“A secret?” he asked, arching a brow. “Now, I must know.”
“Only if you tell me one of your secrets.”
“All right. You go first.”
Juliet adjusted herself. “When I was younger, that’s where I’d go to escape from my brothers and sisters.”
“Is that all? That doesn’t sound like a secret.”
She frowned. “Considering that I didn’t own the cottage, and would just go in and make myself at home whenever I felt like it without the owner’s permission, I’d say it is a rather large secret, thank you.”
He chuckled. “All right, I see your point. But just so you know, Mr. Sayas, the current owner of that cottage, might be upset if you were to go there unannounced now. Especially if you planned to drink his tea and take a nap in his bed.”
She swatted at him playfully. “I know that. I only went because it was vacant and abandoned. If someone had been living there, I wouldn’t have gone. Now tell me your secret.”
“Hmm, I don’t know that I have one,” he said slowly. “At least none as interesting as yours, I’d not pinned you for a trespasser, Juliet.”
“Oh, leave off, will you?”
“All right,” he said with a smile. He racked his brain. He didn’t have any secrets, at least none that anyone would care about anyway. “My mother died from pneumonia.”
“Pardon?”
He shrugged. “Most people think my mother died giving birth to me, but she didn’t. She died of pneumonia a fortnight after I was born.”
“Oh.”
“See, nothing near as interesting as the secret you told me,” he said, squeezing her.
A minute or two passed with nothing but the sound of horse hoofs and carriage wheels breaking the silence. “What of your father.”
He involuntarily twisted his lips. “He took his life a week after my third birthday.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Drake. I shouldn’t have asked.”
He waved her off. “It’s all right. The topic was bound to come up sometime.”
She ran one of her slender fingers along the edge of his waistcoat. “Do you remember him?”
“Not really.” He blinked. “Actually, I only have one memory of him. He was unhappy about something and yelled for my nurse to get me out of his sight.”
“How terrible.” She pressed a kiss to his chest, branding his skin through the layer of fabric. “Did you get along with your uncle?”
He snorted. “No. He made it a habit of depositing funds into the wrong accounts. When I was thirteen, the schoolmaster at Harrow called me into his office to inform me I was being dismissed from school for lack of payment. When I returned to Briar Creek, I saw the account books and realized my uncle had been stealing from the viscountcy. That’s when I started acting as viscount. It was no longer just a title I held that would one day become my responsibility. That distant day in the future had arrived sooner than expected and it was time to assume my responsibility.”
“But you were just a boy.”
“Perhaps to some, yes, but that didn’t matter. There was a duty to the viscountcy and it was my responsibility to make sure it was done.”
“Do you resent your father?”
“No. Why?”
She sat up. “If he hadn’t killed himself, you wouldn’t have been forced to forfeit your boyhood for the sake of a responsibility far beyond your years.”
He tipped one shoulder up in a lopsided shrug. “That may be, but I also wouldn’t have the life I have now, filled with the people who mean the most to me.” He pulled her onto his lap. “See, if not for my responsibility to the viscountcy, I wouldn’t have been riding to Ridge Water the day of Marcus’ accident. But as it would happen, I needed to go see the late Lord Sinclair about drainage ditches that day. Before then, I had very few friends or acquaintances, and now I have three close friends who I would have never met otherwise.”
Juliet nodded. “You also have your daughters because of it.”
“Yes, I do,” he agreed. Part of the reason he married Abigail so young was the pressing reminder he needed to sire an heir. Now, that didn’t matter. His uncle was dead, and, fortunately, the cousin who’d inherit upon Patrick’s death was an honest sort. “You know what else I gained out of the bargain?”
“Hmm?”
“You.”
Juliet blushed. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do,” he countered, leaning in to kiss her. “I think everything happens for a reason, Juliet. I may not understand the reason yet, but I’m glad it led me to you, nonetheless.”