James threw the clothing and Simon barely caught it as it hit his chest with enough force that it nearly took the air out of him. They stood there, staring at each other for a long moment before the silence was broken by the sound of three gunshots in the distance.
“What was that?” Simon asked.
James shook his head, his dark eyes snapping with emotion. “Thatis Baxton firing off shots to tell all the others searching for you that you and Meg have been found safe.”
Simon swallowed. “All the others?”
“Yes. All our friends and most of the other men in our party spread out all over the estate at dawn this morning, hoping to find you and my sister alive.”
Simon bent his head, trying not to think about the frantic, terrible night James must have endured. The love he felt for his sister was deep and strong after the childhood they had gone through together. Even a hint that she might be lost to him must have choked James with fear.
“What the bloody hell were you thinking, Simon?” James hissed.
Simon sighed as he tugged his trousers on and let the blanket fall away at last. He shook out his shirt as he pondered the right answer to the question. The truth seemed the only way out.
But not all of it.
“I wasn’tthinkingat all,” he admitted. “I saw Meg sneak away from the party. She was obviously upset about something, so I followed her.”
“That wasn’t your place,” James ground out.
Simon hesitated. No, it was not. And he’d known it when he did it. He’d gone anyway. And he hadn’t stopped her until they were far away from the house, until the storm was looming…perhaps there was part of him that had orchestrated all this.
Which made it all the worse.
“I- I wasn’t lying when I said we got caught out in the storm. Nor wasshelying when she told you that nothing…nothing happened between us.”
His mind ripped him back to that kiss in the bed. To her soft, naked body trapped against his as she sighed and moaned into his mouth. That moment when he had almost lost control and driven himself into her so no one else could ever lay claim to her.
But he hadn’t. Somehow he hadn’t.
“I should call you out if Graham won’t,” James said, shaking his head as he paced the small room. “Naked together in this tiny place?”
“What was I to do, let her freeze to death in her wet clothing in order to maintain some decorum?” Simon asked, glaring at James before he at last tugged his shirt on and began buttoning it.
“No.” James pressed his lips together hard. “Of course not.”
“Look, if either of you decide to call me out, it will be entirely understandable.” Simon sighed. “I would not deny you that pleasure. Ideservethe consequences of my actions.”
“Of your feelings?” James clarified, facing him and spearing him with a glare.
Simon lifted his chin. “Perhaps those, too.” James’s eyes went wide as he stared, unspeaking, at Simon for what felt like an eternity. “You never wanted me for her. You loved Graham more, and I may have…Ihave…ruined that.”
James’s forehead wrinkled in what seemed like genuine shock. “Loved Graham more? Isthatwhat you really think?”
“That is what is true,” Simon said softly. “I accepted that years ago, James.”
Which wasn’t exactly true. The fact that James wanted Graham as his true brother still stung occasionally. But not as much as losing Meg did.
“I chose Graham because you were still whoring around half of London at the time,” James said, raising his hands as if in surrender. “Great God, you and Roseford fucked women together from time to time, if I remember the drunken bragging correctly.”
Simon flinched. “Robert bragged. I did not.”
“Either way, you weren’t ready to settle down. I didn’t think you’d be open to the idea of an engagement. But Simon, look at me.”
Simon lifted his stare from the dusty wooden floor he’d been focusing on and made himself look at James. James’s face was softer now. The anger and disappointment were still there, but there was something strong above it all.
“What?” Simon asked.
