Cam raised an eyebrow. “Christ, Julian, that’s the third time you’ve mentioned Lady Charlotte since last night. Don’t tell me you’ve let that chit crawl under your skin.”
“Unlike you, Cam, Idohave a conscience.”
Cam gave his cousin a sour look. “Yours is a recent affliction, I think. You’ve pawed through dozens of bodices without suffering any ill effects.”
“Bodices of actresses, yes, and opera singers. Those are a different matter altogether. I wasn’t the first to get a handful of those ladies’ charms, and I won’t be the last. But Charlotte Sutherland is—”
“A flirt, if the gossip can be trusted.”
“A flirt, Cam. Not a whore.”
“Still—”
Julian’s foot dropped from his knee to the floor with a heavy thump. “Bloody hell, Cam. Just answer the question, will you? Did you, or did you not see Lady Charlotte this afternoon?”
Cam jerked back in surprise at his cousin’s harsh tone. “Very well. No, I did not. Lady Eleanor said—”
He stopped. Did Julian need to know Lady Eleanor had said her sister hadn’t left her bedchamber all day? One never knew when his cousin would be taken with some wild notion or other. He might visit Lady Charlotte to beg her pardon for his behavior. It wouldn’t do for Julian to complicate things now—not when Cam had Eleanor Sutherland where he wanted her.
Conquest, then surrender.
No, the sooner Charlotte Sutherland’s part in this scheme was forgotten, the better. She’d served her purpose. He had no further use for her now, and he’d rather Julian didn’t, either.
“Lady Eleanor said she was out.”
Julian finished off his whiskey and dropped the empty glass onto Cam’s desk with a crack. “No lasting ill effects from last night, then?”
Cam avoided his cousin’s eyes. “Not that I’m aware of, no.”
Oddly, this seemed to anger Julian rather than reassure him. “I congratulate you then, Cam. It’s all fallen into place just as you said it would. You’ll have your Sutherland bride. Not just any bride either, but a rich and beautiful one, and despite your reprehensible methods, neither Lady Eleanor nor her sister will end up the worse for it. At least,” he added, “that’s what you tell yourself.”
Cam jerked up straight in his chair. Damn it, he would not feel guilty about this. Julian knew better than anyone he hadn’t any choice. “Neither of themwillend up the worse for it. Charlotte Sutherland’s reputation will remain intact, and she’ll go on to marry some wealthy, titled lordling, with no harm done.”
But this only made Julian angrier. “Will she? But what of Eleanor Sutherland? Won’t she be harmed? She’s to be forced into a marriage she doesn’t want to satisfy some twisted need for revenge on your part—”
“Notrevenge.” Cam kept his voice calm with an effort. “Justice. I only want what’s owed to me, and what’s owed to Amelia.”
Julian shook his head. “There’s only one problem with that logic, Cam. It’s not Eleanor Sutherland who owes you. Either of you.”
Cam jerked to his feet and strode to the window. She didn’t owe him, no, and yet she’d pay nonetheless, because someone had to, and she was one of only two people left in the Sutherland family who could. Perhaps it wasn’t fair, but then life rarely was. Amelia would find that out soon enough. Why shouldn’t Eleanor Sutherland find it out as well?
“She’d be forced into a marriage one way or another, likely to a man who wouldn’t give her any of the freedoms I will.” Cam didn’t look at Julian. “She’ll get everything from a marriage to me she could reasonably expect to get from marriage to an aristocrat.”
“Not everything. You don’t love her.”
Cam swung around to face his cousin.Love her?He didn’t even like her. “No. I don’t love her, but she’s a daughter of theton, Julian. She doesn’t expect love from marriage. She expects to be taken care of. She will be, and handsomely at that.”
Julian’s expression darkened. “You callhercold? You turn everything into a business transaction, Cam, even marriage.”
Cam held onto his temper by a thread. “Marriageisa business transaction, Julian, and Lady Eleanor knows it as well as I do. Why do you think I’ll succeed in securing her when all those fine lords have failed? No false protestations of romantic love will move the lady, but force will, just as it does in business.”
“What aboutrealprotestations of love? Did you ever consider you’re stealing those from her?”
It’s not more than what was stolen fromAmelia and me.
Cam didn’t bother to say the words aloud, however. He and Julian had had this same argument time and time again, always without a resolution. “I will never love her, it’s true, but I will treat her with respect. I’ll be kind to her. Kinder than many husbands are to their wives.”
Julian raised his eyebrows, then cleared his throat.
