He could be a rake if he refuses a lady’s apology.
MISS HONORA TRUTH’S WORDS OF WISDOM AND WARNING ABOUT RAKES, SCOUNDRELS, ROGUES, AND LIBERTINES
Silence stretched between them as she stared into his eyes. She was calmer than he expected her to be when he told her he knew who Miss Truth was.
He understood her not immediately agreeing to marry him. It was what he’d expected. As she’d said, she wasn’t the kind of lady who could marry him with a secret between them. Just as he couldn’t. He had to tell her he knew.
“How did you find out?” she softly asked.
“I admit it took me a while, but I finally figured it out the day Mrs. Abernathy saw the mice.”
Her brows formed a frown. “You waited a long time to tell me.”
“I didn’t want you to know that I knew Miss Honora Truth is really Miss Eugenia Everard.”
“Eugenia? No,” she said unequivocally and rose from the bed.
This time he didn’t try to stop her. He watched her. Her long, golden-red hair was a mass of tangled curls swinging over her shoulders and covering her breasts. She was gorgeous and she was his. He wanted her back on the bed beneath him again. Yet he knew she wouldn’t allow that to happen until this issue was settled between them.
Marlena grabbed her chemise from the floor and quickly slipped it over her head. Rath rose and stepped into his trousers.
“You must have known I would find out,” he said. “Or at least thought there was a possibility.”
“Why would you think that?” She found her stays and slipped them on over her shift and turned her back to him. “The column is almost three years old.”
“Griffin, Hawk, and I have been trying to find out who she is since she revived the secret admirer letters. And if I ever find out who the blackguard is that started the rumor at White’s, I’ll see to it he never starts another rumor or anything else.”
Marlena remained quiet with her back to him, struggling to pull the laces on her stays tight enough to tie at her back. It reminded him of the first day at her house when she’d turned away from him and tried in vain to untie the ribbon at her throat. He would never forget how sensual it was to watch her do that.
Rath walked over and took hold of the laces of her stays. She tried to move away from him, but he said, “I took the damned things off you, Marlena, I can put them back on. Hold still.”
Thankfully, she dropped her hands and let him lace her while he continued to talk. “I don’t want you angry with me because I figured out Eugenia is Miss Truth.”
“She’s not,” she said softly.
“You don’t have to worry that I’ll take some revenge against her. I won’t. Though it’s certainly deserving. She’s delicate enough as it is. But you can’t deny it. I saw some of her writings in your drawer that day when you were trying to find a place for the smelling salts. I now know you must have been reading it for Miss Everard before she turned it in, as it wasn’t finished.”
“It’s not Eugenia,” she said again.
“I didn’t realize what it was at first, but then I read it again after Miss Everard fainted outside that day. She had the scandal sheet with her. I thought it sounded familiar, but at the time, I thought it was because Miss Truth keeps writing the same old gossip. But then there were other things as well.”
Rath finished her stays, and picked up her dress. He walked around to face her, and held it out.
Marlena took the dress without meeting his gaze and said, “Thank you, but you’re wrong.”
“Miss Everard had Miss Truth’s books and her scandal sheet.”
“A lot of ladies have them and read them,” she said, slipping her dress over her head and then straightening it over her body. “Even Lady Vera has them.”
Rath buttoned the flap of his trousers. It bothered him that Marlena kept denying what he knew to be true. “Miss Everard is frightened every time she sees me.”
“No.”
“She faints when she sees me,” he said, leaning against the bed and shoving his foot into his boot.
“Not anymore,” Marlena insisted. “She’s fine now. You’ve seen her at her house. She didn’t faint.”
“She and her sister looked as if they were about to bolt out of the house and I’m surprised they didn’t,” he said with irritation at her stubbornness growing. “There is no use in you defending her anymore, Marlena. I know that her sister was one of the young ladies who received a secret admirer letter from the rakes, and she is doing this to get revenge for her sister.”
“It’s not Eugenia.”
Tears pooled in her eyes again. That surprised him. “Then Miss Truth is her sister, Mrs. Portington, or perhaps they are even doing it together.”
“It’s not Eugenia, or Veronica. It’s me. I’m Miss Honora Truth.”
Standing on one foot, he stuffed his other foot into his boot quickly and rose to his full height. What she was doing—trying to protect the sisters—was admirable, and he loved her all the more for trying. “That is not going to work, Marlena. I won’t let you take the blame for either of them.”
“I’m not.” Her voice was calm. “I won’t lie to you. It’s me. It was my idea from the start.”
He picked up his shirt. “You didn’t receive a secret admirer letter. Mrs. Portington did. You would have no reason to dredge it up and write about it. You are covering up for them because you have always tried to help them and you are doing it now.”
“Not this time.” Marlena stepped into her shoes, lifted her shoulders, and said, “I had just turned seventeen when I moved in with Justine. Eugenia needed a friend, and so did I. It didn’t take long to realize how unhappy she and Veronica were. Eugenia told me the story of the secret admirer letters the Rakes of St. James had sent to the young ladies making their debuts. As you said, Veronica was one of them. All were embarrassed and reprimanded by their parents for going to meet a secret admirer. Some had their virtue questioned and at least one, Veronica, made an unhappy match, but nothing ever happened to the rakes. That seemed unfair to me.”
Rath’s hand tightened around his shirt as what she was saying started to make sense. That scared him. “You want me to believe you heard this story and decided to start a scandal sheet.”
