“What do you want?” Hugh asked, his voice choked.
“For you to do what any loving brother would do in this situation. You will pay me handsomely to cover up your sister’s foolish, youthful mistake.”
Lizzie staggered forward, her hands shaking even as she tried to manage the trembling. Her body tingling with all the consequences and lies and fears that now burst in her one after the other. This man, Aaron Walters, had done that to her. Callously. Because she was such a fool, such an easy target.
“How could you?” she whispered. “How?”
Aaron looked her up and down, his face devoid of any emotion he’d ever created to manipulate her. He shrugged. “You wouldn’t understand. You’ve always had everything you ever wanted.”
“Get out,” Hugh said, his hand shaking as he pointed toward the door behind them.
Aaron grinned at her brother. “I’ll go to your solicitor’s in London in…shall we say two days? I will assume my very generous payment will be waiting for me there. Good evening, Your Grace,” he said as he strode past them. At the door, he paused and turned back. “Oh, and Lizzie?”
She had been staring at the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She lifted her gaze toward this man she didn’t know. This man who had played her like her favorite pianoforte. “Yes?”
“It’s been a pleasure,” he said, and walked out, laughing the whole way.
The moment he’d gone and shut the door behind himself, Lizzie tipped forward, dropping to her knees on the floor beside the bed. She buried her head in her hands and began to weep, even though she hated herself for it. She didn’t deserve to cry after what she’d done, but she couldn’t stop. She’d thought there was a future for her out there. A happy life with the man who had just crushed her.
And all the while it had been nothing but a cruel illusion.
Hugh rushed to her, dropping down beside her and gathering her into his arms. She felt him rocking her and it brought her back to so many nights he had held her when she was a little girl, troubled by nightmares. But did she truly deserve that after what she’d brought down on their family? On their name?
“I’m sorry,” she finally hiccupped against his shirt. “I shouldn’t have thought he could truly love me. I was such a fool!”
Hugh slid a finger beneath her chin and tilted her face toward his. She saw all his kindness and gentleness and love for her, just as it had always been. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t judge. He just looked sad on her behalf as he sighed, “No. Sweetest Lizzie, if you believed he cared for you and he took advantage, it is he who is the fool, not you.” He cleared his throat. “But I do wonder why you thought you could not tell me about him.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “He encouraged me to sneak out. Said he’d tried to talk to you and that you were uncertain based on his lack of title.”
“You thought I would be so cruel as to separate you from someone you truly loved, even if I believed he had your best interests at heart?” he asked gently.
She worried her lip at the question. “You are…protective. I know you wish for me to be safe. To be settled well. Oh, and now I’ve ruined everything,” she said, putting her head back into her hands and returning to the sobs. “And after you’ve taken care of me for so long.”
He wrapped his arms more tightly around her and smoothed a hand over her hair. “You’ve ruined nothing. I adore you, and being your older brother and your guardian has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Even if I have made a muck of it, it seems.”
His kind words permeated the pain and slowly her sobs subsided. She rested her head on his chest and let out her breath in a long sigh. “You haven’t made a muck of it. I thought he loved me. But he didn’t. So what will happen now?”
Hugh hesitated a moment before he said, “I will pay him a handsome sum.”
She flinched. Her brother might have the funds to do so—she knew he was well off and managed his estates as impeccably as he did anything else. But why should he suffer for what she’d done?
“Take it from my inheritance,” she suggested as she pushed from his arms and used the edge of the bed to get back to her feet.
“I shall do no such thing. I have more than enough money. Once he is paid, we will…move on. If you think you can do that.”
Her answer was no. She couldn’t move on. What she’d done, who she’d trusted…that would haunt her for the rest of her days. She knew that. She could never forget it. But she lifted her chin slightly, so that Hugh wouldn’t feel her regret.
“Yes,” she lied.
She turned away and quickly fixed her hair, her cheeks hot once more as she thought of what she’d done with Aaron. With what Hugh must have guessed she had done. It was all so humiliating.
“I will do my best, Hugh,” she said, forcing herself to look at him. “And I promise I will never do anything ever again that will force you into such a situation. I will look for respectability. I shall never seek out love. I promise.”
With that, she turned toward the door and moved outside. It was only Hugh’s horse waiting there, and she walked up to the beast and rested her head on his flank.
“I’ve ruined everything, Wren,” she whispered, and the horse whinnied as if he agreed.
She pulled away and stared up at the stars in the cold sky above. Once upon a time she’d wished on those stars, for frivolous things and silly things and deeper things like love. But now she had to put those wishes away. Now she had to be more careful. More aware. More cynical.
