“Is?” she prompted.
“That a small part of you is uncertain about the depth of my commitment. That you wonder if perhaps I’d want you to bear my child only to satisfy the terms of my father’s will.”
“Oh, Pierce.” Daphne wrapped her arms about his waist. “Is that what you assumed? For a brilliant man, you’re a bloody fool. I’ve never doubted your feelings. Lord knows, I perceived them long before you spoke them aloud. Nor have I given that absurd codicil a second thought since you told me of its existence. Doubt had nothing to do with my decision.”
“Then why?”
“You were in torment,” she said in a broken whisper. “The choice you were contemplating was tearing you apart. If I told you about the babe, you would have abandoned the bandit’s cause posthaste, whether or not you truly chose to. I couldn’t live with myself if you did that. So I waited, hoping you would share your secret with me, praying you’d make a decision that would grant you peace.” A tremulous smile hovered about her lips. “The instant you did, I sang out my news, not only for your sake, but for my own.” She leaned up, brushed her lips to his. “I know exactly how much you want this child—and why. I want it just as much.” Her voice faltered. “I love you so.”
“Without you,” he shuddered, enfolding her in his arms, “I have nothing.”
“You have me. Always. As I have you.” Tears shimmered in Daphne’s eyes. “We’ll surrender our hearts—and our secrets.”
“Have you others I don’t know of?”
The wariness of his tone made her laugh. “None.” She inclined her head. “Have you?”
Surprisingly, he hesitated. “Not a secret,” he replied at length. “A suspicion. And an issue I have yet to discuss with you.”
Daphne’s teasing vanished. “What is it?”
“First I want you to sit down. Not because the subject will upset you,” he added hastily, “but because I want you to rest.” He traced the pale contours of her cheeks. “Between the intensity of our talk and, prior to that, our unexpected, exhilarating liaison on the desk,” his eyes twinkled when she blushed, “I’ve overtaxed your strength.”
“Very well.” Daphne pulled back a chair and sat. “Now tell me what this is about.”
He regarded her thoughtfully. “Has your mother ever made reference to her past? Before she married your father, that is.”
Whatever Daphne had expected, it wasn’t this. “My mother? I don’t understand.”
“Did she ever mention that there had been another man in her life? Someone she cared for? Someone important?”
Memory struck Daphne with the impact of a blow. “As a matter of fact, yes. Not directly, but in a roundabout manner. “I was the morning I told her of your proposal. She urged me to follow my heart. Her implication was that she hadn’t, but wished she had. Why do you ask?”
“Because I believe I know to whom her heart belonged—still belongs,” Pierce amended. “You would, too, were you not so close to the situation.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Chambers.” Seeing Daphne’s eyes widen, Pierce pressed on. “Think about it, Snow flame. The caring that exists between them; the terribly protective way he looks out for her, hurts for her pain. And the ring.” He gestured toward Daphne’s hand. “When he wed us, he mentioned how significant that particular ring was to him.”
“At which point Mama began to cry,” Daphne mused aloud, realization dawning in her eyes. “Yes, it makes sense. He’s known Mama since childhood, worries incessantly about my father’s inexcusable brutality—toward me, yes, but most especially toward Mama. And the way they looked at each other in the church. I thought at the time it was merely friendship, but it was more.” She gazed wonderingly up at Pierce. “What made you guess?”
“As I said, I’m more objective than you. Snatches of phrases, chance innuendos.” A corner of his mouth lifted. “And those infallible instincts of mine.”
Daphne didn’t return the smile. Lost in thought, she rubbed pleats of her gown between her fingers. “This is dreadful. Not only were they denied their love once, lord only knows why, but they can still never be together, not even now that we’ve wrested Mama from Father’s brutality.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Wrong?” She started. “Mama is Father’s chattel, you know that, Pierce. How on earth can she extricate herself from that? Not to mention that she’s far too moral to carry on an illicit affair. As is the vicar, who’s the most honorable of men.”
“That’s where the issue I mentioned comes in.”
“I’m totally at sea.”
Pierce folded his arms across his chest. “I’m working with Hollingsby and a barrister who I’m told is an expert in matters such as these. I intend to help your mother secure a legal divorce.”
“A divorce.” Daphne repeated the words as if they were foreign. “Does Mama know you’re doing this?”
“Of course. I have her full cooperation, and the vicar’s as well.”