“You should read it,” he said.
Carefully she unfolded it and scoured the words before lifting her gaze back to his. “Where did you find it?”
“The toy soldier you discovered was a message to me that I was too... angry to interpret. But in my bedchamber is a small shelf where I kept my soldiers. It was behind that.”
“O told me your father believed his claim to the throne, but I suspect he was either lying ordelusional. I lean toward delusional. He was quite mad. To get the duke to participate in his scheme, he must have shown your father an outcome that was worse than hanging. I’ll see that this is delivered to the Home Secretary.” After setting it on a table, she turned her attention back to him. “I’m glad you were right. That he didn’t want to kill the Queen.”
“Still, he did play a role in it, so he’s not completely innocent. Why did you leave me, Esme?”
Swallowing, she cursed the tiny tremors cascading through her. “It would have happened sooner or later. Sooner seemed for the best. You’re a duke, and I’m still an agent for the Crown. You have your duties and I have mine.”
“You should see my London residence now, free of all its tarps and coverings, servants scurrying about, lights lit—almost returned to what it once was. Except what it once was... was an unhappy place. That is not what I want for it.” He took a step forward. “Presently it is a lonely place, and I don’t want that either.”
“The next Season should remedy that situation. The young ladies will be falling all over themselves to become your duchess.”
“I don’t want a woman who falls all over herself. I want one who stands on her own two feet, steady and sure. A woman who desired me when I had no title, no honor to my name.”
“Marcus—”
“You also returned the ring I gave you.”
The abrupt change in subject took her aback.“It was an heirloom. It should remain with the family.”
“I don’t think it fit all that well anyway. I brought you something more appropriate to replace it.” Reaching into his jacket, he brought out a small velvet box. A tiny box. A very tiny box. He held it out toward her.
“You don’t need to give me a gift.”
“I think you’ll like this one. I had it made especially for you. It’s not at all what it appears to be.”
Now he’d piqued her curiosity. Setting her glass aside, she took the box from him, opened the lid, and studied the rose gold band with pure gold around the edges and gold dissecting the ring in several places, creating small tiles upon which had been painted tiny, delicate roses. “It’s a very beautiful ring.”
“Study it carefully.” After she picked up the ring, he took the box from her and set it aside. “It is the sort of thing that an agent of the Crown might find useful.”
She examined it, running her finger along the smooth inside and then the outside—
Her fingernail caught on something. “It has a very miniscule latch.”
“Hidden compartments for storing messages. Open it.”
She did, pulling back one of the tiles to reveal the tiniest scrap of paper. Carefully she withdrew it to uncover etched in the gold in delicate scriptI love you. She lifted her gaze. “Marcus—”
“Read the note.”
With her heart in her throat, she did.Marry me in earnest.
She squeezed her eyes shut, finding it incredibly difficult to breathe. Opening her eyes, she shook her head. “I can’t. You must know I can’t.”
“I spent more than a year striving to regain what I’d lost and having finally acquired it and more, I discovered that I sacrificed the only true joy I’ve ever known. You. Marry me, Esme.”
Her heart cracked. It was unfair of him to ask this of her. “As duke, it is your duty to provide an heir and I can’t... I can’t give that to you.”
“When you asked the Queen to place the dukedom within my care, you did so with the expectation that it would mean that we couldn’t be together.”
Holding the ring tightly, she clutched her hands together to stop herself from reaching for him, from skimming her fingers over his beloved features. “Not as man and wife, but we could be lovers, I suppose.”
“Having witnessed what my mother endured when we all thought my father had taken a mistress, I could never be unfaithful to my wife.”
She nodded. “It’s one of the reasons I care for you as I do.”
