She recoiled as if struck. The words he’d thrown back at her hovered between them, taking her hope, and his heart broke for her. Her gaze darted away as if she couldn’t bear the sight of him.
“Poppy,” he said softly.
But she drew herself up and faced him. The resolve in her expression chilled his blood. “I’ll offer myself in your stead.”
“No!” He grabbed her. “Do not even think it.” Give me Poppy…
“Why? He wants me. You know it.” Her dark eyes searched his face. “You’ve known it for some time, haven’t you?”
“I know nothing of the sort.” But it was a lie, and they both knew it. His fingers dug into her flesh as if the action could somehow stay time. “And what of our child?”
The warrior look he knew so well stole over her features. “I will make a deal with him to keep the child safe.”
He gave her a small shake. “No.” It was all slipping away from him, his control, his choices. They were playing right into Jones’s hand as if he’d planned it from the start. And perhaps he had. Win ground his teeth. “No, Poppy, no.”
Glaring, Poppy pushed him back. “Yes, Win.”
He didn’t remember moving, but in the space of a breath, her back met with the wall. “Christ, you never listen!”
“It is you who does not listen,” she shouted back.
On a curse, he dropped his head to her shoulder and punched the wall. The plaster rattled as he leaned against her and silently raged, his chest lifting and falling in rapid fire.
“I will not let him divide us in anger,” he said into her shirt. Her hands grasped his shoulders then, and he snaked an arm about her waist to hold her.
Her lithe body bowed with tension for the space of a heartbeat and then she sagged against him, her hands holding his collar. “Win.” She sobbed his name, a plea, a prayer, and a curse. “God, you’re right. I don’t want that. I don’t…”
For a long moment, they stood, panting in the resounding silence, then he sank to the floor, pulled her onto his lap and simply held her. His throat ached when he finally spoke. “I didn’t know what I had in you. Not truly.” Admitting it hurt, but he wondered if anyone really appreciated their life until they faced the end of it. “I loved you. So much. But we drifted apart, didn’t we?” And that hurt too.
Her gaze lowered, yet her tight nod confirmed it.
He held her closer, needing to say this, to explain. “You hid what you were—” Poppy stiffened, but he stopped her protest with a brush of his lips to hers. “I’m not laying blame anymore, sweet.”
He kissed her again, with reverence, and though she eased, her eyes were glossy with regret as they searched his face. “I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop,” she admitted in a ravaged voice. “Waiting for you to find out and never relaxing because of it.”
“I know.” He sighed and let his forehead rest against hers. “I think I was too, deep down. I never felt everything was completely safe. I think part of me knew I’d gained you through false means.”
Her arms came around his neck then, her fingers threading through his hair with such gentleness that he shivered. “Win,” she whispered against his mouth, “my heart was always yours, never think otherwise.”
They sat, breathing each other in. The feel of her in his arms was a precious thing, and his heart ached at the idea that he could ever let her go. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at her. God, she was everything to him. His morning, his day, the dreams in which he dwelled at night. His voice threatened to break when he spoke. “Are we in this together, Boadicea?”
A harsh breath left her. The rustle of her coat sounded in the silence as she moved to touch his face. “Always, Win.”
He cupped her cheeks and held her fast. “Then be my partner in all things, Poppy. Now, until however long we have.” Her skin was silk against his thumbs as he stroked her. “Trust me to find a solution.” When she moved to speak, he leaned in, coming nose to nose with her. “Just as I will trust you to look into that Machiavellian mind of yours and make the proper choice between bad and worse.”
Her expression was implacable as she looked back at him, and he thought she might protest,