side all these years. Even if he became a duke now, he couldn’t have her. Despite Daemon having offered her marriage, they both knew it took more than even love for a duke to marry his mistress and certainly not a courtesan. It had been done but Sophie would be whispered about and the title would be eternally plunged into scandal. Generations of his future family would be tainted.
But what of her? What of Sophie? There was nothing he could do for her.
It wasn’t him. A duke wasn’t who he was. He was the boy delivered to his uncle as a child and beaten into a man. He was the boy who had been told so many times how useless he was that he almost believed it.
When next Blake picked up another log, water dripped from his fingertips, mixing with the sweat he would be covered in if it weren’t for the still falling rain. He wished the droplets would wash away his troubles. But nothing could eliminate the truth. No matter how hard he denied it, he preferred instead the safe life he’d built.
That’s what she did.
He supposed, but it was different. At least his safe illusion didn’t hurt anyone. Hers hurt her family, her friends, the woman she could have become.
Blake shook his head and tipped it back, cold rain washing over his closed eyelids. Damn her and how she made him think.
“I’ve been looking for you,” a voice called from his left.
“I’ve been right here.” Blake shrugged, then swung the axe with more power than he truly felt.
“Sophie told me some interesting tales this afternoon.”
Blake swallowed, dropped the axe and turned to his oldest friend. “Oh?”
Matthew returned his gaze—wary, hesitant, unsure of how to proceed. Blake’s stomach dropped. Well, here it was, the lecture he’d waited to receive, that he needed to have in order to bring him back to reality. Funny that it should be Matthew and not Daemon.
“She told me you are Blakiston’s real heir, not Charles.”
His head snapped up so quickly it was a wonder he didn’t fall over. “What did you say?” Matthew should have said, “How dare you sleep with my sister and then treat her like that!” or something along those lines. He should call him out, punch him in the nose or throw him in the dirt. Not this.
Matthew stepped forward. “You were supposed to be the Duke of Blakiston. How could you not tell me?”
Lie, his subconscious breathed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t give me that rot. I asked you to be the godfather to my child because you are an honest, trustworthy man, who would make an excellent role model. I didn’t know then that the deception went so deep. How could you never tell me any of this?”
Blake flinched from the anger in Matthew’s voice. “I didn’t tell you because it isn’t true. Where did Sophie hear this?”
“She heard you with your brother. Don’t cover your lies with more lies. Now would be the time to tell the truth, Blake, and hope to God that this village doesn’t turn its back on the one man who could have made life so much better all these years.”
“It’s not as easy as that.” But that was also a lie.
“Tell me you aren’t Blakiston’s legitimate son. Tell me you were truly born on the wrong side of the blanket and I’ll tell Sophie she was wrong.”
He heaved great lungfuls of frigid air as his hands fisted at his sides. How dare she? From the moment she’d stepped foot in his yard, she’d tried to ruin his life. How could he even for one moment think she could be his other half?
“If you’ll excuse me,” he said to Matthew before turning on his heel in the mud and storming toward the kitchens. He had to make sure Sophie kept her mouth shut and her meddling to herself.
* * *
“How could you never have breathed a word about your relationship with Blake?” Sophie decided the direct approach was the only way she would have the answers she needed to complete the puzzle.
“Blake and I are friends, but I have a feeling that’s not what motivates your question.”
Sophie wandered around Daemon’s room and folded the towel he’d left draped over a chair. What a perfect picture of domesticity they made.
“I overheard you and him talking this morning.” She didn’t have to look in his direction to know he’d frozen to the spot.
“What exactly did you hear?”
“Enough to know that Blake and