AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sylvia’s cheeks heated at the inference. But then, that was the kind of woman she was, wasn’t she? As she opened her mouth to begin her explanation, Rafe let out a frustrated sigh and narrowed his eyes.
“You’ve put me in a hell of a position after your confession, Sylvia. And frankly, I don’t know how to fix it.”
She bowed her head. “I know. But I couldn’t stand by while Wardale filled those men’s heads with nonsense.”
Rafe didn’t respond to this. He was staring off, thinking through something. “I’ve spoken with everyone who was in the study and made it very clear that it is in their best interests to keep their mouths shut, but it's hardly a guarantee. Some of those men are so broke they would sell their own mother’s secrets if they could. The best I can come up with is we both go abroad for a while until this business with Wardale is out of the papers, though God knows how long that could take.”
Sylvia felt a weight lift as relief began to sweep through her. He wanted to make things work between them. There would be hurdles, no doubt, but if they supported one another, they had a chance. “Yes, I agree.”
“I know how you feel about marriage, but my name can protect you.”
It wasn’t a remotely romantic proposal, yet Sylvia’s heart still warmed as if he had released a hundred doves into the air and gotten down on both knees. But then Rafe continued:
“And as long as the press doesn’t catch wind of your involvement in this mess, your past shouldn’t affect my career.”
She froze as his words slowly penetrated her woolly brain. Granted, she had slept terribly, but still. She must have misunderstood. Shemust. “You…you actually plan to continue to work for the Crown despite all you uncovered?”
Rafe’s broad shoulders tensed. The movement was slight, but she didn’t miss it. “I’m not sure what you mean. Of course I do.”
She shook her head in disbelief. She had been prepared for him to be upset over her deception, to even end things with her because of it. But it truly hadn’t occurred to her that he would actually continue his work under any circumstance. That he would evenwantto. Sylvia stared into his dark eyes, eyes that betrayed nothing. There was no trace of the man who had spent the past two weeks flirting with her, teasing her, making love to her. A man she ached to have once again. He now stood before her as hard as the stone walls that surrounded them.
Sylvia took a moment to compose her thoughts as outrage welled inside her. “While I appreciate your willingness to go to such great lengths to suppress any knowledge of my past,” she began tartly, “if it is all in the name of preserving your soddingcareer, then you needn’t bother. I will make this easier for you: I am not interested in any kind of future together as long as you spy for the Empire. And I urge you to reconsider, not for me but for your own sense of self-respect. Or did you givethataway to the Crown too?” Rafe shot her a glare and opened his mouth, but before he could respond, Sylvia talked over him. “As it stands, I fail to see how those men aren’t just as corrupt as Mr. Wardale. I saw that list. I recognized many of those names. Lords, politicians, industrialists. All men who have long abused their power and social standing for personal gain. Mr. Wardale beat them at their own game. I certainly don’t condone blackmail, but you don’t need to protect them either.”
“Sylvia,” he warned, but she wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t. Not until he heard every last thing she had to say.
“How can you do this? How can you continue to support a government run by those men? What right do they have to govern over the rest of us? These are the same people who deny countless citizens the vote. Who claim it is patriotic to invade other countries and then force the inhabitants to work for our benefit, while refusing to recognize their basic humanity.”
“That’s enough,” Rafe snapped.
“Is that the kind of man you want to be?” she pressed. “Is your ego soinsatiablethat you need to help destroy the world in order to feel important? If you do, then I feel so sorry for you. I may be a liar, but at least I know what I’ve lied to protect. Can you say the same?”
“Enough.”He banged his fist on the mantel.
Sylvia stood, undeterred. “Wardale was right. You’re still seeking their approval. You think you need it. That you’re following the nobler path this way. But they’ll never truly accept you. You’re only a tool to them, and they will never see you as anything other than something to use.”
At that, all of Rafe’s cool control evaporated. “What do you suggest I do, then? I am trying to bring the guilty parties to justice here, but I can’t do it from the outside. This is theonlyway I can make a difference.”
Sylvia merely lifted her chin in the face of his indignation. “It certainly is not. Dedicating your life to supporting the actions of a corrupt government only does more harm. And makes you complicit. How can you not see that? How can you live with yourself?”
He stared like she was a wild thing poised to strike at any moment. “You don’t have a damned clue what I have given up,” he finally said. “TheyearsI have spent working toward this. And if I walk away now, it will all be for nothing.All of it.”
He exhaled a harsh breath and turned away. As Sylvia stared at his heaving shoulders, the anger that had fueled her only moments ago began to fade. She stood by what she said about the Empire, but perhaps…perhaps there were things about him she hadn’t considered. Things she didn’t fully understand. “Rafe,” she began.
His neck flexed at the sound of his name. “You can go now,” he murmured, and the softened tone pierced far deeper than his anger. It was the sound of defeat. Of hurt.
“Doesn’t the inspector want to speak to me?” She could hear the desperate note in her voice.
Rafe shook his head as he faced her once again. “That won’t be necessary,” he said coolly. “You’ve said quite enough.” Any trace of vulnerability had vanished so completely Sylvia wondered if she had imagined it. “Tell Bagby to send in the next guest. I’ll be leaving this afternoon,” he added and turned away, as if she were simply another guest. Not the woman he had just offered to marry.
His dismissal resounded throughout the quiet room. Sylvia resisted the urge to apologize, but she didn’t know how to fix this either. Didn’t know how to stop him from slipping through her fingers like grains of sand. She headed to the exit in a daze, then paused and glanced back as she grasped the doorknob. Rafe watched the unlit hearth with his hands clasped behind his back.
Know that every moment I spent with you was real.
And now they had both made their choice.
Sylvia left without another word, her heart pounding with the certainty that she would never see him again.
Chapter Twenty-One
