She nodded as she slid her skirts back into place. He fixed himself, as well, then leaned in to kiss her once more before he retook his place away from her. Across a divide that felt like it had grown to more than just a carriage aisle.
When they returned, Dane might be back from his interrogation. That past and present and future Felicity had been avoiding would now come settling upon her.
And even the memory of what she’d just shared with Asher wouldn’t be enough to save her.
Felicity clung to Asher’s arm as they entered the parlor, but she wished she could hold his hand. There was something more comforting about that kind of intimacy. But that wasn’t the kind of bond they could share. Not in his mind. And not in front of her brothers.
Her thoughts fled as they entered the room and found Dane was standing with the rest. He turned when they came in and his face was grim.
“What is it?” she asked, pulling away from Asher. She had to. In the end, these were her consequences. Hers and her family’s, God help them all.
Dane’s hard, intelligent face was filled with remorse. “I waited until you came back to tell everyone. I wanted you to hear it first.”
“Please,” she whispered.
He seemed to understand, for he shifted his posture to a more formal one before he said, “I talked to Beckford and was able to get more information. ItwasFitzgilbert who bought the pages of the book that contained your secret, Felicity. I’m sorry.”
The room exploded then. Gray came off the couch where he’d been sitting with Rosalinde, his angular face red and filled with rage. “God damn it!” he bellowed.
Stenfax moved on their brother, as did Rosalinde. They were all talking at once now, but Felicity blocked it all out as she stared just at their faces. Each one of these people cared for her. Loved her. And even without listening to them, she knew they would throw themselves on the fire of her life right along with her.
They would sacrifice themselves and their futures. As would Asher. For her. They would all be hurt because of her, just as Asher had been injured earlier in the day by Beckford.
She would be given no option to handle this on her own. She could only imagine what her brothers would say if she suggested it.
She backed away a few steps as they continued to argue, and thought of Gregory Fitzgilbert. She’d had the displeasure of knowing Celia and Rosalinde’s grandfather during Celia and Stenfax’s ill-fated engagement. She recalled his coldness, his cruelty. And she knew he had attacked Rosalinde not a year before.
But was he so very different from her? His secret, the secret of Rosalinde and Celia’s true father…she had to imagine there was pain behind his dark holding of that truth. Certainly, he couldn’t beonlya monster, could he?
Her mind spun on that possibility. On a wild idea that made her stomach flutter when she considered it.
What if she went to the man? Not to go to war, as her brothers and John would do. Not to demand the truth as Celia and Rosalinde might. But what if she went to him and justtalkedto him? Their secrets gave them something in common now.
And at least she would be taking control of her future by trying it. Not allowing everyone else to sacrifice for her, as she had with her servants who had covered up the shooting or her family who would go to battle for her.
This was a chance to fix this. For herself. To take back some of what Barbridge had stolen from her all those years.
Everyone was still arguing. They didn’t even notice when she slipped out of the room. But she knew that wouldn’t last long and she’d have to hurry.
Chapter Seventeen
“I’ll kill him,” Gray raged, his hands flexing at his sides.
“Love,” Rosalinde said, her tone soft as she held his hand in both of hers. “Please.”
“No,” he said, looking at her closely, lifting fingers to touch her throat before he winced in pain. “I should have done it a year ago when he dared to touch you.”
Asher’s eyes grew wide as Rosalinde caught Gray’s cheeks, forcing him to look at her. Normally she was so gentle, but now her tone was sharp when she said, “Look at me, Gray. If you pursue him, if you hurt him, it won’t help me or our child.”
There was a moment of stunned silence in the room and then Gray’s expression changed from stormy skies to something softer. Something Asher had never seen or thought existed in him when they were children. Love of this woman had changed his friend.
For the better.
“A baby?” Elise said softly.
Now the couple turned to the room as a whole. Only Celia didn’t seem surprised by this news—she beamed at her sister.
“Yes,” Gray said, wrapping an arm around his wife’s waist. “This isn’t exactly how we intended to reveal our news, but Rosalinde is with child. We expect a son or daughter early next year.”
