“I was to be offered in a bargain?” Her voice was breathless.
“No, no,” he assured her, turning away. When he spoke again, he said the words to the sky. “You asked if I married you to spite the French captain. The answer is, ‘Not entirely.’ I married you to use you as bait—topretendto trade you for my old friend—”
“What the devil does that mean? Topretendto trade me?”
“Excellent question.” He had the decency to look more uncomfortable and guilty with every admission.
Dani ignored his discomfort. “You’ve no real plan,” she realized. “You don’t even know what this means—pretendto trade me.”
He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I knew he must clap eyes on you, even for ten minutes. I knew he must have authentication of your lineage from some other, surviving member of your family. I’ve a man in Paris procuring this. When you’d been, er, secured—”
“Just to be clear, when you say ‘secured,’ you do mean ‘married’? When I’d beenmarriedto you?”
He swallowed hard. “Yes, when we’d been married, I intended to lie about the union to Surcouf. Instead I would claim you were perfectly available. I meant to portray you as available for marriage to him and offer to trade you in exchange for the release of my friend. When Surcouf agreed—that is, when someverbalagreement happened—I meant for you to be safely spirited away while I received my friend. When Linus was in my care, I meant to reveal the double cross.”
“The double cross,” she repeated.
“Yes. I would tell him that you were, in fact,notavailable to marry him because you’d already been married to me. I meant to tell him that he could not have you; that he would never have you.”
“So the recovery bit of this plan was to show my face and pedigree; and my marriage to you was to be the revenge?”
“Loosely. That is, I’d not thought of every detail, obviously. It is accurate that the mechanics of the bait and switch had not been fully orchestrated. My priority was to marry you. Please understand, acquiring you was the unbelievably challenging part. I had no notion if Prince George would grant you as my reward. A bastard smuggler marrying a princess? And please remember, all of this was conceived before I’d met you—”
All at once, Dani shoved from the hedge. Her dress clung to branches and she yanked free. She started walking—nay, running—up the path; stumbling, shoving,escaping.
“Danielle—wait,” he called, but she did not wait. She increased speed, satin shoes slipping on wet grass. She came to an intersection; two paths that formed a narrow X. Staying the course, she darted to the right.
She ran because it hurt too much to remain still. She ran to outpace the lies and manipulation. She ran because she must engage her brain to navigate the maze; and she wanted to solve problems rather than tofeel. She ran to do something rather than to accept that he’d never wanted her except to use as bait. He’d intentionally taken advantage of her cluelessness and her blind affection for him. She ran because she was married to him now and it couldn’t be undone. He’d actually gone to the effort ofmarrying herrather than reveal any of this. Despite her asking. Repeatedly. Even though he’d kissed her and held her and suggested they might make a real life together. And her parents! He’d lied to them, too! They would be devastated. And her new sister; he’d lied to her. What a fool they would believe her to be—what a fool she was.
He’d lied toall of them.
“Danielle—stop!” He was suddenly there, stepping in front of her from the opposite direction. She collided with his chest with a tearful gasp. It was like running into a tree.
He wrapped his arms around her and Dani’s composure fell away. She pressed her face into his chest and sobbed. She balled her fists and planted them on his shoulders. Her knees gave out, and he held her up.
“I’ve a solution,” he told her gently. “Listen to me. Are you listening? There is a solution. It doesn’t erase everything that’s happened, but it rectifies it. If you’ll allow me to repair the damage I’ve done to you, this can be rectified. And Eastwell Park is yours, by the way. I always meant to give it to you, free and clear. With all the money you need for taxes and staff and repairs. I will support the house and lands until it can support itself—hell, I will support it always. I would never ask you to help me in this way without giving you something in return.”
Dani gave a wrenching shout and pulled away. “I don’t want to be given something,” she exclaimed, rounding on him. “All I want is for the lies to stop. Do you know how many people in my life have misrepresented my history—my very existence—to me? For years? Do you know?”
“I’m sor—”
“The French royal family,” she said, cutting him off. She held up one finger. “The British royal family.” Another finger. “My surrogate parents.” Two more fingers.
Finally, a note of bitterness so painful in her voice, she said,“You.
“Can you imagine, Captain,” she went on, “what it feels like to learn you’ve been lied to about who you are, and why you live where you do, and with whom? Can you imagine being lied to about something so foundational? And by people so very close to you or so powerful?”
Dani paused for a second, imagining it herself. She was saying the words and experiencing the hurt at the same time.
“At least Miriam and Whittle lied because they loved me,” she realized. “They lied because they were afraid of losing me. And the parents of my birth? They lied because they feared for our lives. The English royal family lied because... because, well I assume they couldn’t be bothered. Butyou. You were so very intentional. You liednotto keep me, but to give me away. To... to a French aristocrat who you’ve freely admittedtorturesand killspeople.” She began to back away.
“No. No—Danielle, no.” And now his voice broke. He held out a desperate hand to her.
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “Stop.” When he opened his eyes, the look on his face was so fearful he appeared almost panicked. He took off his hat and threw it.
“I never intended to give you to the Frenchman,” he said. “Never—my God, please believe me in this. I am desperate, but not ruthless. I would never put you in danger. It wasn’t meant to be an actual trade. I simply meant to...boastofyou, to gloat that I’d married you. To sort of... show you off—todangle you, if I must put a term on—”
“Todangle me?” Her voice was a tearful rasp.
