in4 by The Prince Of Pleasure

Author:The Prince Of Pleasure
Language: eng
Format: epub

Can you possibly care? she thought defiantly.

Your grandfather s allegations caused such a scandal for me that I could no longer show my face in public without creating a scene. I was branded a treacherous whore even by my friends. Anger drove her to continue. I might have borne it, perhaps, but Maman was devastated. I left town, hoping to spare her. But the income from the shop wouldn t fully support her And then her disease grew worse. She needed constant care and relief from the pain. So I took a protector to pay her bills.

A protector? Dare s voice was a low rasp.

Remembering, Julienne swallowed hard, fighting a sudden rush of ancient grief. I had no choice. I was all Maman had.

His expression unreadable, Dare rose up on one elbow to stare down at her.

His image swam before her eyes, shimmering with the firelight and her foolish tears. She dashed them away furiously. She would not fall victim to self-pity. And she would not countenance his suspicions.

I sold my body, Dare, but not my loyalty to this country.

At his intense scrutiny, she looked away, trying to hold fast to her anger; it was her sole defense against him. I am not for sale! Not inside my soul. And I am not a traitor.

Dare remained silent, recalling when he had first met Julienne, how she had shielded her mother with all the fierceness of a lioness protecting her cub. She had sacrificed far more than most daughters would have, selling her body to sustain her mother s final days. He felt a fierce stab of guilt that she had been brought so low Grimly Dare caught himself. He shouldn t feel guilt over what had become of Julienne. If she had never betrayed him with her lover, her mother would have been well cared for.

He would have seen to it, even if they hadn t wed. But Julienne never had even given him the chance to make the offer.

It hurts that you believed your grandfather s lies, she said after a moment.

I hurt, too, he thought. You cut out my heart. But he d known those particular accusations of the old man s were lies. And he knew Julienne was still enraged by it. He could see the fire in her eyes a long-burning, powerful anger amid the pain.

I never believed my grandfather s accusations of treason, he said quietly.

But you do think me capable of it now.

Dare bit back a sigh. I admit when I first saw you with Riddingham, I wanted you to be guilty. I was still bitter about your betrayal seven years ago.

And he would never shake that bitterness, Dare reflected, feeling an ache in his chest at what they had lost. He lifted a loose curl from her cheek, brushing it against his lips and inhaling the sweet scent.

This was part of his shattered dream, holding Julienne in his arms, feeling her luscious warmth against him, the silkiness of her skin beneath his hands He had hungered for this closeness, this intimacy he had known only with her.

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