“Scarsdale brought me in his carriage only so that I might see you.”
He frowned. “What for?”
“About Juliette, of course.”
He moved back another step. “Well…I am very glad to see you for any reason. Thank you for coming.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stepped out of the path of the door, allowing her the chance to leave if she wanted to. Aurora shuffled her feet nervously, knowing she couldn’t yet. “How have you been?”
“I am as you see,” he said. “Essentially the same as the day you gave up on us.”
She bit her lip. “There’s something you should know. Juliette told me your father never intended to disinherit you. All he wanted was for me to believe you could not afford to keep a mistress. He thought me so grasping and ambitious that I would attach myself to some other wealthy protector.”
“Well, he got his wish. You left me.”
She gulped. “I regret…” she whispered.
Drew’s eyes narrowed on her—and his arms unfolded to spread out to his sides.
It took Aurora a single moment to decide what that might mean.
She ran to Drew, jumped up, and wrapped her arms about his neck. “I’m so sorry!”
He uttered an oath and quickly wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight against him. “I know you can’t love me, but I still love you. So very much.”
“Oh, Drew. I lied!” she cried, and buried her face in his shoulder and held him as tight as she could. “I do love you. I always have. Since the moment we kissed, I knew you were dangerous to my heart. That I might want you too much.”
He cursed again and pressed his head to hers. “Then come back to me, Aurora, my love, my heart. We can make this work, can’t we? It doesn’t have to be a battle between us anymore if we can be honest about how we feel for each other.”
He was so earnest, but he didn’t know the sort of woman she really was underneath her fine clothes, her flimsy suit of armor.
She took his head in her hands, stared into his eyes looking for the love he professed to feel for her. His eyes shone with tears, but she hadn’t broken his heart entirely. He could be hers again…but only if she was brave enough to trust in him and tell him the truth. “I want you. I want us,” she whispered.
She drew him close for a kiss, knowing exactly where it would lead them if she let it happen. To their bed. To his hands on her body, driving her worst memories and fears to the darkest corners of her mind. Only in his arms had she dared imagine she could be loved, despite her past. But when dawn came, her secret would still be between them, coloring everything they shared.
She had to tell him so much that would likely horrify him, to explain why she’d lost her faith in love so long ago. She couldn’t hide her shame from him another moment. He had to understand everything and then she would see if his love would remain hers to cherish forever.