Graham shook his head slowly. “Help soften the blow, you mean. Act as if I’m fine with what was done?”
Meg took a breath and moved toward her former fiancé. He stiffened as she approached, and Simon tensed as he waited for whatever Meg would do.
“I wouldnotask you to do this,” she said. “If you want to call me a whore from the rooftops and leave this house without looking back, I’ll take that censure. I’ve earned it. You were never anything but kind to me and I’ve repaid you with humiliation and the implication of a worse kind of betrayal. Because of that, I don’t deserve anything less than your worst.”
Her words, spoken in a wavering but strong tone, seemed to assuage Graham. His expression grew easier and he let out his breath slowly.
“You don’t deserve to be destroyed,” he said, lifting his gaze to Simon. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Yes, Abernathe, I’ll do as you say. I’ll be part of an announcement. But I would like to leave here as soon as I can. A quiet return to London seems the best answer for everyone. That way you can plan your wedding, as it seems it would be best for these two to rush their engagement.”
“Of course,” Emma said. “We shall make an announcement this afternoon. Just a quick few words from James as you all stand by.”
As Meg stepped away, James stepped forward and held out a hand to Graham. “Thank you.”
Graham stared at the offering, then his gaze moved to Meg and to Simon. “A scene won’t do any of us any good,” he said, not taking James’s hand. “Now I’ll go up and have my servants prepare my things for immediate departure. Send me word when you will have me join you. I shall do so.”
He said nothing else, but left the room in a few long, purposeful strides. He shut the door behind himself, not slamming it, but with a firmness that spoke of endings. Permanent ones.
James slowly lowered the hand that he still held out and bent his head. Emma rushed to his side, taking his arm as he murmured, “He despises me.”
“He’s hurt,” Emma said, smoothing her hand along his back to soothe him. “Right now he is hurt and embarrassed. But time will heal him. And time will let him be open to your friendship again.”
“Youdidn’t do this to him,” Simon said with a shake of his head. “He will forgive you.”
What remained unspoken in the room was that Graham would never forgive Simon. And even though they had been more distant in the past few years, the loss of one of his oldest friends cut him. But he deserved to bleed.
“Are we engaged?” Meg asked, her eyes darting to him.
Simon cleared his throat and moved toward her. As much as his heart and soul ached for what he’d done, her question also lit a spark of joy in him. One he tamped down out of decorum.
“Yes,” he said softly, reaching for her hand. She let him take it, looking up into his eyes with questions, with fears…but also with desires. The same ones that had flared between them the night before and brought their lives crashing around them.
But now she was his and he could play out those desires to his heart’s content.
“Congratulations,” James said, clearly trying to brighten his tone. “I should get drinks.”
“No,” Simon said, turning away from Meg with difficulty. “We will toast the marriage when it comes. I think toasting the engagement would be unseemly in this moment, given the circumstances.”
James nodded. “Very well. Then perhaps we should talk details.”
Simon released Meg’s hand with difficulty and moved to James’s desk. Yes, details he could manage. Details were unemotional and technical. Not like the rolling feelings that currently gripped his heart.
Those he would have to get a handle on. They had already caused a great deal of damage.
As Meg stood at the top of the garden, overlooking the crowd of guests gathered there, what she wanted more than anything was to slip to Simon’s side and take his hand. His presence had always been a comfort to her, but now…
Well, now he was distant, standing next to James, not looking at her as they prepared to make their announcement to the party at large. His face, handsome though swollen from his broken nose, never turned toward her. And the crowd whispered at far too loud a rate about the bruises beneath his eyes and the way Graham stood away from Meg.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” James said, his booming voice and no-nonsense tone silencing the party in an instant. “Obviously you have all heard things today.” He shot a pointed glance at Lord Baxton, who refused to meet his host’s eyes. “And our familydoeshave an announcement.”
“Ihave an announcement,” Graham said, stepping in front of James.
Meg jerked her face toward him.Thiswas not what they’d agreed to, and judging from Graham’s grim expression, there was no telling what he would now say. She held her breath.
“Seven years ago my closest friend arranged a marriage between myself and his beloved sister,” Graham began. “I was lucky to have the chance at a future with such a lady. But recent events have made me realize that she would be better suited to another. So we have mutually ended our engagement.”
The crowd let out a collective gasp and the whispers that had been silenced by James’s words began again at twice the rate.
Graham turned toward Meg, holding out his hand. She blinked. He was smiling, but it was all a show. She could still see the betrayal, the anger and the deep hurt in his stare. Things he was not expressing out of a goodness and honor that she did not deserve. She reached out to take his hand. He barely held her hand as he drew her toward Simon and offered it to him.
