Rosalinde at least had the decency to look chagrined at that remark, but Felicity and Gray did not. Gray, in fact, folded his arms and grunted, “I don’t care about the inconvenience, Stenfax. We need to speak to you.”
Felicity shot their brother a look and moved toward Lucien with a much gentler air. “Lucien, we are all worried.”
“And I appreciate it. But I must tell you that Elise—”
She caught his arm. “Elise is exactly the topic we’ve come here to broach. Please, won’t you let us speak without interruption, without argument?”
He pressed his lips together. He was trying to warn them of Elise’s being there and all of them were determined to perform some kind of…mediation with him on that very subject.
“I’m trying to tell you—”
“We all know you’ve been bedding her,” Gray interrupted.
Rosalinde blushed and shot Lucien an apologetic look before she said, “I thought we weren’t going to be so blunt, my love.”
Gray shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rosalinde. This is too important a matter to dance around. Lucien, I had hoped that your obsession with the woman would pass, but I fear it isn’t, so I must tell you that I worry about what happened before.”
Felicity was nodding along with him, and Lucien stiffened. “There is no reason to discuss that,” he snapped. “The subject is closed.”
Gray threw up his hands in frustration and all but shouted, “Lucien, you once stood on a terrace wall and nearly threw yourself to your death because of this woman. How can I stand by idly while you tangle yourself in her web again?”
“Lucien?”
All four of them turned as a group and Lucien caught his breath. Elise was standing at the entrance to the breakfast room, her hands trembling at her sides, her face pale.
And he knew, without a doubt, that she had just overheard his brother’s words. All of them.
Elise stared at Lucien, Gray’s words ringing in her ears. Gray and Felicity were watching her—she felt their shocked gazes as they realized she was here and probably had been here since last night.
But she didn’t care. All she cared about was Lucien.
“You almost killed yourself,” she whispered. “Over—over me?”
His cheek twitched. She knew that motion all too well. It had always been a telltale sign of a subject he didn’t like. One he didn’t want to talk about.
He didn’t move toward her, but he said, “I was very drunk, Elise. It was the night you threw me over and wouldn’t see me.”
She staggered back, nearly depositing herself on the floor as she lifted a hand to cover her trembling lips. Pain and guilt tore through her, like a bullet, like a knife, and she felt the tears beginning to stream down her face.
“Oh, Lucien, Lucien,” she whispered.
Gray stepped between them at last and glared at her. She turned her face, unable to fully look at him when he was filled with such abject hatred for her. “You pretend to give a damn about his reaction when you wouldn’t even see him? When youhadto have known the damage you would do?”
“Stop,” Lucien said, catching his brother’s arm. Gray shook him off.
“No.” Gray turned that same glare on his brother. “Someone needs to bloody well say it to her. You destroyed my brother, you hurt my sister, and now you want to flounce back into his life and pretend like you didn’t?”
“I haven’t pretended,” Elise whispered, holding herself upright by gripping the back of the closest chair. “I have never forgiven myself for what I did to him and I shallneverforgive myself now that I know what nearly happened because of me.”
Felicity moved on her now as Gray spun away with a disgusted snort. Elise couldn’t help but stare at her. She hadn’t seen her best friend in three years. They had avoided each other just as Lucien had avoided her during that time. Now her mind spun back to girlish giggles and happy times.
Felicity looked beautiful, as she always had, even though her blonde hair was pulled back rather severely and she had nothing but contempt in her pale blue eyes.
“Don’t you dare cry,” Felicity whispered. Then she drew back and stared. “What—what is…your eye is black, Elise.”
Elise turned away as Gray took a long step back toward her and his wife, Rosalinde, yanked a hand up to her mouth with a gasp. She had hoped, in their upset, they would all overlook that fact. Especially Felicity. Felicity, who had endured intense physical abuse at the hands of her late husband.
Felicity, who would suffer the most when the truth about Elise’s lies came out.
