“I did. I’m sorry.” He grimaced, a look that did nothing to detract from his handsome visage.
Rebecca’s head bent down as her hands came to cover her face. “I’m going mad.”
“You’re not,” he replied and then he wrapped his arms about her, pulling her closer.
Bennet nearly lost his senses then. He wanted to stalk from his hiding place and rip the other man’s arms from around her back. But he had no right. And what was more, he’d only endanger Rebecca by becoming part of her life again.
And so he stayed where he was, fists clenched.
“I think I am,” she said, her words breathy and broken. “That’s twice I thought…”
Bennet shuddered. So this new man of hers knew about him? Knew of her dead fiancé? Did he know that they’d sworn to love each other forever? Know that she’d promised to only ever be his and his alone?
Bennet closed his eyes. He didn’t have the right. He’d left her. First when he’d joined the elite group at the intelligence office. He’d wanted to provide a future for himself and Rebecca, but he could confess that he’d also wanted the adventure. He’d had a longing to see the world and experience the excitement of intrigue.
And Rebecca had readily agreed. Neither wished to just be landed gentry that farmed and spent quiet evenings in thecountry. She wanted to complete investigations as well, and together she and Bennet had reasoned that as a woman, she’d never be allowed to do so on her own. But once he completed his intelligence training and they were wed, she’d join him as his partner.
But they’d both been too young to understand that their vision for the future could never work like that.
The men he fought would take a woman like Rebecca and rip her apart. Even his brother hadn’t been strong enough to stand against them.
Which was why…
Which was why as the man wrapped his arm about Rebecca’s shoulders and tucked her against his side, Bennet silently watched as he led her away.
Better.
Safer.
But inside, another piece of his heart broke away and died. He swallowed a bitter lump. If only he could go back and marry her, settle her on that farm his father had bequeathed to him years ago. His brother would still be alive. His father wouldn’t have spent his last years a broken shell. And Bennet would have the love of his life in his arms.
But that would never be.
CHAPTER TWO
Rebecca wasn’tthe usual sort of woman.
Yes, she cried. She even allowed emotion to overwhelm her on occasion. But those moments were fleeting and brief. And once she recovered from them, her mind began to work on the problems in front of her again. He thoughts spiderwebbed out to all the possible solutions and eliminated the least likely for the more statistically possible.
Which was how she and Dillan ended up back at the graveyard.
That man, the one who looked like Bennet, had been attending the marquess’s funeral, and she’d interrupted his partaking of the service when she’d spotted him.
It wasn’t the most likely scenario that the man would return to finish grieving, but it was possible. And she had no other lead, so that made it a simple choice.
The rest of the mourners had returned to the marquess’s estate where they were likely eating and drinking, but not her. She stood outside the mausoleum in the afternoon sun.
“Rebecca.” Dillan interrupted her thoughts with a gentle voice. “Tell me about Bennet again.”
She sighed. Dillan had been her childhood friend. He’d lived on the neighboring estate to her parents’. They’d been friends, although she’d been closer to his sister, Daniella. When Rebecca had gone to live with her aunt, she’d written, of course. But after Daniella died, they’d lost touch. Which meant Dillan knew so little about Bennet.
“He was Northampton’s second son. My fiancé.”
“I understood that part,” Dillan said with a frown. “It’s the details I’m missing.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want to share the details today, but that wasn’t entirely fair. Dillan had just laid chase with her, and he had a right to know why.
“He joined the military when he was nineteen. We were already engaged. He wanted to bring honor to the family.” Even now, she couldn’t bring herself to share his secret that he’d been a spy for the crown.