Page 68 of A Perilous Passion

“Your father was the mastermind behind an extensive network of smugglers. He made his money through storing and dispersing contraband goods.”

God help her. How had Rafe found out?

She forced herself to speak. “Yes, but in the end, Papa vowed to reform. He promised us he’d make up for his wrongs.”

She expected to be thrust away after this confession, but Rafe still held on to her. What was he planning to do with her? She dared not think about it.

“What brought about his miraculous change of heart?” Rafe asked. She heard only censure in his voice. She’d hoped for understanding.

“Mama found out.”

“Are you telling me she didn’t already know?”

“How should she? He never conducted his business from home, and Mama was above going into common alehouses.”

“Did you know?”

Her eyes welled up. The memories were still raw. She prayed the darkness would hide her tears.

“It was a terrible shock,” she said. “A few years before his death, I accidentally discovered what he was doing. He was absolutely furious and forbade me from ever mentioning it again. But when he took ill, he told me how he was going to help put his former associates behind bars in return for a full pardon. He said he was doing it for me and Mama.”

“Did Jessop know?”

“Of course not!”

“Wasn’t that a bit deceitful? You were planning to marry the boy.”

That blow hit home. “I thought about it all the time. I just never found the right moment. Our stolen moments together were too brief, too precious. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I was going to tell him in the coach going up to Gretna Green, while he still had time to change his mind.”

“Of course I believe that,” Rafe said, his tone sarcastic.

He was too cruel. Pain sliced through her body like a sword. “I thought this was supposed to be an interrogation, not character assassination. I was going to tell him.”

“As you never even made it that far, I take it he still doesn’t know?”

“No. And I’ll thank you not to say anything.”

He narrowed his eyes. “When you see him again, you must enlighten him.”

Rafe was never going to understand her situation. Or stop lecturing her. She needed to escape him—now.

The rest of her confession tumbled out in a flurry. “The night of his murder, Mama and I had to escape in the middle of the night, taking only what we could carry. I had to leave my pets behind, my friends, even my name. The pardon didn’t come in time, so we had no protection from either the law or my father’s betrayed associates. But I expect you already know that.”

He let out a breath and pulled her closer, lowering his head until his forehead rested against hers. “Thank you for finally telling me the truth,” he said. “But what am I to do with you? You’re quite simply the most deceitful, willful, infuriating person I’ve ever met.”

His fingers gentled on her shoulders, his mouth so close his breath feathered across her chin.

Damn him! “And you are the most arrogant, selfish, odious man it’s ever been my misfortune to meet. I despair of ever making you understand—”

The flick of his tongue across the seam of her lips cut her off mid-sentence.

“Understand what?” he murmured, nudging her face up to his.

What was he doing? Did he intend to kiss her? The prospect of being thrown into a cell retreated.

“Understand what it feels like to be wrenched away from everything you know,” she said, “and be forced to live a lie, in fear of being arrested, or killed.”

“You’re wrong. I do understand. I just needed to hear it from your own lips. You must realize what a difficult position this puts me in. I don’t know if I can trust you. I don’t know if I can trust…this.”