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11
Considering the task that lay ahead of her, Lillian was in good spirits as King’s carriage took her and Dane back to her family’s home on the other side of town. But that, she knew, was not so much because of where she was headed but rather who was by her side.
She wasn’t alone, not anymore. And even hours later she was still reveling in the way he’d made her feel—so cherished and so protected. Maybe even...loved.
She snuck a glance in his direction as heat flushed her cheeks at the thought.
The narrow streets that surrounded Vestry Lane gave way to wide tree-lined boulevards and the narrow, weathered homes were replaced by well-kept, stately homes.
The familiar streets leading to her father’s house had some of that pleasant mood deteriorating as worry nagged at her.
Dane eyed her from where he sat. “You’ll be alright, love. He cannot hurt you.”
She nodded, an honest smile tugging at her lips at the term of endearment. No, he hadn’t told her he loved her, but calling her love—that had to count for something, did it not?
He leaned toward her, his gaze fierce and dark. “I’ll never let any man hurt you.”
“I know that, Dane.” But at this particular moment, at least, it wasn’t physical violence that she feared. Her father wasn’t a forceful man, and he was frail in comparison to Dane. But it wasn’t his anger she feared. It was his disappointment that she dreaded. Her entire life she’d only strived to please him, and with one brutal act she’d failed him.
But he’d failed her too.
She turned to look out the window. A father ought to protect his daughter. He was meant to be her protector and he’d failed her—by allowing it to happen in the first place, but mostly by not believing her afterward.
She should never have been left alone with the earl. That much was obvious in hindsight, but she’d feared being near him for years now. She’d always seen the cruelty in his eyes, and more lately the lust that made her skin crawl.
How had her father not seen?
Her throat tightened as she acknowledged the truth. He had not seen because he hadn’t wished to. The earl was more powerful and more wealthy. Her father wished for nothing more than to make an ally of the man, even if it meant ignoring the way the earl looked at his own daughter.
Even if it meant ignoring her pleas to keep him away.
Even if it meant ignoring her cries for help when the devil took her innocence.
She clapped her hands tight and Dane leaned forward to cover them with his own. “I will be with you every moment,” he said.
She nodded, her eyes welling with tears. “Thank you.”
Two words and they were not nearly enough. No amount of words would ever be enough. But now she knew she had a lifetime to show him how grateful she was. The thought had her smiling again, and when his gaze dropped to her lips, she could have sworn she felt his gaze like a touch.
She dipped her head as memories flooded back to her and heat rushed to her cheeks. A memory of Dane buried inside her, so deep she felt as though they were one. Dane’s head between her thighs, his wicked tongue touching her in places she hadn’t known could feel so good. The intoxicating tenderness in his gaze as he held her so gently and told her she was his.
His. She’d liked the sound of that more than she could say.
For years now she’d sat back and watched as her life and her future were bartered and traded without a single say in the matter. She was to have been Malcolm’s, but Malcolm had never wanted her. Not like Dane. He would have made her his wife, and honored their father’s wishes to unite the families. But he’d never seen her the way that Dane did.
He’d never loved her.
Malcolm would have made her his as he would acquire a new settee for his drawing room or a painting for their gallery. She would have been an acquisition. A living, breathing addition to the estate but no more.
Dane might have declared her his, but he never looked at her as some possession he might sit on a shelf. He did not treat her like a possession at all, in fact.
He treated her like a goddess. He looked at her as though she were the only woman alive. As though she were vital and strong and valued.
He made her feel seen. Cherished.
Loved.
Her lips tugged up as they turned onto her street.
