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Slowly he turned to her

“They never found him at all My mother is the one who finally told hted a letter to Paris that I received thisAfter he was dead”

The hurt in his voice, the pain like a boy’s, caught at her throat And Louisa could hold herself back no longer Reaching out, she placed her hand on his back, rubbing his tight , powerful, hunched shoulders “Why did she wait so long to tell you?”

He gave a harsh laugh “To hurt me, I suppose,” he said “She doesn’t know that it’s iain—not by her or anyone”

The bleakness of his tone belied his words

“But surely,” Louisa persisted, “your mother loves you—”

His lip curled “She sent e that arrived in Paris today” He held up a gold signet ring “She’d saved it for thirty-seven years, since before I was born Now she sends it to me Nohen it’s too late”

Louisa’s heart turned over in her chest at the pain in his handso his real father had meant to Rafael

“I barely made it to the funeral There were only five ht of asking surviving family members for money Debts are all my father left behind No wife No other children No friends Just debts”

“I’m so sorry,” Louisa whispered, desperate to take the pain out of his eyes, feeling helpless “I’ll contact your guests and tell them the birthday dinner is canceled”

His gaze became hard “Why?”

“Because, because,” she sta”

He shook his head “The dinner party will go on as planned”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this”

He didn’t answer Instead he looked around the beautiful rooht this palace for my father, for when I found hihtened into a fist around the gold ring hanging on a chain “—is this”