A Dangerous Liaison With Detective Lewis Read Online Free PDF

timbre of his voice. “It would best if you retired to your room. I shall make the announcement,” he had said.
    Dormant rage broke loose and caused her body to shake off the memory. “What a sniveling coward youare. You are the worst kind of deceiver, Rafe—one who claims affection even as he withdraws his promise.”
    Rafe swallowed. Apparently it was difficult hearing the truth. “Hard to believe anything could be worse than sniveling coward .” He edged closer. “Fanny, the fact is I couldn’t marry you.”
    “More pretense and evasion, Rafe? Does it never stop? Everyone wanted the marriage. My father loved you like a son. And certainly your family—”
    “Marriage is impossible when one is already married.”
    A chill went through her. The room around her skewed. For a moment, she thought the earth might have tilted on its axis. “You”—she was aware of a faint ringing in her ears—“are married?”
    “I was married.” His gaze never wavered. “For a time.”
    The second her knees wobbled, Rafe rushed to her side and lowered her to a nearby settee. “Can I get you a glass of water?”
    She shook her head. “Was?” The word rushed out in a whisper. “How can there be a was?” Her eyes darted here and there, blindly searching for answers. “Unless you abandoned her as well.”
    “Fanny, you’re rather pale. I think you should take something.”
    “Whiskey.” Her voice sounded shallow, disembodied. Slumped in a stupor, she watched him pour the Talisker’s.
    “She died six months after I weaseled out of our betrothal.” Amber liquid sloshed about as he held out a tumbler.
    “Poor girl.” Numbly, she accepted the glass. “I don’tsuppose you could have told me you loved another?” Rallying a bit, Fanny tried for something brave and cutting. “Tell me, Rafe, did she die of heartbreak?”
    He stared at her for a long time. “Many times I wished to confide in you, Fanny, about my loss as well as my shame.” Rafe tossed back his whiskey. “Should I have told you everything from the start—involve you in my disgrace? To what purpose, Fan? Truth is highly overrated when it comes to scandal. You have to let the murmurs and whispers run their course.”
    Tipping her glass, she inhaled the scent of burnt oak and took a sip. The smoky spirit laid a soft blanket of fire down her throat. “Years ago, you stole my heart, and now I shall never get it back.”
    There it was—the real tragedy in this whole affair. That she might never be able to trust again, wholly. She hiccupped. Drat. Now there would be a series of them. Fanny gazed at a wall of family portraits, their customary stares colder than usual. She refused to cry in front of him. “I’d like to be left alone.”
    “The past is done, Fanny. And for that matter, what could I possibly offer now to set things right between us? It seems quite impossible, and I honestly don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
    Once more, Raphael Lewis attempted to muddle the issue. Perhaps the shock was too great, but she couldn’t bear to hear anything more from the man. She lifted her gaze to his. “I want you gone from my house this instant. Get out, Rafe.”
    “I’m afraid you will have to put up with me, like it orno.” A kind of husky burr had crept back into his speech. “I will not bargain when it comes to your life, Fanny. If you do not cooperate with Scotland Yard, you’ll be jailed for your own safety.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t.” She couldn’t decide whether a grin or a grimace rode above that determined chin of his.
    “I most certainly can. And I will.”
    How was this happening? Her small world had suddenly become too much to bear. Even as she grieved for her father, she was supposed to live in close proximity to this . . . reprobate, who claimed to be her protector.
    Fanny sucked in a breath and exhaled. “Everything you’ve just told me is—” She hardly knew where to begin or what to say. “This worry for my