Helene seemed to fight a battle within herself for some seconds before her shoulders slumped. ‘I have tried, these past months, to be a mother to Lisette, but I simply do not— The tavern is not—’ She gave a shake of her head. ‘She is not happy there, and I am not happy for her to be there either. Not for the reason you suppose, Lisette,’ she added softly as she flinched. ‘You do not belong in such a place; I knew that from the start. I became convinced of it when the Comte took such an interest in you.’
Lisette frowned. ‘If that is true, why did you not simply contact mon père and ask him to take me, rather than go through this elaborate charade to achieve your aim?’
‘Pride,’ Lord Maystone put in gently. ‘I believe, my dear Lisette, that when judging your mother you should also consider my own part in all of this. As far as Helene was concerned, I had abandoned her. She is a proud woman. A strong and independent woman. To have asked me for help now would have been—’ He looked at Helene. ‘It simply could not have been borne.’
‘How can you defend her when she arranged for the kidnapping of your grandson?’ Lisette frowned.
He smiled sadly. ‘I am not defending, only understanding.’
Lisette looked at him with the beginning of a grudging affection; Aubrey Maystone might not have been in love with Helene all those years ago, but he had certainly known her—the woman that she had been and still was.
And Lisette...she could understand Helene’s need, not only for revenge but also for the assistance of the man who had fathered her child twenty years ago.
She understood it, even if she could never have behaved in such a way herself.
‘Helene—’ Lord Maystone spoke again ‘—I promise you I would never have abandoned you, or our daughter, if you had once told me of her existence. I will not abandon you now. Either of you,’ he added firmly before turning to Christian. ‘There will be questions for Helene to answer to the English Crown, but I believe I have enough favours to draw upon to make those questions less...probing than they might otherwise have been. Your brother André was the main conspirator, was he not?’ he prompted Helene.
‘I tried as best I could to continue his work after he was killed,’ Helene stated flatly.
‘Did any of your actions succeed?’ he mused.
She sighed. ‘You know they did not.’
‘You arranged for Christian to be shot!’ Lisette reminded exasperatedly.
‘It was never meant to be a killing shot, Lisette,’ Christian said with certainty. ‘Am I right, madame? You wished only to disable me enough that I must return to England, in the hope I would take Lisette with me?’
Lisette looked round-eyed at her mother. ‘Is this true?’
‘He is far too intelligent, that one,’ Helene muttered.
‘That he is.’ Maystone nodded with satisfaction. ‘I will take it upon myself to explain all to my son and daughter-in-law in regard to the reason Michael was chosen for abduction. After which, I see no reason why Helene should not be allowed to return to Paris. For you to come back to England to visit Lisette occasionally, if that is what you wish. As long as you first make a promise to cease this war against the English Crown,’ he added sternly. ‘And your personal vendetta against me, of course,’ he said with a grimace.
‘And Lisette?’ Helene prompted huskily.
Lord Aubrey Maystone, the man Lisette now knew to be her father, turned to look at her. ‘I believe that must now be for Lisette to decide...’
Lisette looked at the three other people in the room.
Helene, who loved her but was totally incapable of showing that love.
Lord Maystone, who had learned only hours ago that he was her father but already showed a surprising protectiveness towards her, to the extent he had offered himself up to be shot this evening if Helene would only release her.
And Christian.
Christian, of the wicked lavender-coloured eyes.
Christian, of the wicked hands and lips that reduced her to a limp and satiated puddle every time he took her in his arms.
Christian...
A man—the only person here—Lisette knew she could trust completely.
The one she could not bear to be parted from.
A fact she had realised during the hours she had been tied and kept prisoner, when she’d had nothing else to entertain her but her own thoughts. A time when she had realised her heart was breaking at the thought she might never look upon Christian’s handsome face and those wicked lavender-coloured eyes again.
Because she had fallen in love with him.
Was so much in love with him that she had even offered to become his mistress, if he would have her.