Because I love you. Because you asked it of me. He shrugged. “I appreciate a well-executed dodge. For the estates this child will inherit, and if it’s a boy for the titles as well. And it certainly wasn’t a hardship to have you in my bed. But I’ve served my purpose. It’s time for our association to come to an end.”

Her brow wrinkled as though she could sense that he was distancing himself, building a wall around his heart. He hadn’t expected it to go up so quickly.

But he’d come to understand that they could not continue as they had been: living in a narrow world that only encompassed the two of them, keeping to the shadows. While he thrived in them, it was no life for her. She deserved nights at the theater, waltzing in glittering ballrooms, drives through the park with a man beside her who brought her pride. Not one who catered in sin.

He finally understood why Finn had risked so much for Lavinia, had dared to love a girl who could bring him naught but heartache. For as bitter as the pain was, there was a sweetness to it as well in knowing that he was capable of such depth of emotion. Yet he knew he would never feel for another what he felt for Lena. And because of how much she meant to him, he knew he had to let her go now, before she was swelling with a bairn he could never publicly acknowledge. Each passing night would only make it more difficult to do what must be done for the good of all: walk out of her life.

“No.” She cradled his jaw. “We agreed to continue to see each other.”

“Are you going to march down the stairs without wearing a mask? Are you going to stroll through the gaming floor at my side with your features on display for all to see?”

“Well, no, of course not. I’m not even two months a widow yet. I can’t have people thinking I turned to you within days of my husband’s death. But perhaps in two or three years—”

Always there would be a dishonesty to their public relationship, a hiding of the truth. Always he would need to protect her and his child from gossipmongers. Holding her hand against his jaw, he turned his face into it and pressed a kiss against the palm that had caressed him so lovingly and would never do so again. “It’s been fun, sweetheart, but we both knew it was only for a short time, and that added to the thrill. From experience I know boredom is a mere short distance away. You were fooling yourself if you thought otherwise.”