“Can we dispense with extolling my sister’s virtues? It matters not who pursued who. You took advantage of a gently bred lady. She’s bloody miserable and it’s your fault.”
Suddenly Douglas came alive before him, his dark eyes glinting in anger. “She may well be miserable but it’s hardly my doing.”
“If you had left her alone, she would have accepted her marriage.”
Eyes flashing, Douglas clenched his fists at his side and Sebastian had the distinct impression he was keeping a harsh rein on his emotions.
“Would you have her marry someone from your world, someone who would stifle who she is, who wouldn’t love her, or care for her beyond her ability to crank out an heir?” An odd note of pain crept into his voice as he continued. “I would want her to be happy, would spend the rest of my life making sure she was happy if she were mine. Can you say the same? Can anyone you would have her marry say the same?”
His words gave Sebastian pause. He made solid points, but it didn’t erase the fact that he’d bedded Sebastian’s sister. And oddly enough it sounded as though he genuinely cared about Jenna. Extremely odd when he considered how many conquests Douglas was famed for.
Suddenly he wasn’t so eager to smash Douglas’s face in, though he deserved it. The man was nothing like he’d expected. Not arrogant. Quiet and reserved. But from a completely different world, one Jenna had no business in. “Leave Jenna alone. Don’t come near her again. Forget this ever happened. If you tell anyone, I will not hesitate to kill you. Am I understood?”
“You’ve a lot of nerve coming into my house and making threats.” His voice was low and hinted at underlying anger. “You’ve nothing to worry about. I would never do anything to hurt Jenna. But don’t ask me to forget. I’ll never forget. Now get out of my house before Iforgetyou are her brother and throw you out.”
The two men glared at one another across the room. “Don’t come near my sister again,” Sebastian gritted out before turning and stalking from the room.
###
Jenna watched from her bed as daylight faded into night. Her eyes were swollen and her head pounded in a vicious cadence. Quinn had knocked on her door several times throughout the day. She had ignored his pleadings to open the door and eventually he had given up. Then Sebastian began, but still she remained silent, refusing to open the door.
She was in no condition to face them. Until now she’d never given up hope of somehow finding a way out of her impending nuptials. But now...now she had to face reality. There was no way out. And the truth was destroying her.
Dragging herself from the bed, she went to the washbasin and threw water on her face and puffy eyes. When she regarded herself in the mirror she was shocked by her appearance. Despair was etched in every plane of her face. As she turned away from the mirror her gaze caught the edge of the wooden box that peeked from underneath her bed.
Once again anger surged through her. Damn Stuart’s family. They haunted her at every turn. Guilt came close on the heels of her anger. The viscountess had always been kind to her. She wasn’t deserving of Jenna’s scorn.
She bent down to retrieve the box, her hand curling around the smooth wood. With a sigh, she flopped down on the bed and opened the clasp. She tossed the packet of letters out onto the covers and laid aside the box. If she was going to be spending a lot of time in her room, she may as well read Lady Dudley’s ramblings.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Stuart was a spy? Jenna threw down the pile of letters in shock. Fumbling with the stack, she yanked up the most damning of the letters and read over it again.
I dare not tell of what I know.
To do so would throw my family in
turmoil. The consequences would
destroy Stuart. But to know he is
a traitor to his country is more
than I can bear. There is proof
though, proof I have seen with my
own eyes. To think he was selling
English secrets to Bonaparte’s troops.
I am sickened to know that so many
lives, English lives, have been lost
as a result of this most heinous act.
I fear he is aware of my knowledge for
