Dancing With Danger (Goode Girls #3) - Kerrigan Byrne Page 0,63

Mathilde would have been happy for us to keep each other company and remember her.”

“Duchesse,” he said carefully. “I am honored...I...”

“I think you may call me Amelie. I would prefer to put my days as a Duchesse behind me.” She pulled off her mask as if freeing herself from a mantle borne too long. Flicking a coy gaze at Mercy, she said, “I will go to my little boat to have the staff ready it. We will be prepared to stop and gather anything or...anyone you may wish to take with you before we board my ship.”

“Merci,” Raphael breathed, looking a little dazed.

Above them, in the keep, Mercy was aware of an inferno eating at a piece of precious history.

And it felt like a candle compared to what burned in her bosom as she looked at him.

“This is your chance at freedom.” She summoned a smile from somewhere, pasting it onto her stiff and brittle lips. “I have...much to thank you for.”

She glanced to Morley, who stood looking rather uncomfortable, though whether from their conversation or the weight of the woman in his arms, it was difficult to tell.

“Well.” She smoothed down her dress, soiled by the extraordinary events of the night. “If you ever do come back to London, I can’t promise I’ll still be at Cresthaven. But you can find me Thursdays at the Eddard Sharpe Society. I hope you’ll...that we’ll...see each other.”

Dammit, was she going to cry? Not in front of him. Anything but that.

Why did her heart have to choose now to break?

Why did saying goodbye seem like the worst thing that would ever happen to her?

Raphael reached for her, the backs of his knuckles brushing away a tear she’d not been aware had escaped.

“You look so bereft, I might weep,” he murmured, his eyes crinkling with a smile that hadn’t yet made it to his mouth. “It’s as though you thought you were not invited along.”

She blinked one. Twice. Her heart forgetting to beat as she analyzed his words.

“Are you asking me to...go? As in...with you?” Surely, she’d misheard.

“No.” He stepped closer. Never had she seen such emotion in his eyes. Such unmistakable meaning. “I’m asking for so much more than that. I’m asking for everything.”

She drew back, pressing her hand to her forehead. “This can’t be real. You were just about to—to allow yourself to be killed not an hour ago and now you’re...you’re...what?”

Not proposing, surely.

“The only reason I contemplated leaving this world, Mercy, is to save the one person who has ever loved me. I thought no reality existed where I’d get to hope for a life that could offer a woman like you.” He gathered her hands, lifting each knuckle to drag beneath a worshipful kiss. “I don’t want to leave this world if you’re a part of it. Because you’re a part of me, whether you love me back or not.”

She choked on her own breath and spasmed in a flurry of coughs. “I’m sorry. Did you say...love?”

“I said love.” He nodded, unabashedly. “I give you my heart, used and damaged as it might be. I offer you my soul, black as it is. My money, which is an obscene amount.” He grinned impishly, producing that bloody dimple.

Lord, but he didn’t play fair.

“My body is yours in every way. My protection. My trust.” He cupped her chin in his hand, and it humiliated her to find that more tears pooled in the grooves of his palm. “I would give my life, if only for a moment beneath the sun that is your smile. Your grace. Your passion. Come with me, Mercy. Let me prove that I can deserve you.”

She sniffed, so overwhelmed she felt as if she might simply float across the water like one of the gondolas. Desire so overwhelming swept her breath out of her lungs. This was what she wanted. This man. This life.

She opened her mouth as her heart sank. “I...I can’t leave Felicity.”

“Go,” urged a weak voice.

She whirled to find her sister on her feet, leaning heavily on Morley, who had been astonishingly silent and stoic through the entire ordeal.

“What did you say?” Her blood was still for a full moment, while the person she held most dear looked her in the eyes with steady resolution.

And not a little bit melancholy.

“I cannot be your other half forever. You always needed more than that.”

“Felicity! You can’t think—”

When Mercy would have gone to her, Felicity stopped her with one gesture. “He loves you. And I’ll be all right.