The Handmaiden's Necklace. Kat Martin

hadn’t in days, and a pair of sparrows sat on the branch of a sycamore tree beside the house.

      He turned back to his friends. “Danielle has given up her home, been forced to leave her own country to try to find some kind of happiness for herself. She has sailed thousands of miles to escape the terrible things that were said about her—none of which were true—and the fault is entirely mine.”

      Grace reached over and touched his arm. “That is not so. Your actions undoubtedly played a part, but Oliver Randall is the man responsible. He planned to end your betrothal to Danielle and destroy your feelings for each other—and he succeeded.”

      Rafe’s hand unconsciously fisted. “Randall accomplished exactly what he set out to do. He destroyed any chance for happiness Danielle and I might have had. Unless, of course, she finds some measure of contentment with the man she intends to marry.”

      Grace’s fingers pulled on the sleeve of his coat. “Are you willing to take that chance, Rafael?”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “Danielle’s marriage might make her life even more unhappy than it’s been for the past five years. Are you willing to take that risk?”

      His chest tightened. The thought had occurred to him more than once in the past few days. He remembered the Dani he had fallen in love with, so sweet and innocent yet filled with such passionate fire.

      Who was this man she intended to marry? Did she love him? Would he take care of her, treat her the way she deserved?

      Ethan’s voice filled the silence that had fallen in the study. “Grace believes there is yet a chance for you and Danielle—if you are brave enough to take it. My wife believes that you are still in love with the woman. She is convinced that you’ve never stopped loving her. She believes you should go after her and bring her home.”

      Rafe cast a hard look at Grace. “I realize you have always been an incurable romantic, sweeting, but this time I think you may have gone completely over the mark. Dani is marrying another man. She is probably in love with him. And I… I am betrothed to Mary Rose.”

      “Are you still in love with Danielle?” Grace pressed.

      Rafe took a steadying breath. Was he still in love with Dani? It was a question he had never allowed himself to ask. “It’s been five years, Grace. I don’t even know the lady anymore.”

      “You have to find out, Rafael. You have to go after her. You have to discover if you still love her—and if she still loves you.”

      Rafe snorted. “The woman loathes the very sight of me.”

      “Perhaps she does. Perhaps she only thinks she does. Once I convinced myself that I hated Ethan. I blamed him for everything that had happened to me. But the day he showed up on my doorstep, I realized that the feelings I once held for him were still there, hovering just below the surface. At the time, I wished it weren’t so. Now…”

      She turned, slid her arms around her husband’s waist and leaned into his embrace. “Now I am only grateful that he came for me, grateful that he has come to love me the way I love him, grateful for the son he has given me.”

      Ethan bent his dark head and pressed his lips against his wife’s auburn curls.

      “What about Mary Rose?” Rafe asked. “We are betrothed, in case you have forgot.”

      “You don’t love her,” Ethan answered, surprising him. “And I don’t believe she loves you. I don’t think you want her to.”

      No, he didn’t want Mary Rose to love him. Because he knew he could never return that love.

      “Ask her to wait,” Grace urged. “Surely a little more time before the wedding wouldn’t be too much to ask.”

      Rafe made no reply. His chest was squeezing. The questions Grace posed had been hovering at the edge of his mind since McPhee had discovered the truth about that night. The list had only grown since the duel. They were questions that needed to be answered.

      There were words that needed to be spoken, a past that needed to be resolved.

      “I’ll think about what you’ve both said. I want you and Ethan to know that no matter what happens, I appreciate your friendship. You will never know how much.”

      Grace’s pretty eyes filled with tears. “We just want you to be happy.”

      Rafe only nodded. He had given up that hope five years ago. Now, hearing his best friend’s words, the thought burned inside him again. Was it possible? He didn’t know, but he knew he had to find out.

      Tomorrow morning, he would book passage for himself on a ship bound for America.

      “If you decide to go,” Ethan said as if he had read Rafe’s mind, “Belford Shipping has a vessel sailing for America three days hence. The owner’s cabin is yours. The Triumph can sail you straight up the Delaware River to Philadelphia, and she’s a fast ship, Rafael. With good weather, she’ll cut at least a week off the time Danielle has ahead of you.”

      Rafe looked up at him. Inside his chest, his heart was squeezing as if it were locked in a fist.

      “Make the arrangements” was all he said.

      Six

      Needing a moment alone, Danielle stood at the window, staring into the darkness of the city they had reached just two weeks ago. Tonight she and her aunt were attending a small house party being given by close friends of Richard’s in honor of their engagement. It seemed there were always more people to meet, and though they were friendly, sometimes it was a bit overwhelming.

      Dani gazed into the quiet outside the house. With its narrow cobbled streets and redbrick buildings, tall white church steeples and large, open green parks, Philadelphia was charming, if nothing at all like London.

      Though America and England had once been connected, it was as if the American colonists had done everything in their power to carve out a new identity all their own. Their speech was less clipped, less formal. Their clothes followed English fashion, yet, with the distance between the two countries, even the most lavish costumes seemed slightly out of vogue.

      Still, the people here had a strong, rugged independence that Danielle admired and respected. They were their own people, these Americans. She had never met anyone quite like them.

      Danielle turned away from the window and walked over to join her aunt, who stood next to the cut-crystal punch bowl. During the two weeks since her arrival, Dani had settled comfortably into the narrow brick row house Aunt Flora had let for her stay in America. At present, Dani and Caro resided there with her in the charming, colonial-style home.

      After Dani’s wedding, three weeks hence, she and Caro would move into Richard’s home on Society Hill, and once they were settled, Aunt Flora would return to England, accompanied by a companion she hired for the journey.

      Dani would remain with her husband in Philadelphia, a completely new and different world. She was grateful Caro would be staying, as well.

      She took a sip from the cup of punch Aunt Flora slid into her hand.

      “Here comes Richard,” her aunt whispered, smiling at the blond man who approached from across the parlor, what the Americans called a drawing room. “He is certainly a handsome man.”

      She cast Danielle a sideways glance, trying to read her emotions where Richard was concerned, but Dani kept her features carefully blank.

      She liked Richard Clemens enough to accept his proposal, but she wasn’t in love with him. And she didn’t think Richard was more than moderately enamored of her. He was a successful, practical man who needed a wife to replace the one who had died in childbirth and a mother for his two children. Over time, Dani hoped, their affection would grow deeper.

      “Ah, Danielle—there you are.” He smiled and she returned it.

      “I