Mena stilled and played his words in her head again and then again before she narrowed her eyes. “You tell the rags what to print about Creed?”
He hesitated a moment, and his hands gathered in the material at her waist. “The spies are in control of certain papers.”
His words couldn’t have had more impact if they’d been laced with steel. “You ruined him.”
“Mena, he is not a good man.”
“No, and that’s because of you! You ruined his reputation!” She tried to fight her way out of his hold, but any inch she got, he took back.
“Mena, listen to me—”
“Let me go.” She started to fight him with all her might. Her heart bled at the betrayal. She should have known better than to trust him. She’d fallen too quickly. She didn’t know him. She didn’t know the monster he truly was. “Let me go!”
“No. Mena, look at me.”
She turned to him and pulled in a breath before screaming in his face, “Let me go!”
He didn’t. His own anger grew. “You’ll marry me.”
“I won’t! Never!” She pushed at his shoulders, but he didn’t even rock back. “I’ll never marry you.”
“You will!” His own shout stunned her.
She froze.
He leaned toward her again and said words that made her heart glad just as much as it ached. “You will, because I love you and I refuse to live without you in my life.”
* * *
24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
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I’ll be right back. …
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He’d not meant the words to come out that way. He’d not meant to say them at all, at least not until he’d been sure that she’d not questions it. He was aware how quickly he’d fallen, but so much had happened in such a short time, which only worked to bring them closer together.
He’d never thought it possible to love someone so completely, and he’d do what he must to protect the one he loved.
But he’d made his confession too soon and at the worst time, for the reaction he’d gained rendered him numb.
She’d flinched, jerked, and drawn away as though he’d caused her some sort of pain, as though the very thought of him in love with her was a disappointment.
She’d not flinched when he’d grabbed her downstairs or when he’d shouted, but his confession of love seemed to anger her and the look in her eyes, one he’d not seen before, left him colder than here.
She stood there in his arms and yet she’d never seemed so far from him. Morgan was sure rats had been given more friendly looks. “Let me go,” she whispered.
Morgan’s entire body felt poisoned, as though he’d be sick just from the thought of letting her go. “How can I make you understand?” he asked.
“You can’t,” she said. “And you won’t. My uncle is a good man.”
And it was him she thought the villain.
It became clear that yet again he’d gone about this the wrong way.
He decided to let her go but only physically.
She all but scurried away from his touch, walking back until she took in the middle of her bedchamber, her eyes fixed on him as though at any moment he’d do something foul. “You should leave.”
Morgan shook his head. He knew better than to leave. That one thing he knew he would not do, because once he left, he knew he’d return to find a wall built between them that he’d have no way of climbing or destroying. He had a feeling that Mena, with her loving spirit, didn’t hate many people and imagined that those she did were forever fixed in that category in her mind.
“I’m not leaving,” he told her. “We will find a way to make this right.”
“You can’t,” she told him. “You ruined my uncle, and you’ve no proof to show it! No one was afraid of him until you!”
“That’s not true!” Nora came to mind. Warren’s sister had been kidnapped and from what Morgan had been told, the encounter had not been friendly. Maria, Marianne’s older sister, had also been threatened by him before she’d married Simon and the fear she’d recalled had even disturbed Morgan.
He feared that future coming for Mena. He feared what the man would do when she was no longer of use to him.
His fear.
It was the fear Wardington had spoken about. The duke had told him to share his fear, but until this moment, he’d not thought he’d need help expressing it. Now, he knew he did.
“I’ll be back with proof,” he told her.
Mena’s eyes widened, startled. “You have no proof.”
“It’s proof enough and, in the end, if you’re still not convinced… I’ll let you go.” Because as a spy, he couldn’t tie himself to a woman who’d run off to see Creed whenever she wished. She’d become his enemy whether she wished it or not.
The thought of it hurt, and there was a flicker of hope when he saw her own hesitation. Whatever she’d felt for him before she’d known about the gossip rags, she still felt.
“I’ll be back,” he told her and left the room, closing the door behind him.
* * *
25
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
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“You’ve only seconds to agree. Do we have a deal?”
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Mena was waiting in the sitting room when Morgan returned. She wanted to see to his ‘proof’ in a room she’d not have to lay her head in later. In fact, she’d have rather had the meeting somewhere else completely, but she’d remained because it was where he expected her to be.
Ralph stood in a corner of the room and hadn’t said a word to her. Morgan had left him to continue as her guard until his return and this didn’t seem to please Ralph at all. She was saddened by his anger but knew that if his mind was anything like Morgan’s, no explanation would do.
Like Morgan, Ralph thought the worst of Creed and would not be convinced otherwise. They both most likely thought her foolish, but neither knew Creed like she did.
Morgan returned, and Mena stood and was surprised to see Lady Marianne St. Clair, Lady Nora Seton, and Lady Maria Abbey, one of Marianne’s older sister. She’d met Maria at one of Wardington’s parties and thought the woman lovely. She had the same dark hair and eyes as Marianne and a youthful glow.
The women greeted her with the barest of smiles, and it was obvious that they were uncomfortable. She wondered if Morgan had told them about their argument and if the thought of her no longer marrying him made them second guess the friendship they’d offered her. That thought hurt her greatly.
She looked amongst the three of them and at their hands before asking, “Where is your evidence?”
Morgan helped the women to their seats on a couch and then moved to the door. “I’ll leave you three alone.” He looked at Ralph and the man rushed from the room, though gave Mena one final glance before departing. Morgan’s gaze caught hers before he closed the door behind himself.
The clicking of the door closing was the last sound made for a moment, and Mena felt herself grow uncomfortable as well before she turned to the women.