“Does it matter?” she challenged.
“Of course it bloody matters,” Drake bit out. Everything about her always mattered. “Why would it not?” At the raise of her brow, he cursed. “Fine, I deserve that, but I’ve wanted to talk about it from the start.” He had hurt her with his actions. He didn’t know what to do about his mistake. Nothing seemed adequate. Appropriate. He slid his hand from the nape of her neck to cup her cheek. “I want to take it all back.”
“And what is that?” she asked.
“Asking you a fundamentally foolish question about lovers when even I do not know the answer.”
Her lips parted and closed, parted again. “I see. What else?”
“For not agreeing with anything you wanted.”
“Anything I wanted...” she murmured. “You can’t even say the word without turning it into a question.”
“It’s not that. It’s—”
“That’s fine, I believe you were right, in any event.”
His thumb brushed the skin of her cheek. “What do you mean I was right?” Was that good or bad coming from a woman? Drake didn’t have sufficient dealings with them to say. Were she an artful female, he’d wager yes. But this was Violet. She was asartless as they came, and yet, when she wanted something, she went for it with a startling, unvarnished courage.
“I mean you are right to ask. Right not to answer. Right to pause.”
No. No, he hadn’t been. He’d been wrong. So damn wrong. “Are you saying you don’t want to be my lover anymore?” Christ. A question.
She smiled, though it felt forced to him. “Perhaps that’s not our path.”
“Who says it can’t be our path? My damn foolishness? I was careful not to make promises I didn’t know how to keep.”
“Ah.”
His brows furrowed. What didthatmean?
“Perhaps that is what it means to be a lover. A promise,” she said quietly.
A promise... “I’ve never been good at making promises.” He never made them lightly either. Not even to his own brothers. As a matter of fact, the only promise he’d ever made without effort or hesitation had involved his fists. Retribution. Violence.
“Tell me, Drake, do you believe lovers keep secrets from one another?”
“I believe everyone keeps secrets from one another.”
“Even important ones? Ones that can risk the relationship as lovers?”
“There are always risks when it comes to secrets, love.” He studied her, a thought forming in his mind. “Are you keeping a secret from me? Is that why you retreat?”
“What if I am?”
Drake cocked his head, searching her gaze. “Then why would you suggest being lovers in the first place?”
“A moment of weakness?”
“Is that why you left?” he countered. His mind raced over events, but he couldn’t piece together anything that made senseexcept for his foolishness. Of course.Hisfoolishness. “Is it because I keep secrets?”
She blinked twice at his question.
That must be it. “All the secrets I keep are to protect.”
She nodded into his hand where he still cupped her cheek. “That’s the thing about secrets,” she said. “Their true purpose. To keep hidden, certainly, but to keep hidden to protect something or someone.”
Something had happened. Something between her leaving his chamber and now. “Did my uncle say anything to you?”
