am I.” Richard moved to stand beside her and she linked her arm through his. Now they were a united front. Richard took a shaky breath. “I didn’t love my wife, not enough. Because of the arranged marriage, I didn’t give myself entirely. I suppose I feared that a part of me”—he reached out and touched Hux’s cheek with the back of his hand—“would die,” he finished. “And when she was gone, I punished myself for the times I wanted to be free.”
Hux’s face twisted with pain on Richard’s behalf.
“I don’t want regrets when it comes to you two,” Richard continued. “You’ve both come to mean too much to me in such a short time.”
“You two are relentless,” Hux said with a shaky laugh. “And determined to save me, which I admit is a rather…odd feeling.”
“Does that mean you’ll allow us to try?” Zara asked, breathless as she waited his response. “Or at least you’ll listen to Richard’s plans?”
He touched her face, so gentle as he had always been gentle with her. “Yes,” he murmured. “Tell me what you think you can do.”
Zara shut her eyes and gulped back a cry of relief. This was a first step, but not the end. If Richard didn’t convince him, he might still run.
Richard seemed to understand that just as much. He nodded, suddenly very serious. “My entire life I have watched people with power leverage it for their own selfish needs. I’ve seen them damage and wound to get what they want and with very little consequence.” He pursed his lips as if in disgust. “I’ve tried never to do the same. But now I think I shall leverage my position for the first time. To protect you.”
Zara tilted her head. “You think you could?”
“The pocket watch you stole, was it from Bernard Varrick?”
She stared. “I think that was his name—how did you know that?”
“Well, I watched it bounce between your remarkable breasts when I caught you two fucking in the parlor at the ball,” Richard reminded her. “And I recognized it. Varrick was constantly making mountains out of that thing. Flashing it around as some symbol of power or money.”
Richard walked away, stroking his chin. “The truth is, Varrick is a silly man with very little power of his own. That watch was his grandfather’s, given to him by his father. He’s terrified of his father. It may be that he is trying to hide the robbery from him until he can crow that he’s caught the culprits, hoping to stay the old man’s wrath.”
“An interesting tidbit of information, but what do you suggest with do with it?” Hux asked.
“Do you still have the piece?”
Hux exchanged a quick glance with Zara. “Yes,” he said. “We hadn’t the time to fence it after the ball. We were preparing to come here to your home. It’s tucked away in a safe place in our room.”
“Excellent. This investigator, Wren, while I do think he is a resolute person, I doubt he has any love lost for his bastard of a client. He must have noticed Varrick is a complete fool. He pursues you because he was hired to do a duty. I would wager he could be bargained with. Perhaps even bribed. Threatened, if it comes down to it. Especially if I could deliver what was lost to be returned to his employer.”
Zara pivoted on Hux, hope blooming in her chest. “It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” she asked.
Hux pondered that question a moment and then looked at Richard. “If you go, bringing the watch with you, it could open you up to questions.”
Richard nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Then I want to come too.”
“Hux!” Zara said.
“That rather defeats the purpose of protecting you, my love,” Richard said.
Zara caught her breath at how easily Richard threw out that term of endearment. And at how Hux’s face lit up when he heard it. Oh yes, if they could push past this terrible bump, their road together could be so very happy.
“Then I won’t come as me. I doubt the investigator knows what I look like to any great detail, but even if he does, my beard is grown out since the ball, we can smooth my hair. I’ll become your solicitor, Mr. Northern, come with you to represent you in the return of the watch.”
“Well, if you two are going, then I’m coming too,” Zara said.
