Page 10 of Dare to Risk it All

No. No. Don’t you dare. Rothborn will castrate you and use your balls to decorate his mantelpiece.

You’re alone. No one will know….

Wait.

They were alone.

“What in blazes are you doing out here by yourself?” he demanded, retreating into anger rather than force himself to choose between right and wrong.

She blinked at him, clearly believing that he’d been going to kiss her and startled by the turnabout.

“I-I….” She rallied after a moment, putting up her chin. “I’m not alone, you’re here.”

“That’s worse!” he exclaimed, trying to tug his gloves back on and realising the handkerchief wouldn’t let him. Annoyed, he tugged it off and put it in his pocket, then pulled on his gloves and picked up the prickly bundle of holly. He held it against him like a talisman against unwanted advances. Good God, this was ridiculous. He was not afraid of a sweet little innocent. What was she going to do, wrestle him to the ground and have her wicked way with him? Oh, Christ. Shouldn’t have thought that. Now the image burned behind his eyes. He held the holly tighter, feeling it prickle against his coat and waistcoat.

“Come on,” he said irritably. “Before anyone misses us and calls for a search party.”

“Mama knows I’m here,” she said, sounding a little annoyed herself.

“With me?” he demanded, outraged.

“Yes.”

Raphe remembered Mrs Cadogan’s keen gaze on him last night and wondered at that. Was she mad, dangling her daughter in front of him like a piece of meat before a starving wolf? Surely, the entire world knew he didn’t have a feather to fly with. If she was looking for an eligible husband for her little darling, she was barking up entirely the wrong tree.

“Your mama should know better,” he grumbled. To his annoyance, she greeted this comment with a peal of laughter.

“Mama should know better?” she repeated and went off into whoops. “Oh, that’s funny.”

Raphe snorted, remembering what he’d heard about the Cadogan family. “Well, a fair point. Your sister, though—”

“Mama told her to leave me be.”

“Why?” Raphe demanded in outrage. “Does she want you to be ruined?”

Miss Cadogan shook her head. “Oh, no. Of course not. Mama said that we’re all friends here and there was no danger to me, and that you were far better behaved than people gave you credit for.”

Raphe made a choked sound, unable to believe his ears. “She said what?”

He stared at Miss Cadogan, assuming he’d heard wrong.

“Mama says that you’re a good man who has endured many difficulties and that, as you’re trying to reform, we should give you the benefit of the doubt.”

She gave him a warm smile, full of understanding. Yet she could not possibly understand what those words meant to him. Raphe frowned and walked on, trying to marshal his thoughts with little success.

They reached the handcart that Dare had left and thankfully the disconcerting young woman did not attempt to make conversation with him, for he was too… too something to converse. Him—a good man? The words rebounded back and forth in his mind as he tried to make them fit. He wanted to make them fit, but it couldn’t be right. He’d made a mess of everything, just as his father had done. Two peas in a pod. That’s what Blanche had said to him the last time he’d seen her. She’d been in a temper—worse than usual—as she was being dunned by her modiste and Raphe had no extra funds to help her this time.

Your father was hopeless and useless and you’re even worse that he was, for you’re wicked with it. He broke every promise he ever made and ruined everything he touched. He certainly ruined me. Do the world a favour, Raphe. Never marry. You’ll end up with a wife who despises you and children who will inflict more misery and destruction on those who care for them. Bad blood, that’s what it is, and yours is the worst of all.

Try as he might to pretend her words away, to ignore them and put them down to the unhappy ranting of a dissatisfied woman, there had been too much that rang true. It had tipped him over into the abyss and he’d barely climbed out again before he’d hit the bottom. And then there had been Rothborn’s furious words when Raphe had made a comment about Miss Cadogan.

If you so much as look in that girl’s direction, I’ll give you a thrashing you won’t forget in a hurry.

Admittedly, Raphe had not spoken politely, suggesting he marry Miss Cadogan for her money, but all the same, Rothborn’s anger had surprised him. It had hurt too, to realise he’d sunk so low that the one man in the world who gave a damn for him saw him in such a light. Well, what did he expect? He’d whored and drunk and gambled himself through the past years. Hardly model behaviour for a prospective bridegroom, was it?

Wait.

Bridegroom?