Page 77 of An Inconvenient Duke

“No! You’ve already been hurt too much.” Dani brushed her fingertips over the music box on her lap as grief rose inside her. “You shouldn’t have to be exposed to that ever again.”

“Icanhelp,” her aunt persisted, undaunted, “with you and Marcus.”

Her shoulders sank in defeat. There was no help for the problem between them.

“Whatever spats you two have had, I’m certain that it can all be worked out. You just need to do what all women do—realize that it’s ultimately the man’s fault and find a way to forgive him.” She took Dani’s hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly. “And never stop loving him.”

“No,” Dani admitted, finally accepting the truth. “It’s no one’s fault.”

She wanted to save the women, and Marcus wanted to protect her. But in the end, what he was offering was still an ultimatum.

“Listen to me, my dear.” With a reassuring touch, Harriett brushed the mussed curls off Dani’s forehead. “I made a terrible mistake when I married Bromley. We didn’t love each other, but my parents pressed for the match. He was conservative and terribly old-fashioned, and they thought his influence on me would keep me from being so capricious and spirited. Always dashing ahead without looking—without caring, if truth be told—because the journey was so much fun. And it worked. His control over my life stopped me from being so impulsive.” Her faint smile at her youthful antics faded, and she frowned with distraction at the memory, her fingers stilling at Dani’s temple. “And his fists took care of the rest.”

Dani wrapped her arms around her aunt. This was why she’d never wanted to tell Harriett about the network. Some memories were best left forgotten.

“I married a man whom I knew was completely wrong for me,” Harriett told her, “and I suffered because of it. I don’t want the same for you.”

“That won’t happen to me.” She prayed the resolve in her voice hid the hopelessness engulfing her. “I won’t marry unless I have love.”

“It seems to me that you won’t marry even when you do.” Aggravation was beginning to replace the sadness in her aunt’s voice. “Marcus Braddock loves you, Danielle.”

That soft accusation ached. “Love isn’t enough.”

“No.” Harriett shifted back, and the look of concern on her aunt’s face pierced her. “It’severything.”

“Not everything.” Dani stared down at the music box. She brushed her hand over the splintered edge, and a shard of wood scratched across her fingertip. “Not when I have to give up my work to be with him.”

“I am having a very difficult time faulting a man who wants to keep my niece safe.” She paused, and when she continued, she gave voice to the doubts swirling in Dani’s head. And heart. “Perhaps he is correct. Perhaps it is time that you stopped the vanishings.”

So many times she’d wished for exactly that! To be able to stop taking risks, both for herself and the women who helped her, to lift the burden from her shoulders—

How?Howdid she simply walk away from it all? She’d been doing this for so long now that she simply didn’t know how to stop.

“I wish…” The anguished confession tore from her. “I wish I could, but…I can’t. I can’t abandon those women.” Or all that Elise had sacrificed.

“No, darling, not abandon them, but do as Marcus suggested. Turn your efforts and the work of the network into a force for change in Parliament and the courts.”

If only it were that easy! “What you’re suggesting will take years to enact—if it ever happens at all. Those women don’t have that kind of time.” Her mind turned to the twelve-year-old girl who had been forced into the brothel, who was even now waiting to be raped by a man who was wealthy and powerful enough to pay for the privilege… A frustrated sob tore from her. “They don’t have any time at all.”

“Then you had better get started.” The resilient and defiant woman Dani loved came through strong and clear in her aunt’s voice. “Bring their stories into the light and give them a voice. By advocating in Westminster, you can speak for them and speak to them. I can’t help but think how different it would have been if I had known that there were people out there fighting for me. Angels and saviors to keep me from losing hope and feeling all alone. Maybe I would have been strong enough to ask for help sooner.”

Wearily, Dani shook her head. “It isn’t that simple.”

“I never said it would be simple.” She took Dani’s chin and lifted her face until she looked at her. “My dear, it will be the fight of your life!”

Harriett clasped her suddenly and tightly to her, so fiercely that she nearly stole away all the air Dani had managed to regain after her tears had stopped.

“And you will win it, I know it.” Harriett’s tearful voice trembled in Dani’s ear. “Just as I know that Marcus will help you, that he will be by your side every step of the way. Oh, Danielle!” A plaintive longing filled her voice. “Let him love you.”

For a long while, Dani didn’t move as thoughts and emotions swirled through her, everything she yearned to possess mixed with grief over all that she would have to surrender. But there were possibilities, too, emerging slowly from the darkness into the light of a new dawn.

Then, exhaling a self-absolving breath, she whispered, “I will.”

As Harriett hugged her, the burden she’d carried for the past four years lightened, the grief eased. It didn’t disappear completely—she didn’t think it ever would. But now it could be borne. Because now there existed hope and opportunities for change, a new war to be waged out in the open. One, if given enough time and support, she might just win.

Harriett released her. She climbed to her feet and helped Dani to hers. The two women embraced one more time before Harriett slipped away toward the door, leaving Dani still holding the music box in her hand.

“I’ll call for a tray of hot chocolate and biscuits for us,” Harriett told her over her shoulder. Her voice was light, yet Dani saw her hand snake up to swipe at her eyes. “And a hot bath for you, with lots of lavender and salts. That always does wonders to soothe away worries.”