Of course, when he reanimated, he was once again my ingrate of a brother. “Who is engaged, Hugh?”
And that was the end of my composure. “You know damn well who! She is engaged and a guest here under my protection.”
“Oh, Lady Juliet? I hadn’t heard she was affianced. What of it?” he asked with feigned confusion.
“You spend hours each day with her. Alone. I assumed you were in the rose garden, but I learned today that none of the servants know where you take her. Tell me!”
“Here and there,” he replied with feigned nonchalance.
“Damn it all, Michael. This is not a joke. If anyone were to catch even a hint of this… you would ruin that girl!” There was truly no point in explaining this to Michael. He was certainly conducting this liaison on purpose to ruin her and vex me.
“Catch what? What exactly am I going to do to her?” His question was filled with venom, rather than the sarcasm I was accustomed to.
I shot up, my seat no longer able to contain me. “You know damn well what you’re going to do to her! Even being seen with you is enough in some circles.” The heat was rising in my chest with every attempt at deflection, curses flying freely now.
Rather than share in my fury, Michael was cool, loose-limbed. The disinterest was infuriating, fueling my own fire.Thatwas matched only in his eyes.
“Let’s not be coy here, Hugh. Say it,” he pressed, striding toward the desk between us.
“You’re a bastard! Everyone knows it. All of London! You’re a dishonorable bastard whose own living comes at the expense of the gullibility and dishonor of others.”
And with those words, the fire rushed out, leaving behind nothing but an ashen taste in my mouth. Still, I had to make him see, make him understand. “She is not for you,” I added, desperately willing him to comprehend the stakes of the game he was playing with her. He was wagering with her life.
Instead of delivering the punch I expected—deserved—Michael collapsed into the chair across from me. He looked up at me, his eyes sorrowful now.
“Sit,” he said softly, nodding toward my empty chair. I followed his gaze and realized I was still standing, fists clenched and braced for a blow. “I’m not going to hit you,” he added.
“What just happened?” I asked wearily.
“You won. You can wipe the befuddled look off your face now.”
“I… do not know what I’ve won.”
“You’re right. I’m spending too much time with her. Unchaperoned. I just…. I can’t stay away from her, Hugh.”
Realization crashed over me, muggy and frozen at the same time. “Oh, lord.”
“You have the right of it.”
“Michael, I had no idea. I thought you were toying with her. Perhaps to get at her father.”
“That’s flattering,” he replied, sharp and brittle.
“I did not mean…”
“No, you did mean it,” he corrected. “And why would you think otherwise? After all, I am a dishonorable bastard.”
“I did not mean that.” I tried to explain, tried to clarify. Every sentence, every word, I etched the lines of hurt deeper into my brother’s brow.
“Seven years. I was viscount in all but title for seven years. In seven years, thetonnever once forgot. And neither did you, so don’t try to deny it.”
“I did not know you wished to be thought of as such.”
His laugh was bitter, and so sharp I could feel it slice my skin. “Yes, who would want a title and wealth and power handed to them at birth? Who would want the chance to marry the woman he cares for? I had four years before he married your mother. Four years where no one treated me as lesser than. Four years where I thought I could do anything I dreamed. Then he married Agatha. I was banished from her sight. Worse still, she had a son, and everything that I deluded myself into thinking could have been mine was handed to you. I never, not once, complained. But don’t for one second mistake my silence for lack of feeling.”
Words failed me. They had never been my strong suit, but in this… the words didn’t exist.
“It doesn’t matter. The things I wanted were never mine to dream of in the first place. She’s not mine to wish for either.”
