She shook her head and glanced away.
“What, you doubt me?”
“You said yourself you hadn’t experienced love. It seems convenient that you’ve identified it suddenly. ’Tis likely lust or infatuation. Or gratitude for my support with your father and your plans. It shall pass.”
He stiffened, glaring at her. How dare she dismiss him, as though he didn’t know his own mind. For all she supported him in some ways, she still questioned his maturity. It was the worst sort of betrayal, especially when he’d just bared his heart to her.
His voice tight with anger, he said, “Pardon me, but it feels anything but convenient right now, when you’re attempting to oust me from your life. I know you see me as an inept, lazy, entitled lordling who doesn’t know his arse from his elbow, butI know this. I love you. I identify it by emotions I’ve never experienced before. Notfearof life without you, but rather hatred of the idea. Not the inability to imagine children, but the inability to imagine them without you. Believe what you will. I shall continue to love you. Furthermore, I suspect you care for me, too.”
Belle stared, tears dripping down her cheeks. Swallowing, she shook her head again. “I am sorry, Luke. It would never work.”
“I shall give you time to absorb all this, but I am not giving up,” he said, repeating his vow from the night before. “In the meantime, I will make progress on the goals you helped me form. You have my gratitude for your support and guidance.”
Her shoulders sagged. In defeat? In relief that he was leaving?
Either way, it was time for him to prove himself as a man. Not for his father or Belle or anyone other than himself.
“I shall see myself out.” Striding around the table, he leaned over to kiss her cheek and left without looking back.
The first thingLuke did at his townhouse was ask the servants to lock the whisky in with the wine, keep them out of sight, and hide the key. He’d give them to William and Nate after he brought them up to date on his life. Guests would be offered tea, not that he had regular guests.
Second, he wrote a note to William, letting him know he was home and asking to meet at the pub near Nate’s forge later that week. He owed both friends an apology and wanted to deliver it in person, and he was sadly out of touch with how they were faring.
And last, he contacted Belle’s solicitor, thankful he’d gotten the man’s name from her before the revelation about her past. He did not want to work with his father’s solicitor in case he reported Luke’s actions to The Earl. He preferred to master how to set up an organization without an ongoing critique, no matter how benevolent Belle considered The Earl.
Two nights later, he settled onto the bench alongside Will and across from Nate with a tankard of cider. At Nate’s raised brows, he shrugged. “’Tis part of why I asked you to meet. I’ve spent the better part of the last month breaking my bad habits with the help of a friend. I ordered this to have something to wrap my hands around. Because I don’t like cider, this will last me all night.”
Both men grinned when he said “bad habits” and were outright chuckling after his explanation of the cider.
“This is the best news I’ve heard all week,” Nate said.
“How can we help?” William asked.
“Actually, you can’t. But I understand Charlotte might be able to.”
William’s eyes narrowed. “With what?”
“Blunt.” When William growled, he hastened to add, “Oh, I don’t mean hers. I mean helping me find investors. Other investors.”
“For what?”
“I want to help others who have fallen into a bottle or gone into a hole at the dice tables. I’m still working on the details. Whether I can help both working-class and titled men will depend on funding, and I’m not sure how to petition for it. That was more the assistance I was hoping for from Charlotte. The how and who.”
William nodded. “She’s the right person. I shall ask her.”
Nate asked, “It sounds like an excellent plan so far. Will you open it to women as well?”
“Not at first. The arrangements are difficult enough without worrying about reputations, or worse, physical risk. I’d need to provide separate quarters and chaperones, and I’m not ready. However, I hope to do that in the future. Belle certainly—”
“Belle?!” William sounded shocked.
Blast. He hadn’t meant to mention her.
“Was she the ‘friend’ who helped you? How did that happen? Last I saw, you’d insulted her, and she took you to task whilst giving you a ride home. You complained about that for days,” William asked.
“I remember that,” Nate murmured. “This is an intriguing turn of events.” He propped his chin on his fist and leaned in.
Luke waved a hand. “’Tis a long story, and much of it is not mine to tell. Suffice it to say, we ran into each other again, and she agreed to help me. I stayed at her house for a bit.”
