“Unlike you.” Rachel looked as though she’d taken a blow. Leonora shook her head. “My apologies. That was uncalled-for.”
“But true. I craved excitement and he was so... terribly well-behaved. Staid. Sedate. So mindful of what he shouldn’t do. No clandestine trysts in the gardens. No untoward advances. Never touching me where he shouldn’t.”
“A gentleman, then,” Leonora couldn’t help but say.
Rachel nodded. “Only I didn’t want a gentleman. I wanted to be wild. His father seemed to understand what I craved and was willing to provide it. He did so with a promise that we wouldn’t get caught. Of course, we did. The look of betrayal on Johnny’s face has haunted me all these years. How could it not? Not his father’s perfidy but mine. I knew he wouldn’t take me back. He’d always told me I was flawless, like a diamond. But I had imperfections. And he rather likes perfection.”
Perfection? Leonora suspected he preferred loyalty. Her gaze wandered over to the boy, who was studying her with large brown eyes, slowly blinking. Her children might favor him. If they had children.
The butler stepped into the room. “Miss Kennedy.”
Leonora gave a little start. She stood. “I’ll accompany her, thank you.”
Knowing she would soon be mistress of this household, the butler gave a quick nod and retreated. Leonora turned to Rachel. She’d risen and her hand was resting protectively on her son’s head. “If you’ll be kind enough to follow me.”
She wanted to usher her right out the front door, worried about the painful memories the woman might stir to life—but then she suspected the people who had visited today had all managed to do that anyway. She assumed Rook would have rather not faced each of the children his father had spawned, would have preferred not to have had confirmed all the vicious rumors that there were so many. These might not be all. Only the ones who had survived, the ones who had seen his broadsheets or read in the newspaper about his willingness to assist them.
“He didn’t live here when I knew him,” Rachel said softly.
“His mother will soon be taking up residence here.”
“I wouldn’t have thought he’d want to live where his father had.”
She couldn’t imagine that Rook would run from his past. Strolling into the library, she saw him standing at the sideboard, pouring himself a scotch. She wondered if he even had a hint as to who would have an audience with him next.
Turning, he smiled at her, his features softening, but when his gaze shifted slightly, she saw him physically bracing himself as he again became the formidable castle that couldn’t be breached.
“I’ll leave you to speak with your guest,” she said, hating that there was a tremble in her voice.
“I’d rather you stayed, if you don’t mind.”
Only if I can hold you, take away the pain I saw ratchet through you.“Of course.”
After tossing back the scotch, he shoved a thick cushioned leather chair closer to his desk, on the side where he would sit, and with his eyes holding hers, indicated it was for her. He stood there, a silent sentinel, until he’d assisted her in sitting. Her lungs felt like mighty bellows, the air she was taking in too hot for comfort, as he moved behind his desk. “Rachel, I hadn’t expected you to come here.”
The woman he’d once loved, for whom he might still hold feelings, took several tentative steps forward, leading the boy by resting one of her hands lightly on his head of dark curls. “I wanted you to meet your brother... Jack.”
Leonora’s breath rushed out with the force of atempest and only then did she realize that she’d been wondering if the boy was Rook’s son. Although he’d claimed to have no by-blows, perhaps he simply hadn’t known. He was so passionate with her, gave her the impression that he couldn’t resist her—but he didn’t love her, had never voiced the words. If he could hardly keep his hands or mouth off her, how could he have resisted someone he loved? In spite of the woman’s earlier confession that he had done exactly that.
From where she sat, she could see the warmth filling his eyes. He wasn’t going to hold the lad’s mother’s actions against him. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Jack. You’re quite the handsome fellow. I see a good bit of our father in you.”
The boy beamed, then sobered. “I never met him.”
“Few of his children did. But that was a failing on his part. You hold no responsibility for it.” He leaned forward slightly, his focus on Jack, as though on the verge of imparting a secret. “He wasn’t the best of fathers to be honest. However, should he have spent any time in your company, I think he would have thought you remarkable.” Straightening, he waved his hand toward the chairs in front of the desk. “Please, you should both sit.”
Once they were settled, he dropped into his chair. “I can offer you one hundred pounds a month for Jack’s care, which is quadruple what I offered anyone else—child or adult—who was in need.”
Leonora fought not to gasp. She’d had no idea he was providing an income for these people. An atrocious amount. Was he going to go bankrupt? How wealthy was he?
“We’re going to get right to business, then, are we?” Rachel asked.
“Isn’t that the reason you’re here?”
“I thought we might visit first. How are you? Glad your father’s gone, I suspect.”
Leonora found the woman to be cold. Rook’s father was also Jack’s father. Should she proclaim so little regard for him in front of her son?
“I suspect Jack here is the reason you are no longer with him.”
