Galwin reached the Clevelands’ townhouse and bounded up the steps. Bounded. As in he took great leaping strides befitting a young child or a horse.

He was neither.

He was a man in love. If he’d had any doubts before, they had been neatly eradicated by weeks of unceasingly wonderful interactions. Each visit started out the same and as he approached he braced himself for the unspoken battle that was sure to come.

It wasn’t so much a battle as a game now, at least for him. How quickly could he wear away that thick shield of detachment and politeness?

And he always managed to wear her down, with teasing and laughter, or when all else failed, by making her angry.

He lived to make Claire Cleveland angry.

Oh, not in a nasty way. Just enough to rile her, to see her brilliant blue eyes flash with emotion. Just enough to reach beneath that cool exterior to her heated, passionate core.

He held back a groan as he reached the door. He couldn’t let his mind wander to Claire’s passionate core lest he lose what little hold he had over his desire. Lord Almighty, waiting until tomorrow to hold her, kiss her, touch her…it was a keen and particular form of torture.

These last weeks he had held back from any intimacy, not just because there had always been a chaperone nearby, but because he wasn’t entirely certain he could restrain his desires if the temptation grew too great.

As it was, just sitting across from her made him ache with longing. If he kissed her, there was no telling what he might do.

Besides, she wasn’t ready. Not yet. He’d vowed to himself that he wouldn’t touch her again until she wanted him as he wanted her. Not until he’d broken through her defenses for good and made her his wife in more than just name.

Of course, it was a risky gamble. One thing he knew for certain was that she felt this attraction between them. Perhaps he should be using that to his advantage in his quest to win her.

But then, it would be too easy for her to misconstrue this connection between them as nothing more than…what was it she’d said? Natural urges. Yes, she was likely even now trying to tell herself that what she felt for him was the result of these nefarious “natural urges.” And that he could not allow. If he wanted her to see that this could be real between them, she needed to be convinced that it was more than mere lust.

He knocked on the door and waited impatiently to be let in. These visiting hours were the highlight of his days and nights. He could hardly wait until she was his wife and in his life without restraints and chaperones. Until she was his wife every way possibly…including his bed.

The door was thrown open, but rather than facing the friendly smile of Greta, the family maid, or the dour frown of their elderly butler, he found himself face to face with Jed—one of his oldest and closest friends.

Oh dear.

He took a half step back at Jed’s menacing scowl. Galwin still hadn’t spoken to Jed since the day after the ball when it had all been decided and the marriage papers signed.

But then, Davenport had been there that day and had taken charge of the situation as though Claire were his charge and not Jed’s. And in many ways, she likely was. He knew Davenport had contributed mightily to her dowry, and it was his money that had saved Jed from himself as well.

He hadn’t expected his friend to be happy about this sudden marriage between him and his sister, but he hadn’t expected this stony silence either. Every time Jed spotted him with Claire, he gave him a glare before turning back to whatever task was at hand. Once Galwin had attempted to speak to him and the other man had turned away, giving him the cut direct.

Years of friendship and Galwin feared he’d ruined it all with this hasty marriage. But then, it wasn’t all his fault. He’d been trying to do the honorable thing by escorting her back to the party, and by offering for her hand when the rumors swirled.

His mind called up an image of kissing her passionately in the alley, and then later in the darkened room at Davenport’s.

Well, perhaps he hadn’t acted entirely with honorable intent, but for the most part he was the hero here. It was idiots like Swattle who deserved his scorn.

Really, one accusation from that blustering member of the peerage and a woman’s entire reputation was called into question. It hardly seemed fair, and it certainly was not right.

The sad fact of the matter, however, was that any other woman’s reputation might have withstood such a slight. But a Cleveland woman? The family was always one misstep away from scandal, thanks to their father’s flagrant philandering and then Jed’s reckless gambling.

But now, after weeks of silence, Jed seemed ready to talk.

Or at least, he had gone out of his way to glare at him. Surely that was a good sign. Without a word, Jed jerked his head for Galwin to follow him into the house. He led the way down the familiar halls until he reached the study door. Holding the door open, he gestured for Galwin to enter, and Galwin didn’t dare deny him lest he lose a chance at remedying this friendship forever.

Still, he couldn’t help but cast a longing look toward the drawing room where he knew Claire waited for him. Maybe today would be the day she relented. Perhaps today she would greet him with a genuine smile, the one that lit her eyes from within.

Perhaps today she might be willing to admit that she cared for him.

He sighed as he turned into the room. A man could hope.

Jed fell into the seat across the desk and the silence grew ominous. Jed’s scowl never lifted and the air was charged with a tension that had never existed between them before.

