“A moment to catch my breath,” he exhaled heavily. “Gideon was truthful. He was exiled.Iwas the victor. The chosen successor. Perhaps our father made the wrong decision because when the time came, I snapped. I broke like a reed.”
He clicked his fingers together, smiling ruefully. “Father would have turned in his grave.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“Months, or rather weeks, into my tenure, I ran away. Some time later, I found out through a notice in the Times that the Duke of Winchester had returned.Aaron Tarnleyhad returned to retake the mantle of Dukedom after an inexplicable period out of England. Imagine my surprise!
“I had believed my brother to be dead after so many years—after being thrown out of Caerleon, little more than a child and with nothing to support him. But who else could it be? I wrote to him. He ignored me,” Aaron muttered bitterly. “I had no choice but to subterfuge.”
“Why not just go to Aar… toGideonand…and talk to him?” Catherine asked.
“Knowing him how you know him,” Aaron said, fixing Catherine with a level gaze, “do you think he would have listened?”
“Yes!” she professed, loyally.
I believe he would. Despite his coldness. Despite his armor, he is a good man.
Aaron lifted an eyebrow. “I have many memories of Gideon. None good. He was ruthless and colder than a glacier. I… I was terrified of him. In truth, I think that perhaps Father exiled him because he, too, was afraid of what he had forged in Gideon. He did not want the blade turned on himself.”
Catherine shot to her feet. “But he has changed! I have seen it. Do you think that I would have remained with a man like that?” she asked, seizing her old friend’s hand, willing him to believe her.
He frowned, squeezing her hand in return. Catherine wondered if he believed that she felt the same as she had done when they were both young. She felt as though she were holding the hand of a brother, not a lover. Her heart did not skip, her stomach did not flip. She felt nothing for Aaron but a fondness for the times they had once shared.
“I wish I could believe that,” he said, finally.
“Find a way! I have struggled with doubt and paranoia. Gideon wrestles with it daily. It destroys you from within. You have toovercome it. To make a leap of faith and just… believe! Believe in me if you cannot believe in him. Is it not better than allying yourself with a man like the Earl of Stafford?”
Aaron grunted and flicked his hand. “Stafford was a necessary evil. When McKay shared information about my brother’s ambitions, it was not difficult to have a man as avaricious as Stafford inveigle himself with Sir Obadiah. Stafford has connections at court which impressed Sir Obadiah immensely.”
“If you think that you can parcel me up with him to fulfil Sir Obadiah’s requirements that his business partners are married men…” Catherine started, drawing back and reclaiming her hand.
“I would never!” Aaron snapped. “With you beside me, I can finally be victorious. Annul your marriage, Kate. Publicly condemn him as an impostor. Sir Obadiah will reject him. He will be forced to give up the Dukedom to its rightful heir!”
She shivered visibly. “I think you underestimate your allies. Stafford will try to force me to marry him. My aunt and uncle meant the same.” Catherine remembered the scorn Stafford had poured on the notion. She wondered if Aaron was right. “So, Stafford will undermine Gideon financially by taking away his business venture. And you and I will undermine him socially, taking away the Dukedom?” she asked, carefully.
Aaron rose, taking her hand again. He did not wince as he stood and did so quickly and smoothly.
“I will protect you. You do not know the danger you are in—it makes me shudder to think of the risk you have taken, accepting that man,” he licked his lips, shaking his head.
“I… I will…” he seemed to struggle to find the right words and then blurted out, “I will marry you myself! It is what I dreamed of, all those years ago in the woods. I was too afraid to say it then, but it is the truth!”
“I remember those dreams…” Catherine murmured.
Aaron nodded, his eyes meeting hers and then dancing away.
“It can be as it was always meant to be. I will be Duke, and as Duke, I will be able to protect you.”
She saw the boy she had loved in the man standing before her. Standing straight and tall, the cane leaning against the fountain. Set against that was Gideon’s stony facade. His roughness. His stark and dangerous silences.
And his kindness. His compassion. The tenderness in his eyes the night I played the piano.
She had thought herself in love with Gideon. But now he was revealed to be a usurper. And the real Aaron was offering her everything she had ever dreamed of. Except it was almost as though he was reluctant, as though he was forcing himself. She remembered how Meredith Chalmers had looked at him. And how she had all but glared at Catherine.
“And Meredith?” she asked, gently.
Aaron looked dumbfounded for a moment, then shook his head.
“She is my nurse. An employee. One I am fond of, but…” He trailed off.
