“Yes. What if she despises me now? What if she believes it’s true, and never forgives me, Hayward?”
“Lady Harriet is far too clever to be taken in by Egerton’s lies. If you don’t believe me, Windham, ask her yourself. You’ll see.”
Cass grasped this slender thread of hope and held onto it with everything he had, because if she did despise him, and wouldn’t forgive him, what would become of him, then?
Even now, months after he’d tried to banish Hattie from his mind and his heart, he could still hear her voice in his head. Everywhere he went, everything he did, she was there with him.
He could see her still as she’d been on the first day, when he’d spied on her through the branches of the beech tree. A fair-haired sprite wearing a crown of wildflowers on her head, her lips curved in a smile as she made daisy chains for her sisters.
For them, and for him. She’dseenhim that first day, and every day since.
All he’d ever wanted to do was protect her. From villains like Egerton, and from theton, with their vicious, wagging tongues.
But most of all, he’d wanted to protect her from himself. From the wicked Earl of Windham, a wicked son, born to a wicked father.
Yet there was a single, fundamental truth behind all his arguments and doubts and excuses, and now he’d given it free reign it was swelling inside him, and it would not stop, it would not be contained. It rose and surged and grew until it was too powerful for him to ignore it any longer.
The truth was there, waiting. It always had been. One way or another, the truth will out.
He’d loved her since the first day he’d laid eyes on her in her brother’s meadow. Not romantically at first—they’d been far too young for that then—but for as long as he’d known her, there’d been a part of his heart that belonged to her alone.
He’d loved her before he even understood what love was.
There’d never been anyone for him but Hattie. Why had he fought against it for so long?
She washis. She’d always been his, just as he’d always been hers.
He’d waited twelve years for Hattie, and he’d wait the rest of his lifetime for her if he had to, but maybe, just maybe he wouldn’t have to.
“You’ve gone mysteriously quiet, Windham. Have I gotten through to you at last, or are you about to regale me with tales of your imagined wickedness?”
Cass turned to his friend, and a rush of gratitude swept through him. “You’re a good friend, Hayward. The best of friends.”
“Of course, I am. That’s never been in question.” Hayward rose to his feet with a mighty yawn and stretched his arms over his head. “Now that’s settled, I’ll see myself out, shall I? No doubt poor Massey is ready for his bed.”
Cass followed Hayward into the hallway but stopped him at the door. “I’m going to marry her, Hayward. Lady Harriet. I’m going to marry her.”
“Are you, indeed? Well done, Windham. A lady like that will be the making of you. But perhaps it can wait until tomorrow? I don’t think I can take any more excitement tonight.”
