“Sid,” he greeted his old chum, rising in proper greeting. “I hardly expected you this morning.”
“I dare say you did not,” bit out his friend, an angry sneer curling his lip as he did not halt his stride. “Nor did you expect this.”
Before he could react, Shelbourne’s fist connected with his jaw with so much force, he bit his own tongue. Pain shot through him as the coppery tang of his own blood blossomed.Bloody damned hell.
Huntingdon rubbed his jaw, eying his friend warily. “What the devil are you about?”
But as he asked the question, suspicion rose. There was only one reason his oldest friend would rage into his study with the fury of an invading enemy army and plant him a facer. And that one reason was tall, blonde, and beautiful.
And perfidious, if what he suspected was true.
“Tell me it is all a vicious falsehood,” Shelbourne spat, looking as if he were a heartbeat from hitting Huntingdon again. “Tell me you are not a villainous, spineless, maggot of a man! A man without any virtue or honor. A man without loyalty. One who would betray his friend’s trust by abusing his innocent sister in cruelest fashion.”
Helena.
She had told her brother.
He had spent every moment since his ignominious display in the lady’s withdrawing room alternating between cursing himself and wishing he could be within that moment all over again. With Helena’s supple curves beneath him. With her lips clinging hungrily to his. With her taste on his tongue and her scent filling his head. With desire coursing through his veins and the hot, sleek flesh of her cunny beneath his fingers.
Hewasa villainous, spineless maggot and every other aspersion Shelbourne would cast upon him. A vile, filthy man.
A disappointment to himself and everyone around him. For the first time, he was thankful Grandfather was no longer alive. At least he would not have to suffer the crushing blow of realizing Huntingdon was no more worthy of the title and the family name than his father before him had been.
Huntingdon had no choice but to admit his wrongdoing. To hope Shelbourne would forgive him for his trespasses.
He inclined his head. “I was trying to protect her.”
“A damned excellent job you did,” Shelbourne growled. “Was tossing up my sister’s skirts truly essential to herprotection, do you think, Huntingdon?”
Bloody hell.She trulyhadtold him. Every sordid detail.
“My actions were inexcusable,” he began, attempting to explain himself as shame burned through him. “However, in my defense, Lady Helena tripped and fell, which is how we ended up on the floor.”
“On the floor? You dog!” Shelbourne took another swing at him, but this time, Huntingdon was prepared.
He dodged the blow. Apparently she had not given exacting detail. And now, he had just made the situation worse with his loose tongue.Excellent.
“It is not as bad as you suppose, Shelbourne. Allow me to explain,” he said.
“You are supposed to be myfriend, damn your hide,” Shelbourne bit out, taking another swing. “The most honorable, decent man I know. I trusted you! I ought to beat you to a bloody pulp over this.”
Huntingdon deflected his friend’s fist. “I do not quarrel with your assessment of the situation. All I can say in my defense is that I recently came into the knowledge that Lady Helena was intending to ruin herself. The sole reason I was alone with her was because I was attempting to keep her from folly.”
That was not entirely true, his conscience reminded him.
He had been alone with her on the last occasion because he had been inebriated and desperate. And he had kissed her because he had been unable to resist her.
“If that is true, you had an obligation to come to me with what you had learned,” Shelbourne argued. “Not to follow her about and take liberties with her, damn you.”
Shelbourne was not wrong in this. The devil of it was, Huntingdon had told himself the same thing. But he had followed Helena about like a dog in heat anyway. Because he wanted her. He had always wanted her. He had just never been able to have her.
You cannot have her now either, you conscienceless rogue. What of Lady Beatrice?
“It was my intention to seek you out.” His excuse was thin. Pathetic, just as his resolve had been. “There was not the time, and in a delicate matter such as this, I was not certain of the best means of approaching you.”
He was his father’s son, was he not?
“And so you compromised her yourself instead?” Shelbourne’s lip curled. “Just like your bastard of a sire before you.”
