Giles stilled, trapped between his friendship with Rayne and his concern for his future sister. Then, he remembered. Julia had trapped him in the priest hole, but she hadn’t considered her actions could have resulted in a forced marriage. Julia had flirted with a farmer boy, but nothing in her life could have prepared her for the very real danger of a man like Rayne.
“Yes, she was an aggressor, but you have extensive experience. To Julia, a kiss is just a kiss, whether she believes herself besotted or not. And from what I heard, you did not try very hard to escape.”
“Were you listening carefully?Iwas. You were not alone, were you? I swear I heard a distinctly feminine gasp.”
Giles’s cheeks darkened.
“Really, Brom,” Rayne seized his hesitation, “are youthattaken with your prize that you cannot resist mauling your betrothed just days before you are to wed?”
“You had better measure your words.”
Rayne rubbed his forefinger against his chin. “I cannot blame you, of course. What, withherpast, it’s best to ensure she was in working order prior to proper conveyan—”
He lunged at Rayne, pinning him up against the wall. Rayne choked for air as Giles curled his fists in the fabric of Rayne’s coat.Good God. He hadn’tchosento advance. The violence had simply been present, just beneath the surface. Slowly, Giles released Rayne’s lapel.
“Christ.” Rayne cursed. “You truly are unhinged, aren’t you?”
Giles took a step back, baring his teeth. “Youare an ass. No matter what my sins—or Lady Katherine’s for that matter—you had no right to trifle with an innocent.”
“Innocent?” Rayne made a dismissive sound. “Lady Julia is no innocent.Shewas the one who accostedme. I imagine she aspires to be just as infamous as her sister.”
“Would you also have me believe you were unaware of her fascination with you?”
“Of course, I was aware. The minx was obvious enough.”
“Do not even try to tell me you cannot tell the difference between a practiced coquette and an enthralled innocent.”
Rayne pursed his lips and then turned his face sharply toward the fire.
“I’ll take your silence as admission,” Giles continued. “Rayne, your treatment of Lady Julia was beneath you.”
“Beneath me?” Rayne laughed a bitter laugh. “You’re one to talk, Brom.Beneathme.” He snorted. “Yes. She is just asbeneathme as the tarnished piece of mutton you are about to marry is benea—”
Giles arrested his fist a mere inch from Rayne’s jaw. God help him, hewasclose to becoming unhinged.
Rayne’s gaze met his, full of challenge and defiance. “Hit me and confirm everything I already know. The starker the truth, the greater the violence in resistance.”
Giles lowered his hand. Fissions charged with the damage he could have inflicted sliced his veins.
Rayne slowly shook his head. “None of this makes any sense, can’t you see that? You—the paragon of Eton, the pride of the Tory party—embroiled in a series of scandals that would make any one of Prinny’s look tame.” He held up his fingers to count. “First, you fail to follow through on a long-anticipated betrothal, insulting both Clarissa and me and losing out on the fortune my father agreed to as dowry. Then you nearly gamble away your estate, and now you’ve tied yourself to a merely passable spinster whose family you would have counted beneath your notice just a few years ago.”
Rayne wasn’t wrong.Shit.
“A litany of my faults,” Giles said, “does not excuse your own.”
“What are you so desperate to hide?” Rayne replied. “What turned the venerable Marquess of Bromton from the most steadfast, honorable man I’ve ever known into,” his face twisted with disgust, “this?”
“I will not allow you to goad me into further violence two days before I am to wed.”
Rayne tugged on his waistcoat and adjusted his cravat. “For your information, what happened upstairs had nothing to do with you.”
“Really…?” Giles’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
Rayne shook his head back and forth in pantomimed disbelief. “We’ve spent more time in each other’s company than brothers. Hell, I thought you would one daybemy brother. Then, first you cast aside Clarissa, and now, me.”
The muscles in Giles’s jaw tightened.
Rayne slammed his fist against the table. “I forgave you, at first, but only for Clarissa’s sake. Have you even thought about what your marriage will do to Clarissa? Were it not for the strength of her character and the depth of her friendships she would be an outcast. What do you think will happen to her tenuous position when she meets Lady Katherine?” Rayne waited a moment before continuing, “I’ll tell you what will happen. All eyes will be on them, and the boldest of the ladies will be snickering behind their fans. Any hint of rivalry or discomfort and they will both be shamed.”
