“Did he do that to Kelsey? Did he—” Keith couldn’t finish the thought. He feared he would vomit if Lydia answered in the affirmative.
“No. He didn’t molest her, but he abused her. I heard the things he said the first few years after you left. I didn’t understand all of it, and Kelsey swore me to secrecy. I told her my father could protect her, but she insisted a baronet was no match for a duke. She feared your father would kill my whole family and me. Those were childhood fears, but he confirmed them by what we read in your mother’s diaries.” Lydia rose and came to stand before Keith. She didn’t touch him, uncertain what he wanted. But she continued to tell what she dared. “He was livid when she refused Windsor-Clive. The night he requested her hand, Kelsey refused. She answered for her father. He struck her, and I saw it. I didn’t fear your father once I grew old enough to understand his nature. He might have thought me little more than a savage, but the rest of thetonknows my lineage. I threatened to tell everyone what I saw. He let me take her away, but he exacted his revenge that night. He beat her so badly she couldn’t have any visitors for a week. He claimed she had the ague, but we were already adept at sneaking in and out of anywhere we went. I saw her in your family’s Mayfair townhouse each night.”
Lydia closed her eyes as memories danced before her eyes. Her head fell forward as she fought the threatening tears. She didn’t want to become a watering pot. She wanted to finish what she had to say while she could.
“Once back here, he began beating her for no reason other than he enjoyed it. After that first time in London, he made sure he never left a mark people could see while she was dressed. But I saw it. She showed me.” Lydia drew in a whistling breath. “It was worse than I knew, Keith. There were things she never told me. He tortured her. I learned about it from her diary.”
“What do you mean?” His voice cracked as he asked a question to which he only partly wanted to know the answer.
“He would deprive her of food, have her locked in the cellar for hours, he would make her crawl before the servants, and he tied her to her bed at night.” Lydia stopped there. The rest she couldn’t bring herself to admit. She hadn’t lied when she told Keith the old duke never molested his daughter. But he’d allowed other things to happen Lydia wasn’t convinced Keith should ever know. Things she only learned when she read the diary.
“I would kill him if he weren’t already dead. It’s my fault she suffered for even a moment.”
Lydia couldn’t deny what he said, and she wouldn’t give him false platitudes. Kelsey’s treatment likely wouldn’t have been so severe if Keith hadn’t left her alone with their father. All she could offer was a slight reassurance from his total culpability.
“He would have done many of those things regardless of whether you were here. He’d begun while you were on your Grand Tour before you’d decided to leave.”
Keith shook his head. “No. I insisted upon the tour because I already knew I wanted to leave. I used that time to arrange for my commission. I knew I couldn’t do it with him watching me. I did this to her.”
“You did not do it to her.” Lydia’s voice was adamant. “There is a difference between you not staying here or coming back and the things he did. You never could have totally protected her, not even if you were here.”
“What does that mean?” Keith sensed there was far more Lydia kept from him. “Do not hold secrets from me, Lydia. I never want to doubt I can trust you. I know there’s more.”
Lydia squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t want to deceive you or hide things from you, but I swore to Kelsey I would never tell. I can’t renege on that. There are things she didn’t want you to know, Keith. Please don’t ask me to betray her. Please don’t think I’m betraying you.”
“She won’t know if?—”
They turned toward the fire as a log burst into sparks and hissed. The flames leaped high into the flume. Embers flew onto the carpet and took hold. Keith pushed Lydia away from where the fire continued to roar with a ferocity that appeared menacing. He stomped on the carpet, putting out each potential fire.
Lydia backed away as the flames licked the side of the fireplaces, threatening to set the surrounding wood ablaze. She looked around, terrified. She’d never seen a fire behave in such a way, as though it possessed its own mind and anger.
“Kelsey?” Lydia whispered. Another log popped, as though it answered Lydia. Her voice grew stronger and clearer over the crackling blaze. “Kels, I’m sorry. I won’t tell.”
Immediately, the fire settled. It was as though nothing had stoked it only moments ago. Lydia looked around, trying to determine if a draft somehow fed the flames. But the air was completely still. Keith walked to her and engulfed her in his embrace. She trembled as she continued to watch the fire. She accepted his reassurance they were fine, but she couldn’t remain in his arms yet. She pushed away.
“Kelsey, what do you want me to do? I won’t tell, but neither can I live with this forever and keep it from my husband. Are you angry your brother and I wish to marry?”
“Lydia?” Keith didn’t know what to make of her talking to his dead sister or what happened with the fire. Was it possible Kelsey was still among them? He was about to deny his sister’s ghost lingered in the library, but a scratching at the door distracted him. He and Lydia turned toward it before Lydia hurried to open the portal to the interior hallway. She looked down and blinked several times. A cat nuzzled her legs and walked between them. She scooped him up.
“Marauder, what are you doing here?”
“You named the cat Marauder?” Keith was incredulous as he came to stand beside Lydia.
“The cat’s fur is so blond it’s nearly white, and he was a mouser since practically the day he was born. Kelsey gave him to me, but we both knew he was always meant to be a stable cat. I teased that he reminded me of your reputation. She suggested I name him Keith, but I said that was ridiculous. I settled for your moniker.”
“Why’s he here?”
Lydia was about to respond that she had no idea, but suddenly she knew. She walked back to the fire, which now was a cheery source of heat, not fear. “You gave him to me and told me to name him after your brother. You tried to give me Keith. Now Marauder shows up where he’s never been before. Are you telling me you’re all right with us being together?”
The cat meowed loudly before yawning. He settled against Lydia’s chest and sighed. She scratched his head as she looked back at Keith. She’d spent years feeling as though Kelsey was still her constant companion, but this was the first time she’d feared her friend’s spirit or been thoroughly convinced it even existed. She was certain it was no longer the product of her imagination.
“I think she’s giving her consent to that. But if she agrees we should marry, then she must know you should tell me everything.” Keith couldn’t believe he spoke about his sister as though she were still alive. At his assertion, the flames once more grew. The blue nearest the heart of the fire glowed brilliantly.
“I won’t tell, Kels.” Lydia reached out and gripped Keith’s shirt. As soon as she finished speaking, the fire settled again. She looked up at Keith and shook her head. “Can you live with me not telling you everything?”
Keith kissed her, drawing her closer until Marauder complained and wiggled to get down, not appreciating being trapped between their bodies. Lydia wrapped her arms around his waist. “I can live with it, Lyddie. I can’t live without you.”
Lydia rested her cheek against his chest, listening to his heart. The tension eased from her body the longer Keith held her. Much still unsettled her about what just happened, and she felt unresolved about keeping Kelsey’s secrets. She feared as much as she wanted to, circumstances would force her to tell Keith. She would do her best to delay, but she was no longer as confident as she’d once been.
