That crash of water brought him scrambling back to the edge of reason, and he yanked his lips from hers.

His breath came harsh and fast, in time to the rapid rise and fall of her own chest.

Good God, what was this weakness for Lettie Brookfield?

Her ginger lashes fluttered, and a dreamy smile formed on her lips, and it was all he could do to keep from kissing her once more.

He dragged a trembling hand through his hair. “That should not have happened.” Again. It shouldn’t have happened the first time, and it certainly shouldn’t have been repeated.

“I’m glad it did,” she murmured.

He winced, and this time, he did what he should have at the onset.

Grabbing his hat, Anthony jammed it atop his head and jumped up. “Now you know,” he said tightly.

Her gaze still dazed and dreamy, Lettie shook her head.

“The reason you came calling and the question you’ve been asking me since we…reconnected. About my actions toward Rhys.” She’d no longer have a reason to come around, and he could move himself on from whatever this magnetic draw was to her. “As such, I trust this is a final goodbye, my lady.” Anthony bent low at the waist, sketching a formal bow.

He made to go, but she called up to him, stopping him in his tracks, denying him that much-needed escape and the distance he sought to resurrect.

“What reasons did you have for it?”

He stared perplexedly at her.

Lettie came slowly to her feet. “It is just…you said you had ‘reasons’ to believe the young woman’s intentions were dishonest, which indicates you thought you were helping my brother. What reasons did you have for those doubts?”

His mind went blank.

Sowing division within the Brookfield family was the last thing he cared to do, for Rhys or Lettie. The dowager marchioness… Well, she could go to hell. But for the other two, Anthony would gladly keep his silence.

That was, if Lettie would allow him to.

She drifted over, gliding gracefully as if she were in a ballroom and not barefoot at the edge of the Serpentine. “It was my mother,” she murmured. “Wasn’t it?”

He tensed his jaw. “Lettie,” he began.

Except, she was relentless. “She put you up to it, didn’t she?”

He offered only more stony silence.

“She played on your loyalty and friendship with my brother to paint the lady as wicked and to persuade you to sever any hope of a possible marriage between them.”