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He loved her, but she’d had no choice other than breaking his heart as well as her own. Fate was capricious and cruel to give her such love only to tear it away. She must savor these last moments and commit them to memory.
Halfway through the dance, the hammer fell as Harrow appeared and tore her from Lucas’s arms, eliciting from her a very genuine squeak of alarm. “I took you in and gave you everything, including my heart!” he yelled down at her. “I thought I had yours in return. You swore to me you had no love for him, but I see you lied about that, too!”
Her flinch was involuntary. In all the time she’d known Harrow, she’d never seen him look so enraged. He’d always been so cool and reserved, even when facing down men who’d threatened to kill him in a duel. But this red-faced, trembling man before her was entirely believable, enough so that she felt the blood leave her head.
He shook her by the shoulders. “What other lies have you told me?”
That’s my cue. Her voice, for all its inadvertent unsteadiness, dripped with scorn. “You talk of love after you’ve willingly shared me with other men?” It was so strange, acting this out. It was as if Diana was no more, as if someone else stood in her place, occupying her skin.
Now it was Harrow’s turn to flinch back as though she’d struck him. “I assumed you’d have told me had you not been amenable to—”
A gasp erupted from her throat, cutting him off. “How was I to object to anything you suggested when my very survival depended upon satisfying your every whim?” She raised her voice a bit more. “Your desires dictated my actions!”
“My desires? And what of yours? You wanted Blackthorn—a blind fool could see that much!”
Real heat flooded her face, for this was truth, not pantomime. She shook off his arm and spoke through clenched teeth, pouring all her bitterness at how she’d been repeatedly robbed of happiness into her words. “I might not have done, had you not invited your friends into our bed!”
His lips tightened into a grim line for a moment before he answered. “Don’t act as though you took no pleasure in it. I may have shared your favors, but until Blackthorn, it was always something we did together. I admit I made mistakes, but I’ve never once strayed from you on my own since the night I took your maidenhead, not even with my own wife. Does that not at least deserve your loyalty, if not your love?”
A great swell of affection tightened her chest, and she had to fight to prevent it showing on her face. In front of countless witnesses of import, he’d just refuted the claims that had brought about her initial downfall in such a way as to forever call into question the integrity of the man who’d made them. She spied Grenville, who’d come to the fore to gloat over her humiliation, as he blanched and tried to press backward into the crowd. But the fox had already run among the chickens, and people nearby were already whispering and glancing at him in evident speculation.
Gathering her courage, Diana pushed on. “I loved you well enough until you made me into what everyone else already thought I was,” she flung at him. Despite knowing this was all a sham, she couldn’t help the tears that welled in her eyes at this statement, which was so close to the truth. “You are to blame for this rift between us, not I. Had you allowed it, I would have remained faithful.”
Harrow’s face took on the familiar cool indifference she’d seen him adopt so many times. “I very much doubt it,” he said dully. His gaze flicked to her left, and his eyes narrowed. “Ah, Blackthorn,” he said smoothly. “Come to claim your prize? You need not concern yourself that I’ll make any objection if you want to use her. She’s all yours, if indeed you still want the little jade.” Not waiting for a reply, he again directed his speech at her. “I want you gone from my house by this time tomorrow, and I wish never to see you again.”
Lucas moved in between her and Harrow, his expression hard and defiant. “Then I fear you’ll need to remove yourself from London,” he growled. “Because I intend to make her my wife.”
Gasps—including her own—erupted all around, rippling outward in a great susurration to the far corners of the room. The floor seemed to drop from beneath Diana’s feet, a faint buzzing began in her ears, and a queer sort of numbness spread from her midsection to her extremities.
What is he doing?
Turning his back on Harrow, Lucas took up her frozen hands between his own, his touch acting as an anchor, drawing her back into the sharpness of now. “I’ve thought about this for quite some time, and I know it’s what I want.” He dropped to his knees before her, eliciting another mass exhalation from those watching. “Marry me, Lady Diana Haversham, and make me the happiest of men.”
Astonishment robbed her of both breath and speech for several long heartbeats. “You cannot marry me,” she blurted. “I’m—I’m—”
“The only woman under heaven with whom I’m willing to spend the rest of my life,” he cut in. Reaching into his jacket pocket with his free hand, he pulled out a piece of parchment and held it out so she could see what was written on it. It was a special license. “We can be married tonight.”
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered, shaking so hard she was surprised her bones weren’t rattling against one another loud enough for the entire assembly to hear them.
“Because I love you,” he said loudly enough that all those around them heard it. “More than life itself.” The smile he gave her then nearly smote her to the ground with its sweetness. “I…adore you, Diana. Say you will become my wife?”
She looked into his shining, rain-gray eyes and knew beyond any doubt that he meant it. This was no pantomime, no charade. It was real. His love was real.
Joy born from the very deepest part of her heart filled her to bursting. She’d thought love unreliable, that people would always fail her and break her heart. I was wrong. I was wrong! Never had she been so happy to be wrong in her life! “Yes,” she answered, tears streaming down her cheeks even as she laughed. “I accept. I will marry you.”
Rising, Lucas pulled her into his embrace and in front of God and what was likely the whole of the Ton, including Prinny himself, kissed her.
With all the love in her overflowing heart, she answered him back in kind.
When they broke at last, Lucas again faced Harrow. All around them, wide eyes looked between the two men. “If you’re going to call me out, I’ll request at least one night with my wife before facing you on the field.”
Harrow’s face was like a ston
e. “Why bother risking my life over something of no worth? She’s your concern now. I wish you all the luck with your fickle-hearted bride.” Turning on his heel, he strode away, the flabbergasted crowd hastily parting before him.
Diana watched him go with deepest gratitude, knowing Lucas would tell her of his plans later in privacy. Her husband-to-be offered his arm. Taking it, she ran the gauntlet past their boggle-eyed audience with a smile—a smile that, almost impossibly, stretched just a little wider as they passed her aunt and uncle, who were, like everyone else, too stunned to do anything but stare.
Epilogue
