Page 54 of Indecent
Lifting a shoulder, he gave her a dazzling smile. “When have we ever let that stop us?”
Prudence could barely swallow past the tightening of her throat as emotion swelled in her chest. She couldn’t keep doing this. It was becoming too painful to walk away. And to keep her feelings at bay.
“How are you?” he asked, taking her hand. She let him.
“Fine. You?”
“Fine is not a real answer. Are you well? Busy? Utterly bored without me?”
She laughed. “You have a rather high opinion of yourself.”
“You know I don’t,” he quipped. “Especially after what I did to you.” There wasn’t any melancholy in his tone, just a statement of fact.
She needed to put some distance between them. “Have you found an heiress yet?”
He grimaced and let go of her hand. That had been her intent—to push him away—but it still stung. “I wish I didn’t need money. Perhaps I should get a job. Is there such a thing as a gentleman’s companion? You could train me up.”
Another laugh shook her frame. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of such a thing. I do know you’re good at cleaning up after storms.”
“You’re right,” he said, stroking his chin. “I could work as a gardener or a groom. I do know a fair amount about horses.”
“You could also be a teacher. I assume you went to Oxford or Cambridge and possess a great deal of knowledge to impart.”
“Like your father.” His eyes glowed with warmth.
“Not like my father. He did not attend Oxford or Cambridge. He was rather brilliant, however.” He’d taught her so much about history and science and words.
“He has to have been to have created a child as smart and wonderful as you.”
Except he hadn’t created her, not in the most basic sense of the word. She inhaled sharply and coughed to cover it up in case Bennet deduced something. “I should get back. And we ought not meet like this anymore.”
“I know.” He sounded resigned. “But I had to see you. It’s about the ring you gave me.”
“You sold it.” She’d told him to, and yet remorse burrowed inside her.
“Not yet, but I’ve had an offer. It’s the damnedest thing.” He shook his head as he removed his left glove. “I must confess that I’ve been wearing it since you gave it to me.”
The gold glinted in the afternoon brightness. The ring looked quite natural and attractive on his hand. Seeing it there made her inordinately pleased.
“It looks nice,” was all she could manage to say. She was still waiting for him to explain the damnedest thing.
Her gaze flicked to his, and she saw the barest hesitation. His demeanor sent a jolt of anxiety through her. “Lucien took note of it the other night. He asked how I came to have it.”
Her heart felt as though it might jump from her chest. “What did you tell him?”
“That I won it in a card game. He’s quite perplexed, however, because he insists it belongs to his family, that the crest is of his grandmother’s family.” He glanced down at the ring on his finger. “How would your mother have gotten it?”
Everything around Prudence seemed to stop. There was no sound, no scent of horses, nothing but a sensation of falling. Then sound returned, a loud whooshing noise in her ears. Was she actually falling?
“Pru?” Bennet touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she croaked, coughing and taking a breath. “I’m just surprised to hear this.”
If the ring belonged to Lucien’s family, how on earth had it come into Prudence’s mother’s possession? No, how had it come into the possession of the woman who’d given birth to Prudence. Unless that woman was from Lucien’s grandmother’s family. Which wasn’t far-fetched. Prudence’s real father was a viscount, and the ring had seemed to be from a family of means. Everything pointed to Prudence’s real mother being from Lucien’s grandmother’s family.
That would mean that Lucien—and Cassandra—were Prudence’s family.
Prudence felt like shecouldfall. Her legs wobbled beneath her.
