proposition, but I seem to be determined to do it.”
“There you go,” he said, lifting his own glass in a matching salute. “Determined.”
She pursed her lips, still stunned at how she had come to be with him. “And you think more of me for this, not less?”
“Of course.” He drank, the ruby liquid shimmering on his sensual lips. “Most people are content to live in their cages until the day they die. They are born into this world wondrous beings, and they are born into prisons, and then they stay there.”
“You broke free,” she pointed out.
“I had to,” he sighed. He drove a hand through his thick hair. “If I had not, I would have likely died some horrible death on the street or been worked to death in some relentless job. There are thousands of people in the city now doing just that.”
“There are thousands of people in my area of the world, doing something very similar,” she dared to observe. “Their cages, of course, are much safer and much prettier, but I think their souls inside are withering away.”
He quirked a brow. “Are all humans the same, then? Most people would never argue such a thing, especially an aristocrat.”
“I don’t know enough people to lay such a claim,” she hurried. “But I do think all humans were born to want more than what this life has given us.”
His eyes sparkled with wonder. “Your wisdom is most strange, Lady Mary. I hardly know what to do with it.”
“Wise. You keep saying that,” she scoffed. “A person of my years cannot be wise, but I am certainly curious about what I can do about my situation.”
A loud knock on the door startled them both.
Heath tensed.
Her eyes darted in the direction. “Are you expecting someone?” she asked.
“No,” he stated, shoving his chair back.
She could tell he was tempted to ignore it, but the pounding continued.
Her own heart leapt into her throat, making it difficult to breathe. In an instant, their peaceful accord had been shattered. She already mourned it and prayed whoever it was would hie off quickly. So she could be with him.
At peace with him.
Being herself.
Slowly, he stood, walked down the hall, and she heard the door open.
There was a soft whisper of voices, and then he was coming back towards her, a sheet of paper in his hand.
A look of dread tightened his handsome features.
“What is it?” she managed to ask. “Something has happened in the city?”
“You must go back,” he stated, his whiskey gaze dark and shadowed.
“Something has happened,” he continued. “But not in the city. It has happened in your home.”
“My God,” she said, panic rising in her chest. Had her father hurt her mother? Had her brother. . . Before her brain could rattle away, she urged, “Tell me.”
“Mary,” he whispered, as though he, a man of darkness and danger, did not even know what to say. “Your father is dead.”
Her stomach dropped. “I beg your pardon? Surely, you misspeak.”
“Your father,” he affirmed. “He did not wake up this morning.”
Did not wake up. . .
She swallowed. Could it be true? She looked up at Heath. Her mind rioted, unable to truly latch onto what he’d said. “I do not understand.”
“Your father has died,” he repeated, his shoulders sagging.
And at that moment, she knew she did have to go back.
Even if she did not wish to, even if she longed to stay with Heath forever. Her mother needed her.
She would have to go back now. Immediately.
They remained together in silence.
Her mind raced through all the possibilities.
Could she stay one night? Could she?
But she thought of her mother, alone at this moment, staring down the face of her future, the duke gone. And Mary realized that, no, she could not.
She had come here and done what she had sent herself to do. Even in a few short hours’ time, she was already stronger. It was nowhere near long enough. . . But she knew what road she had to set herself on now.
Wordlessly, Heat went back to the small sitting room, and she heard him picking things up. He came to the kitchen and handed her her gown, and he too began to don the trappings of respectability.
His cravat. . . As he wound it about his neck. . . She almost couldn’t breathe. It felt like. . . The end of something. Something so fine.
Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked them away.
Unquestionably, he knew her decision. It was as if he had read her mind.
She