Rafael sat back in his seat, feeling as awkward as Pal looked when the big dog couldn’t get his lanky legs to work in unison.
He prided himself on helping those in need, no matter how many legs they had. There had been times he’d failed. Animals had died despite his efforts, and people had made choices other than the ones he’d thought they should. There were also times when comfort was a burden rather than a balm.
Life had taught him all those things, and right now, none of what he’d learned was helping. Willette was right. He was trying to rescue her.
‘I’m sorry, Rafael, and I appreciate your offer, but I don’t need rescuing. Or support.’ She glanced at the window. ‘I simply need a ride home.’
He’d been right about her knocking a man to the ground and stomping on his chest, because he felt crushed, defeated. Yet he still found the ability to nod. ‘Where does your cousin live?’
She gave him an address that he repeated to the footman who had been patiently standing a few feet away from the coach, awaiting instructions.
That was what Rafael was used to, people doing his bidding.
As the coach jolted into motion, the silence between them was heavy, weighed down by his own thoughts as well as the boundaries she’d set that felt as solid as a brick wall of an age-old fortress protecting its occupants from evil-doers.
He’d never thought of himself as selfish, but did one ever? People rarely saw their own faults, and often, when they did, they denied them. Blamed them on others.
That was what he’d been doing to his family. Blaming them for forcing him to find a wife, when he’d been putting it off due to his own selfishness, because he didn’t like being told what to do.
He wondered if true selflessness existed, or if everyone was motivated by their own desires in the end. Maybe his urge to help was another form of seeking control. Everyone wanted control over their own lives. Including Willette, and therein lay her reason for not wanting his help.
Such thoughts continued to tumble through his mind as the coach rattled over cobblestones and eventually rolled to a stop.
He found the courage—yes, courage, because despite the patent impossibility of any relationship between them, he still feared the prospect of never seeing her again—to walk her to the door of a modest terraced house and bid her farewell.
There might come a time when he recalled if either of them had said more than goodbye, but currently, he was too empty to care.
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