The tension saddened him, of course it did. This was his oldest and dearest friend. He’d never intended to hurt him or his sister. But the fact of the matter was, he couldn’t regret anything that had happened, not when it meant he’d gotten lucky and found the woman of his heart.

Marriage was gambling at its finest. One picked a woman and hoped for the best. If one was very lucky, a connection was forged and the couple grew together in love. Only the luckiest of the lucky found love straight away. He’d never expected to win at this game, and he had. He’d found a woman he adored and who he had to hope loved him in return—or, if she didn’t now, that she would.

No, he had won the love lottery and there was no way he could regret anything that led to his current position, even if it was difficult for Jed to understand.

Jed finally spoke and his voice was close to a growl. “You are not good enough for her, Galwin. You know that, do you not?”

He nodded quickly. “Of course I do.”

Jed’s nostrils flared in a way Galwin knew well. It was one of his tells and right now it told him that Jed had been looking for a fight. He had hoped to insult him, but really what he’d said was a simple fact.

“I know I do not deserve her,” he said quietly. “Claire is sweet, and good, and pure, and beautiful…” He trailed off with a shrug. “If I could go back and change my past to make myself more deserving somehow, I would.”

That was the truth. His parents and his brother would laugh if they heard it, but it was true. After all these years of listening to their lectures on honor and good behavior, he had finally learned to change his ways—not for the sake of the family or their reputation, but because he’d found a woman who deserved a partner who could make her proud, and nothing about his rakish ways would make any woman proud. Though he meant to change all that.

Jed was staring at him, not entirely convinced, apparently. “I don’t know what happened between you and Claire the night of Davenport’s ball. She won’t talk about it. All I know is that the two of you were seen in the shrubbery together.” His friend’s brow furrowed in obvious confusion. “A charge like that seems fitting for you. But Claire? I cannot believe she went with you willingly.”

Galwin’s jaw dropped open and he scrambled to his feet. “Are you suggesting I forced myself on your sister in some way?”

Jed stood as well. “Don’t be stupid. I know you better than that.”

Galwin despised Jed’s knowing tone and his judgmental gaze. “And by that you mean…”

“You seduced her.”

Air rushed out of Galwin’s chest. His friend might as well have punched him in the gut. Winded physically, his mind spun with all the ways he could respond. Outrage wouldn’t be out of order. He should be angry, he should be hurt…and he was. He was all of those things. But the worst part was, he was guilty.

Claire was his best friend’s sister and he’d kissed her. No, kiss was an understatement. He’d held her and touched her. He’d desired her more than any woman he’d ever met and he’d done nothing to hide it.

“I didn’t set out to seduce her,” he said. But even as he spoke he flinched at the memory of her in his arms. A sweet, precious memory that had suddenly been recast as something torrid.

Perhaps he should have done more to keep his distance. Maybe he ought to have sent her straight home and told everyone she’d left because she was ill. There must have been countless ways he could have better handled the situation the other night. All of which would not end with her as his bride-to-be.

It was with more than an ounce of shame that he had to admit the truth. Guilty as he might be, he still didn’t regret a moment of it.

But Claire did. What would she say if she had the chance to turn back the clock and do it all over again?

Would she too say that she had no regrets because it meant she would be his bride?

Doubtful.

The realization stole his anger and left him empty. He’d like to think he’d been making great strides toward winning her heart these past weeks, but had he really? Or was she just making the best of a bad situation?

But if he had found love, didn’t that necessarily imply that she felt the same? Or that she would someday?

Oh blast. At moments like this he wished he had a sister to confide in. Unfortunately, his sisters were much older than him and had little interest in befriending the little hellion in the house. But what he would not give for a female in his life who was most decidedly not his stubborn, marriage-minded mother and who could help him to decipher the deeper intricacies that came with falling in love.

Like, how exactly did one know if it was reciprocated love or if it was that unrequited varietal he’d heard so much about in poetry.

Jed was still glowering at him, waiting for him to continue with his denial but he found he could not. His head was too full of questions to focus on Jed at the moment.

“Whether you intended to or not does not matter, now does it?” Jed finally said, sinking back into his seat with a weary resignation. “All that matters now is that your careless actions have led to my sister—my pure, kind, untouched sister—being forced to marry or be ruined.”

Jed was shaking his head, his gaze filled with judgmental criticisms that might have been humorous coming from him if they didn’t rankle so.

After all, the only reason he’d been in that alley in the first place was because he’d been trying to help Jed get himself out of yet another mess. True, Jed’s vices had typically fallen in the realm of gambling rather than seduction, like Galwin, but if anyone should know the overblown nature of devilish reputations it was Jed.

Both of their families had suffered from scandal thanks to their fathers, and both gentlemen had suffered from personal scandal as well. He and Jed had always had scandal in common, but now when that dastardly reputation might harm Claire it was a whole other story.

