Page 60

“No.” Grace squared her shoulders. “I want to save two women just as innocent as them.”

William turned away, worrying a cheroot between his teeth. “Once your subordinates are safe, what are you going to do?”

“I am going to do what is necessary to keep my friends and myself from the gallows.”

He scoffed. “You are not planning on telling me what that is, are you?”

Grace raised a brow. “Would you?”

He threw the cheroot to the ground. “Touché.”

“Does this mean you are going to help me?”

William shrugged. “Your friends will be safe. You have my word.”

“Thank you.” Grace paused in the act of turning away from him. “How are things with your wife?”

The laugh that came from him was hollow and bitter. “As well as expected.”

Grace nodded. “She doesn’t trust you. It is not truly surprising, is it?”

He scoffed. “Why is that?”

“Because you haven’t told her the full truth.”

“She doesn’t need to know my past to have hope for the future.”

“No, but I believe one’s past does inform the future.” Grace found herself repeating Ford’s words. She tipped her chin toward the cottage behind him. “Does she even know about your present?”

William glanced back at the house, then lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “No. But that has nothing to do with her.”

“Perhaps not,” she conceded. “But you can’t expect her to love you when she doesn’t know the real you. You can’t expect her to forgive you for lying when you continue feeding her the lies. She loved you enough to marry you at some point. The only way for her to fully love you is for her to learn the entire truth.”

“What do you know about any of it?” he asked gruffly.

Grace thought about it deep within herself, trying to understand why she sought to give him advice on his love life when her own was nonexistent.

What do I know about any of it?

“Nothing,” she answered honestly.

She was in the same quandary. For the first time in a long time, she felt a glimpse of love—or rather infatuation, passion—however fleeting. And the man she felt those feelings for would never accept her for who she was. She had no choice but to lie to him and avoid him.

William’s situation was not much different. He had lied to the woman he loved, omitting the fact that he was a bastard and a criminal before tricking her into marriage. The moment she found out the truth, she had run off.

The only difference was… William’s wife actually loved him.

And if Grace couldn’t have happiness in her own life, she would love to see her friend achieve it even if he would never call her a friend.

* * *

Ford and Thomas shared quite a few glasses of whisky in a short amount of time, but the poor man seemed defeated.

Thomas had told Ford every detail he could remember. How he awakened on the wet, cold ground, how he ran into the house only to find the three women in a panic. How Grace asked him to take her friends into his house while she left to look for solutions. And finally how she came back an hour ago and took the women away, thanking him profusely and leaving him a few coins for his troubles.

The moment the women left, Thomas dashed to Ford to tell him everything.

Ford started pacing the floor. “How long ago did this happen?”