“Because the fact that she would trust me with such a devastating story means a great deal to me. One day she may wish to give me even more details, and I will be open to hearing them. But in the end, it is her story to share, not mine to investigate or yours to reveal on her behalf.”
He shifted. She was right in one way. In another, he knew so much more than she did. If he told her now, it could destroy them. But he feared if he waited for the truth to come out on some distant day, it would guarantee she would be broken by it.
“Please,” she repeated. “I see how much you want to tell me, but wait. Wait a while and let’s see how she does. I came here not to talk about her experience, but yours. You must have been devastated.”
He jerked out a nod. “Yes,” he whispered, taken back to that horrible day when he’d discovered Lizzie had run off with a bastard of the highest order. “I was frantic.”
“She told me you chased after her, rescued her like a knight in shining armor.” She smiled.
He shook his head. “Not soon enough.”
She held his hand tighter. “Yes, she told me that part, too. I hate that she was used in that way.”
Hugh closed his eyes, conjuring the perfect image of Lizzie when he’d burst into the cottage along the road. Her glassy-eyed expression, her sadness that she had been compromised, was so obvious. So painful.
“I wanted to tear him apart,” he growled, his rage renewed. “I wanted to destroy him down to his very elements. But I couldn’t.”
“I assume he had told others his plan. If he died, they would make sure everyone knewwhyyou had torn him apart,” Amelia said softly.
Hugh looked at her. She was staring at him with such understanding. He didn’t deserve it. Not in the slightest. And yet she gave so freely. She had from the very beginning. Her body, her gentle spirit, her light into his darkness.
“Yes,” he choked out. “If there is one thing that man knows, it is how to protect himself. If I moved on him, he would make sure everyone knew my sister was ruined. If I hurt him, the same. The only way out was to pay him. A horrible, ugly, obscene payment that then allowed him to look like he belonged in good Society. And I could do nothing.” He dropped his head. “I hate myself for it and for the consequences it brought to bear.”
She reached for him again, sliding her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. “You have suffered, I can see. And I assume alone.”
He nodded. “There was no way to explain my upset without revealing Lizzie’s secret. I couldn’t tell anyone. It was only recently that I said something to Lucas and Diana.”
She hugged him tighter. “And now me.”
He smoothed his hands over the silky softness of her dark hair, and the feel of it soothed him a fraction. “Yes,” he whispered. “And now you.”
She gazed up at him. “Hugh, look at me. You are a good brother. She is lucky to have you.”
“I had one job in this world and it was to protect her. I failed.”
“Thatis your father talking,” she said, her gaze soft and filled with empathy and understanding. “Telling you there is only one path to success. Lizzie is alive. She is here with you, not married off to some cruel bastard who would use her. And she still has a future laid out in front of her. You havenotfailed. What happened wasn’t your fault.”
She leaned up and he met her lips halfway. She was gentle, as if he was delicate or neededherprotection. And he did. In that moment, it felt like this wonderful woman was all that held him up. So he let her, clinging to her as all those old fears and heartbreaks washed over him and tugged him into a hundred pieces.
At last she drew away and smiled up at him. And once again, he knew that he had to tell her the truth. When she offered him such respite, to lie would not be fair.
“Amelia,” he began, holding her closer so that he would remember what her arms felt like if his confession made her flee.
“Yes?”
“I need to tell you—”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence. Before he could, the door to the study opened and Lizzie stepped inside. She blushed as she saw them in each other’s arms and turned away with a gasp. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, her gaze down. “I’m so sorry.”
Amelia extracted herself from his embrace gently and moved to her. “No need to apologize, my dear. Your brother and I were just having a talk. What is it?”
“I know I said I needed an hour or two to consider your thoughts,” Lizzie said, lifting her gaze to Amelia at last. “But I’ve come to a decision.”
“A decision?” he repeated. “What were you deciding?”
Amelia turned on him with a warm smile. “Lizzie and I were talking earlier about her going back to London with us tomorrow, rather than staying here.”
He could not control the shock that flowed over his face. Lizzie had been adamant about not wanting anything to do with a future that included London. Nothing he’d said had budged her from her position, and eventually he had given up, hoping time would soften her.