Galwin wearily rubbed at his brow as he thought of Claire with her sparkling gaze and her subtle yet delicious wit. Could he really blame Jed for wanting more for her than to be saddled with a known rake for a groom?

Hell, even though he wanted her as his own, for her sake he wished she had her pick of men. Only in his most selfless moments could he summon up that feeling, but it was there. She deserved a man free from scandal after suffering in the wake of her father and then her brother’s poor decisions.

And now she’d be saddled with his past on top of it all. It wasn’t fair, yet Galwin saw no other way out of it.

Apparently Jed had, however. Leaning over the desk, his fair-haired friend resembled a righteous angel as he pleaded with him. “Let her go, Galwin. She’s not the woman for you and Lord knows she deserves a chance at true happiness for once.”

Galwin stared at his friend. He shouldn’t be so hurt by the words. His friend was merely looking out for Claire, and for that he could be grateful. She’s not the woman for you. Those words coming from this man who knew him so well, better than most, they gave him pause and made him doubt.

For that he grew angry, hurt pride mingling with resentment that his friend had judged and found him lacking.

“There may be a way out of this,” Jed said, his gaze wary as though Galwin might jump across the desk and strike him.

To be fair, he was battling an urge to do just that. His best friend felt Claire deserved more than him. Was this fate’s way of telling him he had gotten it all wrong? Maybe it was too late to change his colors, too late to begin anew.

Maybe he had already set his course and someone as good as Claire would never be for him.

These were thoughts he wanted to dismiss. He wasn’t that old, for heaven’s sake. He could still change. The term reformed rake had not been invented for nothing. It had happened before, so why not to him?

Love conquered all, wasn’t that what they said? There was no more transformative power than love. He’d heard all these trite sayings before but never given them much credence. Likely because they were trite sayings. But now they seemed to be absolute truth.

But Jed’s judgmental gaze made him consider a different perspective. Perhaps Claire could transform him into the man he wanted to be. But what could he do for her? What did she want out of life that he could give?

Perhaps real love meant thinking about what he could do for her rather than how she could save him.

The thought was jarring and he found himself staring at Jed without seeing him. Not until his friend continued speaking. “Lord Swattle has financial difficulties.”

Galwin’s eyes focused on his friend and he narrowed his gaze as the words registered. “Pardon?”

Jed cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. “I know the baron from the gaming hells.” His friend’s gaze dropped to the desktop as he fidgeted with some papers. “He and I move in the same circles. I despise the man, of course, but we have common acquaintances.”

Galwin’s body stilled as his heart rate increased. He had an idea where this was going and everything in him wanted to storm out of there like a child, refusing to hear the words that might mar his happiness with the woman he loved. But he found himself sitting there silently because he owed it to Jed.

He owed it to Claire.

If there was another way to save her reputation she ought to know about it, at the very least. She deserved to have a choice.

“I grew suspicious of the baron when he suddenly took an interest in Claire at the precise moment it became known that her dowry had increased,” he said. “I asked around and sure enough, the baron needs money.” His lips turned down in another frown. “Badly.”

“I see,” he said slowly. And he did see. Everyone knew the baron had been the one to make claims about them coming out of the garden together. No one else had come forward to support these charges, so it was his word against theirs.

If he could be persuaded to change his story—by say, Galwin’s father, the duke, and the Earl of Davenport—it might be believed that he had acted out of jealousy. It would not restore Claire’s reputation entirely, but she would not be completely ruined either.

Not if he and her family swore to it that the baron had been a jealous, jilted suitor and he had proposed to save her reputation. Hell, he could really sell the story by playing up his devilish reputation and say that he had seized the opportunity to force her into marriage. He could spin a tale about his selfish ardent love that would make the women of the ton swoon, turning their failed engagement into some sort of epic love story.

An unrequited love story.

He could see it all as he sat there before Jed’s censorious stare. It was clear to him how it could and would unfold, if they played their cards right. He’d spent a lifetime learning how to drop innuendos and how to woo women with words. He could make them believe his story even if it wasn’t true.

But the sad fact was, there was more truth to it than he cared to admit.

Jed seemed to be waiting for an answer. Pushing his chair away from the desk he came to stand. “I need to discuss this with Claire.”

Jed nodded but his eyes were still filled with judgement. “Do not let her fool you, Galwin. My sister has been raised to do what is expected of her, but she deserves more.”

Galwin nodded as he headed toward the door. Jed was right, and he knew it better than anyone. He’d known since that fateful night what it was that Claire truly wanted, and it wasn’t him.

What she wanted was freedom.

And now there was a chance he could give that to her, but at what cost?

He knew the answer by the pain in his chest. He could give her that freedom at the cost of losing his heart.