Page 58 of Give Him a Chance

“Well, you know what I mean,” she retorted with a toss of her head and a smile. “You strike me as a man who follows through on his statements. Who does, as well as talks. So what did youdo? What will you do, now that you are free of your criminal dealings?”

And that was when Bernard realized there was no future for them at all.

How could he tell her?

How could he reveal his past, his true past—any of it? His true name, his family of birth, the tragedy that had struck, his disappearance…the work he performed for his country, all of which had to stay a secret, anyway.

None of it could ever be revealed to her. None of it could ever be known.

And that meant he would never truly be known by Lady Lucy Chance.

And she… She knew him to be not just a man born too low to marry an earl’s daughter, but a criminal, to boot. There was no way she would ever consider matrimony with him, and she would not ruin her chances at a proper marriage by ruining herself with him, either.

Bernard smiled painfully, the realization that he was separated from her forever causing a slicing agony in his gut. “Oh, I’ve talked a lot of talk, Lucy. That’s how I can recognize the real thing.”

The trouble was, Lucy was far too intelligent for that. “You’re lying.”

A flicker of uncertainty. “Maybe.”

“But—”

“What I keep from you, I do for your own good, as well as my own,” Bernard interjected, seriousness in his tone and a finality in his air that he hoped would be sufficient to shut down any further questions.

Lucy examined him silently, and Bernard could almost feel the weight of her examination upon his skin, flickering like a caress.

It was perhaps the only caress he would accept from her.

Finally, Lucy sighed. “Well, I suppose we should go for our walk. Along the beach, if you don’t mind? Percy will come with us, and I am in a desperate need of a paddle.”

Trying desperately to put the lewd and extremely delicious thoughts from his mind, Bernard instead directed them at the one thing he knew would quash any semblance of desire.

The beach. The ocean. The water.

The knot in his stomach that never truly went away tightened. “Fine,” he said quietly. “Lady’s choice. The beach it is.”