Claiming her eyes, officer to officer, he prepared to tell her the worst. “Beautiful Patience, the daughter of the late Wilhelm Thomas.”
“The late . . . ?”
“Yes. His brothers have taken his plantation and sold it off. Your trust and everything he settled for you in England is still intact.”
“Still an heiress, I suppose.” Her jaw trembled, then she wept. Sobs puddled in that sweet cleft in her chin.
Busick risked his returning strength to secure her in his arms. “I’m so sorry. On route to the gaming hell, Lady Shrewsbury and I had a long conversation about you. Then Gantry did some checking. My solicitors are quite good, as good as Mr. Thackery. He’s been searching everything about Colin, but nothing more about you. I wondered why a father, a powerful one, wouldn’t come to his child in her time of mourning.”
Her stuttered breaths punched his gut. “How long?”
“A few years.”
“Is that why Colin didn’t send my letters? Could he have known and sought to shield me?”
Busick didn’t know, but he’d afford her the comfort of thinking Colin’s misguided notion was an effort to keep her safe as opposed to a twisted need to control her.
“My sisters?”
“Still hunting them. They will be found. That’s my promise.”
Her sobbing ramped up again.
When it slowed, he blew a sigh onto her temple. “Listen very carefully. I’ve plotted this out, weighed the pluses and minuses. The equation says it is to our benefit to marry.”
“How?”
“Patience, if I die, Markham becomes Lionel’s guardian. If someone bribes counsel to say I’m unfit because I’m somewhat incapacitated, Markham gets the boy. Lionel will always be in jeopardy if I’m unable to protect him. And you will be unprotected, too. I won’t have that.”
“Marrying you will make everything better?”
“I think it will. It’s something I can do and not move a muscle, and it will remove me from this state of wanting you and just having a piece of your great big heart. I’m not satisfied with a taste.”
Her head shaking vibrated through him down the spine that refused to behave.
“I rather think it’s a little lonely sleeping in this big bed knowing you’re up next door.”
“It’s not too far.”
“It is when I can’t get to you, when I can’t hold you and tell you everything will be well. I heard your nightmares. I’ve heard them before, when you risked your life for mine. Let me risk this for you.”
Her dark eyes looked scared. He’d never seen the bold girl frightened by one of his requests.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Yes. That would be an appropriate one-word response.”
“Do you see me? Are you sure?”
He saw her, her strengths, her flaws, her heart and wanted it all. Looping her fingers, he clasped his thigh, the leg that missed a knee and more. “You saw me first. A marriage will also protect me if I truly become an invalid.”
His hands had more strength than yesterday, and he traced the figure that he coveted.
She swatted his fingers.
Busick laughed. “See, I’ll have to marry you to gain Lionel’s privileges.”
Her face glowed in the candlelight. He loved that about her. Just so many things to love about her.
