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Lucas watched in consternation as she exited and shut the door behind her. Looking to Harrow, he saw the other man was watching him with contemplative eyes. “Is anything the matter?”
Harrow’s demeanor remained calm and relaxed. “She is nervous, and rightly so. It’s not often we invite people into our most intimate circle. I imagine it would shock you to learn that though it may appear otherwise, that circle is quite small.”
Knowing it wouldn’t do to let on just how small he knew it really was, Lucas remained silent.
Rising, Harrow went to a tray laden with decanters and proceeded to pour them both a drink. “I’m not surprised she decided to honor the wager, however,” he said with a small sigh. “I’ve marked the way she looks at you. And the way you look at her,” he added as he brought over two glasses of whiskey. “I knew you were going to be trouble the moment I saw you.”
It was said in a good-natured manner free of rancor, but still Lucas felt the sharp sting of guilt. She’d clearly been quite happy with her life as it was, and he’d deliberately set out to disrupt it. Taking the glass proffered, he sampled the amber fire within, giving an appreciative nod to his host as its warmth slid down his throat. “I won’t deny my desire for her. Given that you’re known to share her favors, I’d thought to satisfy it without causing anyone pain. Was I in error to assume it possible?”
Harrow let out a small huff of laughter as he took a sip of his own drink. “Indeed, but not the sort of pain you think. Diana is precious to me, but her heart is not mine save in friendship. I feel the same kind of love for her. Though I am protective, mine is not a jealous love as so many have assumed,” he added with a wry twist of the lips. “As such, I can ‘share’ her with others without taki
ng injury. But I cannot do without her friendship and affection. I’m not willing to give those up.”
It was the last thing Lucas expected the man to say, and he couldn’t hide his surprise. So stunned was he that he could form no response whatsoever.
Which was fine, because Harrow wasn’t finished. “Whatever happens between you, I won’t stand in the way. She deserves happiness. But please don’t take her from me entirely. I could not bear it. I consider her part of my family.”
Lucas remained dumbstruck. He knew he ought to reply, but nothing would come out of his mouth. Desperate to avoid the embarrassment of having been rendered speechless, he knocked back the rest of what was in his glass, hoping it would loosen his tongue. “I mean to make her mine,” he blurted in the wake of the whiskey’s fire. Why the seven hells did I tell him that?
Harrow smiled faintly. “Of course you do. I cannot see you doing anything else.”
“It would be her choice, you understand,” Lucas rushed on. “But if she agrees to become my mistress, she will be mine—I won’t share her with anyone, including former lovers.” He thought of the other man upstairs and knew his host was likely thinking the same.
“If you can persuade her to your course, I would like to hope we will remain friends,” said Harrow, his gaze narrowing speculatively. “And I don’t just mean Diana and me. I was being quite honest when I said I’m fond of you.”
Amazingly, Lucas was warmed by the compliment, which was a bit unsettling. Now that the danger of being considered fair game for a bedchamber adventure had passed, he supposed he could afford to feel flattered. “I’m honored to call you my friend, as well,” he said at last. “Truly. You’re one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever known. In the interest of furthering our friendship, let us be entirely frank with one another. You’re not in love with Diana, and you seem resigned to her leaving you.”
The other man rotated his glass, seemingly intent on watching the light play in the prismatic crystal. “Indeed. I’ve always known it to be inevitable.”
Well, there was that, at least. “Is there anything else I ought to know about the situation in which I seem to have become entangled?”
The silence grew so thick between them he could hear the soft ticking of the clock on the mantel across the room.
Harrow took the opportunity to finish off his whiskey before continuing. “I fear I cannot speak further without betraying her confidence, and that is something I won’t do.” Rising, he went back to the tray and retrieved the decanter. “You’ll learn the rest of it when she’s ready for you to know.”
It was a most unsatisfying answer, and Lucas was tempted to reveal his knowledge of their secret to force the issue. But he held his peace. If he spoke now, it might ruin any chance he had with Diana. And he wanted that chance. Badly. Yes, this was an almighty tangled web into which he’d fallen, to be sure, but he couldn’t see any way out of it that didn’t involve either cutting himself off from her or going forward blind. Well, almost blind.
“What do you want out of this?” asked Harrow suddenly as he bent to refill Lucas’s glass. “I know Diana means more to you than a simple conquest. What do you intend to make of her once you have her?”
Lucas stared at him as if he’d spoken in an alien tongue. “Make of her?”
Harrow’s brow furrowed. “When I first took her on as my mistress, it was to be for five years, after which she’d have wealth enough to do as she pleased. She was planning on taking a new name and building another life for herself somewhere far away where no one would know about her past.”
Leaning forward, Lucas peered at him in consternation. “You only intended to keep her for five years?”
“In the beginning, yes. But then our relationship became…complicated. I grew to love her. You’re correct in that I’m not in love with her; however, my feelings regarding Diana are quite powerful. I adore her in the same way I adore my wife. I’ve shot and skewered men over an insult to her. I’ve lied industriously to more people than I can count, including you, in an attempt to preserve her happiness. I’ve even ruined the lives of some of those who’ve injured her. I would do almost anything for her sake.”
Now Lucas was thoroughly confused, and feeling more than a little threatened.
It must have shown on his face, because Harrow let out a bark of laughter. “Do you think the human heart so small it cannot love more than one person to such an extent? Lady Harrow was and remains my oldest friend and the mother of my heir. I may not love her in the carnal sense—she cannot again conceive without grave risk to her life, which I will not give—but I do love her. Deeply. She feels the same affection for me—and for Diana. The two look on each other quite as sisters. If you decide to make Diana your own, you should know we have become her family. The only way you can truly have her is if you’re willing to share her in that capacity.”
Lucas tried to wrap his mind around this strange new development. Harrow loved his wife and his mistress and the pianist whom he’d as yet failed to mention. Libertinism was one thing. That, he could comprehend. But this? This was…he didn’t know what this was. He’d never heard of such a thing. Tangled web, indeed. “How am I to maintain such ties if she agrees to become my mistress?”
“In befriending me, you’ve already taken the first step. She would never have agreed to honor the wager did she not feel your fondness for me was genuine, and vice versa.” He paused to take another sip. “Clearly, you weighed the possible consequences of a close association with me and found them acceptable, or you would not be here now.”
“She did warn me certain assumptions would be made,” Lucas muttered, taking another swallow of whiskey, too.
“They are already being made. And it will likely only get worse. You must be prepared to answer such assumptions as are voiced in inquiry, whether direct or otherwise, with resolute misdirection or silence. They might speculate, but no one can know what I really am—and what they already suspect you of being.”
