No Duke Will Do - Eva Devon Page 0,14

do not think me so very strong, after all,” she replied.

“I do think you strong, but I think you are innocent.”

“You should know the things I have seen in this house,” she cut off. “In my father.”

“Yes, Mary,” he acquiesced. “I understand the things your father has done, but even he, he is but a scratch on the surface of the depravity of this world. The things I have seen would leave you scarred beyond repair.”

“I see,” she breathed.

She’d never seen the horrors of the East End.

She’d seen them depicted in things like Hogarth’s drawings, but Heath had seen them firsthand.

“And you wish to spare me that,” she prompted.

“I wish to spare everyone that,” he gritted. “It’s why I do what I do.”

“You see?” she said, smiling at him. “You are kind.”

“Is it kindness?” he challenged. “I don’t know, but I would like to stop the world from hurting as much as it does.”

“Then, why are you the owner of a gambling club?” she asked, letting her hand trail to his arm, feeling the hard sinews beneath her palm.

He studied her pale hand. “Because I cannot feel sympathy for men like your father, who are willing to throw themselves away. If I had not, I would still be where I was, and so, I must take advantage where I can.”

“I understand,” she said.

“No, you don’t,” he growled passionately. “And I don’t wish you to, but I do wish you to be stronger, and I do wish to make you like me in one way.”

“Which way is that?” she asked.

“I do not wish you to be taken advantage of.”

“Why have you chosen me?” she demanded suddenly.

“I. . .” he paused. “I don’t know.”

But then, oh, so slowly, he reached out and stroked a dark curl back from her face.

“I do not act from my usual source of reason,” he began, searching for words. “I am compelled to be here with you, and I cannot deny that I must do this. I thought of sending someone else, but I must do this for you, for myself. After all, it is in my club where your father lost all his money.”

That tender touch stole her breath, but she replied, “As you would say, he would have done it elsewhere if it wasn’t for you.”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“But you feel some sort of responsibility?” she queried.

“Something like that,” he said. “But I see in you a soul that should be taken care of, and I often wonder if someone had taken care of me, what kind of person would I have become?”

The strange complexity of the man sitting so near, on her bed, struck her. “So you wish to help me as if you could help yourself?”

“I suppose,” he said. “Let’s leave it at that.”

“Is that the only reason?” she asked.

“Why do you wish there would be another reason?” he teased gently. “Do you wish me to be in love with you?”

She flinched at that. “I am not so romantic as that. I have lived with my mother and my father, and I do not believe in love in that sort of way.”

“I wish you did,” he said shockingly. “I wish all people could believe in love, but more often than not, it does not seem to exist.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “So let us not talk of love. Love is for fools, I think.”

He closed his eyes for a long moment. “It grieves me to hear you say so, though I am the last person who should be a champion of love. Even so, I’d like to think that, one day, you could find love.”

“Do not,” she said firmly, despite the hunger growing in her body for him. Hunger was not love. Of that, she was certain. . . And yet. . . No, she wouldn’t countenance it. “I have seen the horrors between my mother and father, and I shall never chance it.”

“If that is what you say, then I won’t argue with you.” He drew his hand back, resting it again on the bed. Still, the air fairly hummed between them. “But promise me you will give me your word tomorrow that you will let me take you away until your father can at least be mollified.”

“My brother. . . He is to return.”

“Yes, I understand your brother is going to return, but I will take care of him too.”

“Will you take care of everything?” she said, doubtful.

“Would you like me to?” he asked suddenly.

“I thought you weren’t going to save me,” she said

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