At Any Cost by Kate Sparkes

I?”
    He looked down at his hands as he considered the question. “I’ve made many mistakes, and accepted that things were as they had to be. I thought I’d done my part with my children by giving them power and position, and assumed they were better off without me. It’s the way of things in my family. But with you I can imagine more. Things could be different this time.” He cleared his throat and looked up at her. “But it’s you that I want. Not anything or anyone else. If you wish it, I can have my Potioners ensure that you will never have to bear the burden of having my child. It would just be us. Would that be proof enough?” He looked away. “It would probably be better for you.”
    “That wouldn’t be necessary.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But thank you. That does make me feel better.”
    “Why did you come here?”
    She pulled the crumpled gift box from her bag and tossed it onto his lap. “I got a message, and couldn’t tell what it meant.”
    “You could have ignored it.”
    “No. I couldn’t.” She looked into his eyes, searching again. “I don’t know why I came. I don’t know why I can’t stop thinking about you, why I felt I might go insane if I didn’t see you once more and find out how much of what you told me was a lie. My father suspected most of it was. I thought perhaps there was more to it.” She stood and paced the room, taking faint notice of the books lining the walls. Her attention was more on the fact that she could feel him watching every step, taking her in. “Why did you send the gift?”
    He studied her carefully, and Maggie thought warily. As though she might wound him. “I wanted to send you something, but thought you’d reject it,” he said. “I knew she wouldn’t, and that it would be put to good use. Can’t a wealthy man be generous to a stranger?”
    She turned to him. “When one with your reputation does such a thing, it seems suspicious.”
    He stood and stepped closer. Maggie held her ground, skin prickling as the air between them grew heavy. She fought to regain the cool distance she’d armored herself with, but the warmth with which he looked at her melted her defenses. “I needed to get you a message, to let you know I hadn’t forgotten you. To make a peace offering.”
    “An apology?”
    He lowered his chin. “If I chose to do so by giving your friend something she needed, is that so terrible?”
    He stood so close that she could have kissed or slapped him. In that moment she wasn’t sure what she wanted more. His lips parted again, but he didn’t speak. His gaze held hers as surely as his son’s had, but with different effect.
    “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” she whispered. She ran a hand over his chest, pressing hard enough to feel the shape of his body beneath his jacket.
    He placed a hand over hers. “Before you say anything else, let me tell you this. I did not lie to you that night. Unbelievable as all of this is, you’ve captured me. You’ve brought me a measure of happiness I didn’t expect to experience. I wanted you to come here, but I understood when you didn’t join me at the bridge. A small part of me was relieved because I knew you wouldn’t fit here with these people. Bringing you here would have been like caging a wild bird. It would have kept you with me, and it would have brought me joy. It would have changed my life, and I might have found sanctuary from the world in your arms. But do you know what happens when you cage a wild bird?”
    She took a shuddering breath. “It stops singing.”
    He brushed her hair back from her face. “It’s better for you to be free, to find your great purpose in life. It’s not easy for me to say that. On top of whatever else your father may have told you about me, I’m a selfish man. I take what I want. The fact that I’m not going to hold you here should give you an idea of the incredible respect I have for you.” He brushed a finger over her lips,