Is he looking for Marta? Has he no shame?
His eyes had narrowed, evidently still suspicious. The Duke’s face looked similarly on the alert. Nobody would ever call it a happy reunion.
“Kit, please,” Juliana begged as she took her seat. Her brother was closer to Cassian, and she dared to hope he would look to her for cues. She noticed her brother glowering at the Cavendish diamonds around her throat.
“You look remarkably well, dear sister,” Kit said, his voice dripping with resentment. What did he expect? Did he really want her to suffer after he sold her into marriage? “Being married to our enemy seems to suit you well. The weight of the Stonevale gems seems to give you great impact.”
“Kit, I…”
“She looks well,” Cassian said, before Juliana could respond, setting down his glass with quiet precision that drew every eye at the table. “Because she is safe. Which is considerably more than can be said for the last time you saw her, when you watched three fiends chase her through the streets of London and decided you had never seen her before in your life.”
He met Kit’s gaze across the table without blinking.
“Cassian.” Juliana’s voice was low but firm. She looked at her husband with an expression that left no room for argument. “Please.”
He looked at her. A muscle worked in his jaw. Then he reached for his wine and said nothing further, which she chose to count as a victory.
Across the table, Lady Hawthorne had drawn herself up to her full seated height and fixed her grandson with a look Juliana had never seen directed at Kit before.
“Christopher, my boy,” his grandmother warned. “Do not be boorish. We are guests here, and must behave accordingly.”
Juliana was relieved to hear that at least their grandmother was ready to play nicely and to chastise Kit for the first time in his life.
“Are we?” Kit asked Cassian, his eyes flashing with unrepressed anger. “Are we truly guests here, or am I here only so you can show me how successful your revenge has been? My sister is now your wife. You are doing well. Why do you need me to see all this?”
“I invited you because my wife, your sister, believes you are still worth saving from the wreckage of your life. I have disagreed with her, but I have been persuaded by how I value her happiness.”
Kit laughed sarcastically. He was not there to follow any proper etiquette. He was unhappy and deeply suspicious. “Is that what we are calling this estate? A place where my sister can be truly happy? A cage with better, more lavish furniture.”
“At least we have furniture. And actual staff, too,” Cassian added, reminding everyone of how the Hawthornes’ lifestyle had fallen into hard times and disarray.
“Stonevale is now my home, Kit,” Juliana said, even as her voice trembled with hurt and the persistent effort to keep the peace between the two men she cared for. “I want you to be part of our family as we try to raise one of our own. Cassian has even agreed to help you deal with the dangerous people after you.”
Kit’s hand froze over his glass. He looked from his sister to his former friend, his eyes no longer suspicious but horrified.
“Help me? Is this some kind of jest? I do not want your help. In fact, I do not think you can help me. You have already helped me enough when you married my sister.”
“You sold me, Kit,” Juliana reminded him, even though she did not want a fight. Kit had a tendency to act like a spoiled child, thinking only of his own feelings.
Juliana might have wanted to kick either man, but they were seated too far from her. She was trying so hard not to behave terribly, yet her temper was getting the better of her. Why could Kit not understand that he had damaged his friendship, perhaps irreparably, by hurting Marta?
When is he going to acknowledge his errors?
“I did not,” Kit grunted. “I… I was desperate. I am sorry, Juliana. I might have said those things to get the creditors off my back, but I would never have let that man touch you. Or any man, for that matter. I did not know Stonevale would take it upon himself to marry you, and you do not have to suffer another minute of it.”
“Kit, Cassian and I have been married for months now. That is final. It cannot simply be undone unless you want me to see myself ruined,” she said softly, feeling the gravity of her words. It was true. That was her life now: hoping for a successful marriage to a man who hated her brother so everything would not fall apart. “One day, we will have children of our own, and I… I think they should know their uncle.”
Kit jumped up from his chair as if he had a spring beneath him. His eyes looked wide and half-mad.
“Children? Did you dare touch my sister?” he asked in rage.
“Well, that is what happens when a couple marries,” Cassian replied dryly, perusing the pot roast and greens on his plate. “I believe that much is clear. Two becoming one, and all. But I suppose you do not know that, since you defiled my sister before walking her to the altar. You did not even have the morality to do it belatedly.”
“What? How dare you say that? You know nothing about what happened between Marta and me!” Kit bellowed, red in the face.
“I do not? It is clear as day. You were in charge of Marta, took advantage of her, ruined her, and got her with child while I was at the hospital. Then you left her when you found out she was pregnant!”
The words landed in the dining hall like a stone dropped into still water.
