“No, we can’t sit, we need to?—”
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocked and dabbed the blood away from her face. She winced slightly but held still as he said, “Weneedto let you calm down a moment, so I can understand what you’re talking about.” He tried to rein in the rage that bubbled up in his chest as he examined the already blooming bruise on her face. “Who did this to you?”
She dropped her gaze down and her breath was ragged. “I must tell you everything,” she said with a shake of her head. “I know I must even if it will cause even more problems. It—it was Prudence.”
“Your stepmother did this?” he barked. “I have never liked that woman, but that she would actually harm you?—”
“I tried to stop her from going to Alice’s chamber. She threw me off of her and I fell,” she explained. She touched her own cheek and winced. “Is it very bad?”
“It’s already purple,” he said. “You won’t be able to hide it.”
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to hide anything anymore.” She gripped his hand. “Oh God, this will destroy everything, George. I have no idea how to protect you and her at the same time.”
“Shhh,” he said, hating that she was so upset, that she wasn’t making sense when normally she was perfectly clear. “You don’t need to worry about protecting me, let me protect you. Tell me why you wanted to stop Prudence from seeing her daughter.”
“Alice…Alice is in love with someone else,” she whispered.
He drew back in surprise at that statement. Not anger, not jealousy, just surprise. “In love with who?”
“I-I can’t tell you,” she said. “Please, understand that I trust you, that I know it’s unfair to keep you in the dark, but this isn’t my secret to tell.”
He pondered that moment. For Lily to keep name of his…well, rival was a strong word, wasn’t it? He didn’t feel any animosity toward this person, no matter who they were. But if she was keeping the truth from him with such anxiety, it likely meant the answer was something she might consider shocking.
“Very well, I respect that,” he said softly.
“You—you do?” she asked. “You wouldn’t push for the truth?”
He shrugged. “If it mattered to me, I suppose I might. Though it would be more fair to go directly to Alice about it. But we both know it doesn’t. We both know why.”
She lifted those beautiful eyes to his. “So you wouldn’t hate her for this.”
“That would be more than a bit hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it? Considering my own…ourown…situation.”
He realized he’d just alluded to the fact that he was in love with her. Her breath hitched and she ducked her gaze away. He refocused on the very serious situation at hand.
“I assume you just realized this fact. That she has another love?”
She nodded. “I-I saw something that proved it.”
He blinked.Sawsomething? As far as he knew, Lily’s afternoon had been spent with her sister, having the final fittings done for Alice’s wedding gown. How she would see something that would reveal Alice’s true love was fascinating. Perhaps a letter from the other suitor? Or the suitor himself had made some kind of surprise appearance like Romeo beneath a window?
He cleared his throat. “And after you saw it, did you reveal the truth to your stepmother?”
“Yes, but not the details of who. It turned out she already knew. She used that knowledge to blackmail Alice into marrying you, to keep her…to keep the person my sister was in love with from being harmed.”
George recoiled at the idea of such cruelty and manipulation. It explained so much. Alice had always tried, it was clear she did, but he caught her forlorn looks. Her strain. He’d been so caught up in his own dramas that he hadn’t thought to explore hers.
Likely because he didn’t love her any more than she did him. They were both in love with someone they felt they couldn’t have. And that truth suddenly offered a lifeline.
“Seeing my sister so devastated, I thought to press my stepmother to hold off the wedding,” Lily continued, her voice a little calmer now. “At least give us all time to work this situation out. But Prudence lashed out and went off to punish them both.”
“Bollocks,” he said, and got up.
She followed. “I know you feel you must marry Alice because of your mother’s illness. And I’ve supported that despite my own feelings.”
He looked at her when she saidfeelings, dancing around the edge of what he already knew when he looked into her eyes. But she kept going. “But while I would not harm her by taking her future, nor would I harm her by allowing someone else to do the same. You must see that this cannot happen now.”
He let out a shaky breath. “It would be one thing to marry by arrangement, but marrying by blackmail is unconscionable. At the very least, we must bring all this into the light. Perhaps not who your sister loves, I would not force her to reveal that secret if she didn’t wish it, but to have an honest discussion at last and determine what is best for everyone. Even if it means scandal or a broken contract.”
