“You took care of it.” He detangled herself from her and stepped back. “As you always do, correct?”
There was no judgment in his tone, but she felt colder than she had in weeks. “I had to.”
She’d been unable to stop herself.
He crossed her arms. “What, exactly, did you do?”
He didn’t sound angry, so that was a relief. But he did not yet know everything.
“My father left debts,” she said, staring at Cordon’s feet. “I couldn’t let my family deal with that burden while they are grieving.”
“I suppose I understand. When we arrive, we will ensure the money goes to the correct place so that your mother cannot swindle it away.”
“I’ve already given it to her.”
The room fell silent.
He heaved a sigh. “I cannot blame you. You could not have expected that your father would die.”
She felt as if an enormous weight had lifted from her shoulders. Everything was well between them. They would visit her family, resolve whatever disaster her father had left behind, then continue helping Cordon.
“What is your next task?” she asked, mostly to change the subject.
He enveloped her in his arms. “Do not worry about that. I want you to focus on recovering.”
She ran her hands down his chest, then felt a slight bulge. “What’s this?”
He removed a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to her. “A physical copy of the list. I started carrying it with me as a reminder.”
More than three-quarters of the lines were crossed out, but the ones that were left made her smile. Of course he would want to make an obnoxious man lose all of his money at a gaming hell and sneak aboard a pirate ship. But then she reached the end, and her blood turned to ice.
“Woo a dressmaker,” she whispered.
He jerked the sheet out of her hands. “That’s not what you think.”
She stared at the man she loved, a man who was going to die, who had made a list of all the things he’d wanted to complete. And it included her.
“Was that all this was?” Her heart ached.
“That’s how it started,” Cordon said, his voice strained. “But it changed, Kitty. Things…changed, between us.”
Despite his words, she couldn’t help but remember everything they’d done. With this new information, she saw it all differently. He had first engaged her at the market, drawing her into the seduction that had all been part of his plan. Every item, every activity, had been part of a larger game.
She’d been wrong. He wasn’t focused on the present, ignoring the future. No, he was a master manipulator. Just like her parents. He’d planned several steps ahead, and she’d failed to see it.
“You’ve successfully wooed me.” She turned her back. “What else do you need?”
“Don’t do this,” he whispered.
“Do what?” Her anger grew, compounding with every whispered word she remembered him uttering. All of it had been part of a greater scheme. He was no better than her parents, who were constantly using her sympathy and soft heart to convince her to do things for them.
Well, no longer.
She would harden her heart and focus only on what mattered toher.
“I have to go home,” she said.
“And let your mother manipulate you.”
