Page 90 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
Harry’s heart dropped. It wasn’t Juliet at all.
“Your Grace,” Lady Annie said. He could see in the light of the moon that her cheeks were pink with excitement.
“Lady Annie, what are you doing here?”
“I came to speak to you, of course.” She pulled the door closed behind her.
“But how did you know I would be out here?”
She bit her lip. “You mustn’t be angry with me,” she said.
Harry understood. “That note.”
“It was the only way.”
“You wrote that note. You signed it pretending to be Lady Juliet.”
“I knew you would come if you thought it was she who wanted to see you. I had to find a way to speak to you.”
Harry sighed. “How many times must I tell you, Lady Annie, to leave me be? Have I not made myself clear?”
“Of course you have. But I know things have changed for you now.”
“Nothing has changed,” he told her firmly. “The fact that I’m no longer courting Lady Juliet does not mean I’m willing to consider arrangements with other people. You and I are nothing, and we never will be.”
“Oh, Your Grace, you must give this a bit more thought. I know you’ve been thinking of returning to Paris.”
“How could you know such a thing?”
“Because of course you would be thinking that,” she replied. “Anyone could assume that would be your plan. But you really mustn’t go. You’ve been away from home for far too long, and it’s time you got your life back in order. You need to find a way to be happy here. I can do that for you.”
“I won’t marry. I believe I’ve made that clear to you.”
“You say that, but you’ve spent the last several weeks engaged in a courtship.”
“A courtship I’ve now ended.”
“Do you want to know what I think about that?”
He didn’t, particularly, but he had no desire to be rude. “All right,” he said. “What do you think about it?”
“I think you fell in love with her,” Lady Annie noted.
Harry couldn’t even look at her.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Lady Annie said. “Anyone could tell by the way you looked at her that you were in love. I think you left her because that frightened you. You didn’t want to lose someone you loved again.”
“This really isn’t any of your concern.”
“But you don’t love me,” Lady Annie continued. “And I don’t need you to say anything about that, either. You and I both know it’s true. You don’t love me, and I don’t love you.”
“In which case, why are we having this conversation?” Harry asked, irritated.
“Because we can help each other,” Lady Annie replied. “We don’t need to be in love to help one another, do we? In fact, perhaps it’s better that we don’t, because having me around won’t frighten you. It wouldn’t break your heart if something happened to me.”
He didn’t understand at all. Harry could admit that he had no particular affection for Lady Annie, but that certainly didn’t mean that he wanted to see any misfortune befall her. He wanted her to leave him be. He didn’t want her dead.
“I’ve told you already that I’m not interested in this,” he said. “Please go.”
