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Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Sienna didn’t stop until she stood on the other side of the bench, looking down at Torrie. “Robby is leaving in an hour, at the most.”
Torrie turned from Sienna, her stare going to the square basin of water in front of her. “Let him. He’s dead to me.”
“I doubt that.” Sienna sat down on the opposite side of the bench, twisting sideways and leaning toward the water, her hand clutching the edge of the bench so she could see Torrie’s face.
“You don’t know it.” The words spat out of Torrie’s mouth.
Sienna shrugged, then sat straight, her look pinning the side of Torrie. “I know how much you mean to Robby. That alone tells me he means something to you.”
She shook her head, her words wooden. “I mean nothing to him. Nothing. He was very clear on that fact.”
“Yet I refuse to believe it,” Sienna said, her soft voice matching the scent of roses around them.
“He said it.”
“And you’re stubborn.”
“As are you.”
Sienna chuckled and set her hand on top of Torrie’s knuckles. “Robby says lots of things he doesn’t mean. He always has. It’s the dark in him—evade, lie, so no one knows him. He’s been playing that card his whole life—never let anyone know you care, for they’ll only destroy you in the end.”
She sighed, her head cocking to the side as her look drifted off of Torrie. “And why wouldn’t he live like that? Nothing in his life has ever been permanent. Not his mother. Not Logan and I. Certainly not the boys he ran with in St. Giles. No one. The only thing that never changed was what he needed to do to survive.”
Torrie pulled her hand free from under Sienna’s grasp. “It doesn’t excuse him.”
“No. But it may explain him.” Sienna paused, leaning forward for a long moment, then she angled back, her look intent on Torrie. “Do you know your viscount was destitute?”
“Apton? He—what?” Her head turned to Sienna, meeting her look. “No. You must have him mistaken for another. My husband left me a healthy sum after he died.”
Sienna shook her head, her bottom lip sliding under her teeth for a second. “He would kill me if he knew I was sharing this, as Robby respected your husband—he said he was a kind man that doted upon you. But as Robby has made a stupid decision to go after Bockton by himself, I’m going to make a stupid decision to tell you this.”
Torrie’s eyebrows angled inward. “You are correct about Apton in that he was a fine man and did dote on me, but you are mistaken as far as his finances. He wasn’t destitute.”
“He was. Your husband was penniless at the end. What was left of the estate that wasn’t entailed went to pay off debts. Even at that, the estate would have been drowning in debt for years. Robby paid it all off. Before your husband’s solicitors even met with you after his death, Logan had already interceded. He did so at Robby’s request. Your London townhouse, the sum settled on you—giving you not a care for the rest of your life—that was Robby’s doing. His fortune made at sea.”
“No.” Torrie jerked backward, sliding to the far end of the bench. “No.”
Sienna scooted toward her, not letting her escape. “Yes. Robby had somehow gotten word that the viscount was fading and he set it into motion with Logan and the solicitors. You were to never know.”
“He did that? But…but he didn’t even know me.”
“He knew you, Torrie. He’s known you since the day he stepped out of prison. And he has made sure you were fully taken care of ever since that time.”
Torrie’s hand went to her forehead, her fingers squeezing the bridge of her nose. After a long moment, her hand dropped, her look pinning Sienna. “Why are you telling me this?”
Sienna’s blue eyes shone nothing but sincerity. “Some secrets do more to guard the dead than the living. I care more about the living.” She gave the smallest smile. “And Robby is living—and I would rather it continue to remain so.”
Torrie’s eyes slowly closed. “You’re telling me because you want me to stop him from leaving.”
“I do. He’s tied Logan into staying here to watch over you, so my husband can’t even accompany him to help.” For a short second, Sienna’s look went close to manic. “Robby won’t abandon his plan for me or for Logan, but for you—for you he just might.”
“You misunderstand how little I mean to him.”
“I don’t think so. I think you understand him in a way we never will.” Sienna grabbed Torrie’s hand, pulling it up and clasping it between her palms. “What I know of Robby is that he cannot believe in the good in himself. No matter what he does now, it will never erase what he did in his past—what his past has done to him. It’s why he’s always seeking death. Even with you. Even the happiness that was in his eyes when he looked at you—he doesn’t have hope—he doesn’t believe he’s worthy of what you two could be together.”
Her whispered voice escaped her. “Because he’s moored in the in-between.”
