Page 49 of The Seduction of Lord Sin
He licked a drop of rain off his nose and shook the raindrops from his eyes. “Perhaps I need to talk about it.” He sat looking at the ground, holding his arm against his chest. “The foolish me also thought someone had killed them. I just couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe the truth in front of my eyes.”
She merely moved closer and hugged him.
“I truly wanted to mourn. I’d just lost the two people who meant the most in the world to me, but the bitterness of betrayal choked away my grief. Hatred filled me until I thought it would consume me. How did they share my house, my bed, and lie to my face without remorse?”
He sat staring vulnerably at Charlotte. She wondered what he saw when looking at her. Did he believe her story? She could easily prove the details of her story. She could prove no man had ever shared her bed.
“Perhaps you need to mourn them. Or at least your brother. Forgive them. Don’t let the two of them ruin the rest of your life.”
He scoffed. “Easier said than done. I was such a trusting fool, and I vowed I’d never be a fool again.”
“You weren’t a fool.” She cupped his face. “Loving someone is never foolish. They are to blame with their selfishness, not you.”
“I’m a fool for trusting. Trusting in a love that wasn’t there. I won’t trust so easily again.”
“That’s sad. Because without trust, how can you ever love?” Sitting in the light drizzle, under a darkening sky, her clothes wet, Charlotte perceived a man still hurting from such a deep betrayal. But she also saw a man who had so much love to give. He cared about people. His presence here, sitting in the wet grass, with a bloody arm, told her as much. He wanted to help Devlin. He wanted to help her, a woman he barely knew and didn’t quite trust.
He sighed. “Trust has to be earned. Perhaps then love can develop?”
She looked him square in the eye. “So you haven’t discounted finding love again.”
He looked away. “I must admit, I wasn’t wanting to love again. A son is what I need.”Wasn’t, as in the past? Her heart beat faster. He then looked at her. “Maybe I might risk my heart again if I found the right woman.”
Her heart raced, and she drew a sharp breath. What were his beautiful eyes telling her? Don’t get your hopes up… She leaned forward but before she could kiss him, they both heard the thunder but of hooves this time.
* * *
Charlotte sat by the fire in her bedchamber, drying her hair with a towel, trying to get warm. When the storm struck, the temperature had dropped, and she’d been soaked to the skin by the time help arrived. A bath and the memory of Sin’s eyes as he said he might risk love again for the right woman made her blood flow hot in her veins.
“That’s a pretty wide smile for a woman facing catching a chill and facing a killer on the loose as well.”
She smiled at Flora, choosing to hug her secret to herself. She may have read way too much into his declaration. Plus, there was Devlin and her promise. “I assume the men have secreted themselves away for a discussion on the way forward.”
“They have decided that no one is to learn Lord Sinclair is wounded. The story is your horse went lame while looking for Dharma and you got stuck in the rain.”
She shrugged. “That sounds feasible. His wound is not serious then?”
Warming her hands by the fire, Flora replied, “A few stitches is all, but the bone is bruised too, so he’ll be stiff and sore.”
“Do they have an idea why the villain shot at Sin?”
“Sin is it? Not Lord Sinclair?” Flora teased. “James thinks it is because they expected Lord Devlin to be racing to your side, but he went north to meet the carriage. He went after Dharma.”
“Did he now? That’s interesting,” Charlotte mused as she dropped her towel.
“Indeed, it is. Perhaps Lord Devlin has set his sights on a different option to save his estates?”
How did she feel about that? Charlotte should be jealous that the man she’d originally targeted to be her next husband preferred the younger and more beautiful Dharma. But she didn’t. Because someone else had captured her interest. “Well, he’ll have his work cut out for him if he’s set his sights on Dharma. My step-daughter is a romantic and won’t marry to save his hide. She’ll want love.”
“You don’t appear to be upset at this revelation,” Flora replied with a smirk.
“I’m not. We both know that Devlin is not the right man for me, and it may help me avoid my sacrificial promise to him. If Dharma falls in love with him, I can explore elsewhere.”
Flora pulled her chair up next to Charlotte and began brushing her hair as it dried. “And is there someone you’d like to look at instead?”
Charlotte hesitated. Would speaking of her dream make it come true or would it make her sound a fool? She’d informed Lord Sinclair that you had to trust to love, or trust in love. But while she trusted him with her life, she would be foolish to trust him with her heart just yet. Sin had a lot of healing to do before coming to an understanding about love.
Smiling over her shoulder, Charlotte declared, “I have simply come to realize I want more than a loveless marriage.”
