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“But…but…” Jules’s shoulders slumped, defeated. “But now? At this juncture? When Eva is missing? This is just…reckless.”
Victoria’s eyes closed. “I know, I know. The timing of it is so very wrong. I am so very wrong.”
Jules’s free hand went to her forehead, scratching across it for several seconds. “I have to tell your father, and hell”—she paused, visibly blanching—“unless Des intercepts him on the road, your Uncle Reiner is due to arrive here in days and I’ll have to tell him.”
Her hand fell away from her brow and she shook her head, clearly alarmed at the thought. “What are you doing to me? I let this happen on my watch…”
Jules sucked in a long breath through tight teeth and her look swung back to Rafe with an instant glare skewering him as her voice pitched. “You.” Jules flipped out her blade, pointing it at him. “You compromised our girl—”
“Woman—”
“Don’t ye dare interrupt me, ye blimey piece of rubbish.” Her eyes closed and she took a visible breath. Controlled once more, she opened her eyes, her glare still flaying him alive. “From the first moment I met her, Vicky has been mine to protect. My girl. And I do not let anyone—anyone—hurt one of my own. What you started here…”
She exhaled a seething breath as her eyes went to the sky, then slid down to him, pinning him in place as she scoured his eyes for his soul. “Just what sort of a man are you, Lord Winfred? Tell me it now, and tell me it truthfully. For if protecting Vicky means that I take to my grave what I just saw, I will do it. For her sake. I will let you walk out of here and let you vanish into the past—a memory that should have never been made. It is either that, or you stay and I will kill you one, two, five, ten years from now when you hurt her if you are not up to the task of being the man she needs. And make no mistake, I will come for you.”
She leaned forward, damnation ready in her eyes. “So, what kind of a man are you?”
He held her stare, not flinching. “Not an honorable one.”
She straightened, crossing her arms over her ribcage as her eyes narrowed ever so slightly at him.
“But that would never stop me from treating Victoria as she deserves to be treated.”
“Explain.”
He kept his gaze on Jules, his voice even, each word he spoke, truth. “Vic deserves someone that sees her for all the woman she is. That recognizes she is a fully formed adult that is always growing, but can make decisions for herself. That sees that the core of her is unconditionally good, and that core, above everything else, must be protected and cherished. She deserves someone that respects her for the smart, exasperating, wonderful, funny, empathetic person that she is. She deserves all of that, and more. And she deserves to make her own choice on all of this. If she wants me, I am hers.”
Jules’s eyes went to slits on him and she harrumphed. An actual, guttural sound that hit all the syllables of a harrumph. Her look swung to Victoria.
Rafe steeled himself, then turned his head to look at Victoria.
She wasn’t looking at Jules. No. She was staring up at him, her mouth slightly askew, fear and wonderment swirling in the dark blue of her eyes.
Looking up at him as though she had just examined his soul and found it worthy.
If only she knew the truth.
{ Chapter 20 }
Victoria looked across the table at Rafe.
He ate his grouse with cold calculation, his head dipped toward the table. As humbly docile as she’d ever seen him. An act he was willing to put forth for Jules’s sake.
Of course, Jules also nearly slit his throat, so there was that.
Humble was a good choice.
He hadn’t run.
He’d had the chance. A straight, empty path out of here.
He didn’t take it.
He’d stayed. Stayed and stood solid under Jules’s withering stares for the past day and a half. He’d stayed for her.
Jules hadn’t let Victoria respond to him in the forest. She’d swept in before Victoria could utter a single word of what she wanted in this situation. Jules had marched her back to the house, and hadn’t left Victoria alone with Rafe for more than a minute.
Wise, Victoria had to admit, because heaven only knew what she’d do if she was alone with Rafe.
