No Duke Will Do - Eva Devon Page 0,13
into the moonlight and heavens. He was a magnificent creature. The slight light shone on his dark russet hair. His broad shoulders filled the window, and his cheeks were like two slashes of hard marble.
“You are your own person, Lady Mary,” he stated as thought the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Perhaps it was. “I will not make you go, but I think it is the right decision.”
“What you ask of me is too great,” she rushed, anguish tearing at her. “You ask me to do something so reckless.”
“You chose to ruin yourself when you came to visit me in the East of London. Why stop now at this?”
Her eyes darted about as if she might magically spot an explanation they could bother understand. “Because I’ve never been away from my family, my mother. She needs me.”
“But staying with her is keeping neither of you safe,” he pointed out ruthlessly. “I want to take you out of London, and I want to teach you how to be strong.”
“You’re going to go to?” she gasped.
“I am going to go too,” he confirmed.
“Please, I don’t think I can give you an answer at this moment. I know you wish me to but—”
“Then, don’t,” he said without judgment. “But do not think long. Your father is a vicious man.”
“Can I send you a note in the morning?” she asked, her mind whirling.
“You may absolutely do so, but. . .” He strode forward towards the bed and, without asking, sat upon the mattress. She rolled slightly towards him. “I am sorry for causing more grief in your life. It was not my intent.”
Heath was not supposed to be a kind man, but at this moment, she knew he was.
It was the only reason why he would come to her in the middle of the night, slipping into the great house to tell her of such a plan. . .
Unless he would hurt her in some other way. Was there some machination she did not see? She’d grown used to the manipulations of people, but he did not seem to be doing such a thing.
She studied him, untrusting, even if she wished to be. “Why are you truly here?”
“Ah. Mary, you’re being so wise not to simply trust,” he said approvingly. “I don’t entirely know what I’m doing here,” he admitted. “Since our meeting, I have been unable to shake you from my thoughts. It galls me to admit it. It makes me sound like a foolish boy.”
“It certainly doesn’t sound like something you would say, and I do not think anyone could accuse you of seeming a boy,” she countered.
“You know me but little,” he reminded, his heavy weight on her bed nearly taking her breath away.
She leaned against the headboard, his hand but an inch from her thigh. “Your reputation does not make it seem as if I would be able to strike any sort of chord within you.”
“You have,” he said softly, that low rumble of a voice caressing over her body, and she all but shivered.
He did things to her that she had never imagined possible, and she angled towards him. Her night rail slipped down her shoulder. She should’ve covered back up again, but she did not.
She glanced up at him, taking in his granite face. “Why?”
“Because you have such a strong soul, and I admire you for it.” A muscle tightened in his jaw with an unknown emotion. “You’re courageous, Mary. You’re not going to just take whatever your father does to you, and I’ve put you in a dangerous position, and I loathe myself for it.”
“Do not,” she demanded. “I’d be in a dangerous position in any case. You are a human prone to mistake, as I am.”
“Am I?” He looked away. “Some people don’t seem to think so.”
She reached out impulsively and touched his cheek, turning him back to her. “I see you now, here, doing me this kindness, and that makes you human.”
“Do not like me, Mary,” he said even as he did not pull away.
“Why not?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Because,” he began. “You see one aspect of me, and you assume it means I am kind. It is not true. You could not know the shadows of my life or the things I have gone through or done.”
“Then, tell me,” she urged.
“I would horrify you, and you would not be able to look upon me as you do now.”
“How dire that sounds, very dramatic,” she teased.
“Not dramatic,” he replied. “The truth.”
“Then, you