Lord Cassian flashed a roguish half-grin that had likely earned him dozens of poor ladies’ hearts. “I have that effect on ladies.”
“Now that I don’t believe,” she said.
“Oh, no. It’s quite true. Being a second-born son and a man-of-affairs to the powerful Duke of Hartwell means I’m living in hisverybig shadow.”
Fleur stared at him with sadness and regret. How much easier everything would have been had she fallen for Lord Cassian, who didn’t take himself too seriously and didn’t care that she was a McQuoid.
“Then, why do you do it?” she quietly asked.
Lord Cassian took that as an invitation to close the door behind them. “Work for Hart?”
It occurred to her that, as recently as this afternoon, she risked ruination by being alone with him twice now. Being ruined granted her many more freedoms.
She nodded.
“We have worked together a lifetime. He hired me when I was ten. He was twelve.”
Fleur stared at him, waiting for a grin and a laugh—that did not come. “You are being serious.”
“Deadly so.”
“He hired you…?”
“When he was twelve, yes.”
“For…what?”
Lord Cassian clasped his hands behind him and joined her in the middle of the room. “To protect Captain Tremaine.”
Her mind whirled. “Protect him? But you were a lad yourself. What should he have needed protection from?”
Henry’s friend and servant stared ahead.
Fleur followed his fixed gaze to the portrait that had earned all his focus.
She canted her head.
“You did not know the previous Duke of Hartwell.”
She racked her memory before realizing Lord Cassian’s wasn’t a question.
“The last duke raised Hart in his image. He ingrained his beliefs about status, worth, and taught him to uphold the family’s honor above all else.”
“He excelled beyond his wildest dreams.”
Fleur nursed her bitterness in the open.
“Hart’s father was a harsh, cold, cruel man. He sent the duchess away and kept his sons, but only one of whom he wanted.” Lord Cassian spoke with a grave somberness, and every admission humbled her. “Hart took care to protect Tremaine from Hartwell, which is why he encouraged the friendship with…”
“My family,” she absently finished for him.
The love Henry had for Jeremy, that devotion to protect him above all else, even himself…offered a look at the father hewould one day be. Her throat moved. And the fear she had about telling him, going to him for his help…seemed possible.
Lord Cassian filled the quiet. “Forgive me. These are not my opinions.”
Fleur cut him off with a gentle smile. “I am not offended. We are scandalous.” Her throat contracted. “But I am grateful we were able to show Tremaine the love he deserved and needed.”
Henry had not been so fortunate.