“Yes,” she declared. “It’s true and it’s just that simple. Not everything has to be complicated. I wanted to do something to help. I knew very little about scandal sheets but I knew how to write and compose and knew I could learn fast what I didn’t know. The sheet didn’t sell very well until I wrote about the rumor that was started at White’s, and then the number of sales each week soared. I hadn’t intended to continue with it for as long as I have, but … There’s the truth of it.”
Rath had remained quiet and let her talk, not wanting to believe her, but he did. Marlena had been taught not to be afraid of anything by her cousins. “Damnation,” he whispered aloud. Miss Truth wasn’t the timid Miss Everard or her sister. She was Marlena. The strong, beautiful lady standing before him. The one who had captured his heart with her wit, loyalty, and kindness toward her friends. The one he loved and wanted to marry had set out to punish him and his friends.
Maybe she wasn’t through with him.
A burning heat started in Rath’s chest. He stepped closer to Marlena. “Did you want me to take your innocence today to punish me yet again?”
“What? No.”
Rath threw his shirt to the bed. “Damnation, Marlena, this is too important for us. Don’t lie to me about it. You knew I had vowed never to touch an innocent, yet you knew how desperately I wanted you. I kept saying no, but you held out your hand to me.”
“I did that because I wanted to be with you, too.”
“Did you? I’m wishing I could believe that right now, instead of thinking this was a part of your revenge, too. Were you thinking it would be a good way to force me to marry you, not knowing that I loved you and already wanted to marry you?”
“I don’t know how you could even think that,” she said, her voice rising.
“I have good reason to. Perhaps you even suggested to Mr. Olingworth that he contact me to be your guardian. Is that how far back your deceit goes?”
“How could it?” she asked. “I didn’t even know who you were then.”
“It sounds reasonable to me, Marlena,” he said angrily. “You just admitted you started the scandal sheet as soon as you arrived in London. Why am I not to believe this day was planned, too?”
“Because my feelings for you are pure,” she insisted. “I have not betrayed you concerning my feelings. I would have never written about you if I’d known I’d meet you one day and fall in love with you.”
“It’s not just about me, Marlena. You wrote about my friends. About Lady Sara and Lady Vera, who has been so kind to you.”
“I had no idea what lovely people Lady Vera and the Duchess of Griffin were when I started the column. Just as you had no idea young ladies would be harmed when you wrote your letters.”
Rath’s anger and frustration continued to build, not just toward Marlena but for all that had happened since he’d met her. “But I didn’t do it intentionally. You did. You admitted that when you wrote about the rumor that started at White’s, your sales soared. Didn’t you know that would put Griffin’s sisters in danger from mischief-makers? Lady Vera might still be at risk from someone wanting to in some way harm her to get back at us.”
“No. No,” she answered just as passionately as he’d spoken. “I mean yes, it crossed my mind, but I didn’t think anyone would harm a duke’s sister. Who would be so bold as to try?”
“You, Marlena.”
She flinched as if he’d struck her. He saw that his words wounded her deeply. They were harsh but he was powerless to take them back.
“I never wanted them in danger,” she argued. “I didn’t think they would be. I was seventeen. I didn’t think a gentleman would ever set mischief upon a lady. That’s what rakes do.”
Even though he was angry with her, she could still amaze him with her boldness. In a softer voice he answered, “Yes, I guess we do it, too.”
“I can’t put my bad behavior off to having had too much brandy to drink or wagering with my friends.”
“I have never tried to excuse what I did, Marlena. Lady Vera and Lady Sara were as innocent as the ladies we sent letters to.”
“I understand that now and I am deeply sorry. Lady Vera told me she was actually accosted by Lord Henry.”
“And you were going to dance with him,” Rath ground out. “I probably should have let you.”
“Justine arranged that dance. And whether or not you believe me I’ve felt remorse since first meeting Lady Vera. No, since first meeting you.” She took in a deep breath that seemed to swallow down a sob. “I had hoped to end the scandal sheet after the first Season, but I kept doing it. For that, I’m sorry.”
Rath sensed she wasn’t telling him everything. What else could she know? What had she left unsaid?
Rath tensed again. “Marlena. You know who started the rumor at White’s, don’t you?”
She swallowed hard.
“Someone at the publishing company. Who? Tell me who they are.”
“So you can throttle them?”
“Hell, yes!” he answered quickly. “You may have been seventeen and naïve, but the men in White’s weren’t. They knew exactly what they were saying and what might happen because of it.” He took hold of her upper arms and looked fiercely into her eyes. “Marlena?”
“I can’t tell you.”
His hands tightened. “You mean you won’t tell me.”
“All right. I won’t.”
“Why? You gave yourself to me this afternoon. You said you love me. That should have meant something to you. Even now you could be in the family way because of what happened between us.”
“I’m not so innocent that I don’t know that, but I also know that it is unlikely after one time together.” Her gaze swept up and down his face. “No matter what else we’ve said to each other, I want you to know I gave myself to you because I’m in love with you.”
“Yes. If what you say is true and you love me, as I believe you do, you’ll tell me who started the rumor so we can put all of this behind us.”
“No,” she said, pulling away from his grasp. “If you can’t put this in the past as it stands now and forgive who started the rumor, you can’t forgive me.”
He let go of her. “That’s not true.” The words were almost a whisper and right now he wasn’t sure they were truthful.
“I’m sorry, Rath. I don’t really know where redemption comes from. Ourselves, others, or a higher place, but this I do know, I won’t betray anyone else. Through Miss Honora Truth’s Weekly Scandal Sheet, I’ve done all the betraying I’m going to do.”
Marlena turned and walked out of the bedroom.