Rosalinde drew back, her hand coming to her lips. So much made sense now. “Thatis why you were so loath to let him marry someone you believed only wanted a title.”
“Elise all over again,” Gray said. “Though at least Celia was honest about her desires.”
“Stenfax must have been devastated,” Rosalinde said.
Gray swallowed hard. “He was torn to shreds. The man you see now? The one who does not show emotion? He didn’t exist before that summer when Elise threw him over. He loved her with all he was, and she destroyed him.” He shifted, and for a moment pure pain was reflected in his face, his eyes, his entire being. “It got so bad that one night after too many drinks at Folworth’s, he climbed up on Folly’s terrace edge and declared he would throw himself to his death.”
Rosalinde let out a pained sound. “Oh, Gray!”
“It took Folly, Marina and me two hours to talk him down.” Gray clenched his fist. “Do you know what it’s like to have someone you love try to end himself in front of you?”
“No,” Rosalinde said, swiping at a tear that slipped from the corner of her eye. “I can hardly imagine how shattering that must have been for you.”
“Shattering,” he repeated, meeting her stare. “That was the word for it. I had long watched Felicity suffer cruelly at the hands of her husband without any way to help her, and now I nearly lost my brother. Both because of their choices in love. I vowed I would never allow them to make those kinds of mistakes again. That I would protect them.”
Rosalinde nodded. “I can understand why you would make that vow, Gray. But what I don’t understand is how this hasanythingto do with your changing your mind about Celia and Stenfax marrying.”
Gray was silent for a long moment. “Elise’s husband is dead,” he all but whispered, as if he said it too loudly it would be heard by more than just her.
Rosalinde’s eyes went wide. “The Duke of Kirkford?”
He jerked his head once. “Very few know because according to Folly and Marina, there is some scandal the family is keeping quiet. It will come out soon enough, though. And if my brother is unmarried when he hears the news, he might—”
He cut himself off, and the way he flexed his fist spoke of his fears more than any words. Rosalinde covered his tight fingers gently. “You think he might go to Elise.”
“He might,” Gray admitted in a broken tone. “And if he does, this time I fear there is nothing I could do to protect him from the damage she would cause.”
“But if he is married to Celia…” Rosalinde said.
“He would be true. Iknowhim. He might pine for Elise, he might regret that he wasn’t free, but Lucien would never break his vows to his wife. He would be safe.”
“Just loveless,” Rosalinde reminded him.
“Love has not treated him kindly in the past,” Gray said. “Perhaps it is better to leave it be.”
“And you get to decide that?” Rosalinde asked.
He pushed to his feet and walked away. “You think I haven’t punished myself for wanting to control his future? I have. But I have looked at all alternatives. I could tell him what I know about your family and possibly end this wedding—”
Rosalinde got to her feet now, his words ringing in her ears. “What?”
He stopped and looked at her. His cheeks were pale, as if he hadn’t meant to say those words. But he’d been so wrapped up in his emotional response he hadn’t been more prudent.
“What do you know?” Rosalinde burst out, moving on him.
His gaze shifted to the table across the room, and she followed it. There was a stack of papers there. She faced him again.
“You investigated us?” she asked, hardly able to raise her voice high enough to carry with all the pain blooming in her chest like a poisonous flower.
He nodded. “I’m sorry, Rosalinde. I felt I had no choice. I had to pursue every avenue to protect my brother.”
“It sounds as if you found something out. What did you learn?” she asked, breathless.
There was only one secret she knew for certain her family carried. If Gray had uncovered the truth about her father’s identity, then she and Celia didn’t have to live under their grandfather’s thumb as prisoners of his whims.
“You might not want to know.”
“Did you find out about my father?” she asked, forcing herself to keep her gaze even when she wanted to grab Gray, when she wanted to scream and plead, when she wanted to make him understand just how important the truth was.
