Page 102 of Their Master

“He saved me, Moira. He made the life I have today possible. I didn’t mean to, but I fell in love with him.” She gave a sad laugh. “He did not return my feelings, but he was kind and caring and did more for me than either of our parents ever did. I am still ashamed that I believed the worst of him for so long—” she stopped and bit her lip, her creamy skin flushing in a way that had always sent men into rut. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you thought he was responsible for my death. I understand why you were so adamant that he needed to be brought to justice and—”

“I was a fool to ever believe theComteor Marie were interested in anything legal.”

A pathetic fool.

“You mustn’t blame yourself—”

“Shhh, don’t worry.” Moira took her sweet, gentle sister’s hand and squeezed. She couldn’t bear to hear Sandrine try to explain away what she had almost done to a man who’d shown her nothing but kindness.

A man she loved.

The father of her child.

“How long have you known about me being here?” she asked her sister.

“He came to me about a week ago,” Sandrine admitted. “I wanted to come to you then—I begged him to tell you that I was alive and well, but he wanted to wait.”

Because Smith had wanted Moira to trust him.

Tochoosehim.

The reality of what she’d done—handed him over without even giving him a chance to defend himself—made her feel ill.

Sandrine laid a hand on her shoulder. “Moira? You suddenly became so pale.”

“I’m fine. How long will you stay?” she asked, unable to talk anymore about what she’d done.

“At least until Smith returns. He put me up in a hotel and I’ve been waiting for… well,thisto happen for several days. I cannot stay too much longer. I have an able nurse for the children, but… I miss them.”

“Of course you do.” That is what normal parents did: loved and missed their children.

Sandrine hesitated and then said, “I’m sorry I never wrote to you—never told you what happened. But Smith said it would be best to break all contact with that life. He worried they would send somebody for me if they knew I was alive.”

Smith had been right. Now that she knew what Smith had done to theComte—taking his heir—she understood her blood-father’s obsession all these years.

“Are you sad?” Sandrine asked.

Moira didn’t need to ask what she meant. “I’m not mourning theComtehimself,” she admitted. “But I’m mourning the loss of what family I had.”

“Now you have me,” Sandrine said. “And Molly and Sarah and my husband, Albert.”

Moira embraced her sister, suddenly weary to her very bones. “Thank you, Sandrine. You must be tired—it is late.”

“It has been a long day,” Sandrine agreed.

“Get some rest. I will see you in the morning.”

Moira found Luke waiting for her in her chambers.

“I told you to go to sleep,” she said, shaking her head at his perfectly coifed, dressed, and groomed person.

“I did, Miss Moira. I napped for an hour.”

She snorted. “I’m too tired to argue.”

Luke’s lips twitched into the slightest of smiles as he began to undress her.

“Has Mr. Smith returned?” she asked as Luke knelt to strip off her stockings.

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