“Please don’t trouble yourself, Griffin.” She placed her hand over his. “I’m no fragile dove.”
“Excuse me,” came a cold voice from the door.
Like guilty children, both of them snatched their hands away. Griffin glanced over to the doorway to see Noah staring at them. He looked angry, and Griffin had the sudden realization that his friend knew about the previous night’s kiss. With a grimace, he stood up. Noah looked like he wanted to rip Griffin’s heart out, so it was best to face him on more equal ground.
“Good morning.” Griffin motioned to the chair to his right while he kept a close eye on his best friend. “I trust you slept well and…” “Audrey, will you give my friend and me a moment alone?” Noah growled.
Audrey stood up to smooth her skirts as she looked from one man to the other. “Noah.” Her tone was a warning and a plea all at once.
“Audrey,” he answered, finally glancing at her pointedly.
She placed her hand on her brother’s arm and squeezed. “This is ridiculous. Please, let’s have our meal together without any problems.” Griffin saw volumes of unspoken communication pass between the siblings, then finally Audrey sighed in exasperation.
“You men! If you insist on destroying a lifelong friendship over a stupid…” Her gaze flitted to Griffin briefly. “… a stupid mistake, then what can I do about it?” With a flounce of her skirt, Audrey left the room, slamming the great oak door behind her and leaving Griffin alone with a man who looked as though he wanted to eat him alive.
Clearing his throat, Griffin asked, “Is Audrey correct? Are you intent on destroying our lifelong friendship?”
“How can you ask me that?” Noah stepped closer. “You are the one destroying the bond between us, not I!” Griffin had to work at maintaining his own cool in the face of his friend’s ugly accusation. “And just how am I doing that?”
Noah’s voice was dangerously low. “Audrey. I thought I made it clear just how easily you could hurt her!”
Griffin sat down at the table and stirred his tea while he tried to maintain his façade of calm. “My relationship with your sister has nothing to do with my friendship with you. She is a grown woman, long past the age of majority. If she chooses to spend her time in my company, then it’s really none of your affair.” Noah’s face darkened a shade and the vein in his forehead began to throb as he gripped the back of the carved dining room chair.
“Actually, it is my affair.” His voice was harsh in the quiet room. “Not only am I responsible for her as her brother, but starting any relationship with you could hurt her cover with Ellison.” “Oh, yes,” Griffin spat out, folding his arms. “I’d forgotten. You would much rather have your sister trading kisses with a turncoat in exchange for his secrets than with me.” Noah’s eyes narrowed. “At least I know where the turncoat stands, Griffin. Where do you? Are you planning to court Audrey? Are you planning to take her as your wife, or is your bed her final destination?” Stiffening at his friend’s observant, if cold, comment Griffin slammed a fist down on the table. “I would never harm your sister. She means… you mean too much to me.” With a sigh, Noah sat down in Audrey’s abandoned chair and stared at his friend intently.
“Perhaps you wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but you already are. If Ellison finds out you and she are carrying on some kind of… affair behind his back, he could turn on her. I don’t give a damn about his blasted secrets if it means putting her life in eminent danger.” His eyes darkened as he looked away. “I know you think I’m some kind of bastard for introducing her to this dangerous lifestyle, but you don’t understand. She was nearly destroyed by the ton and my mother’s constant pressure for her to marry. If I hadn’t taken her away, Audrey might have been driven to drastic measures.” Griffin frowned. He had a sudden realization how little he knew about Audrey in the years they’d been apart. Before she’d disappeared with Noah, he’d tried to avoid all news of her in hopes he could forget what had happened between them. He’d even found out which parties she’d been invited to and made a concerted effort to decline his own invitations. Luci had been furious.
“I had no idea your sister was so unhappy,” Griffin muttered.
“Mother found out about the unfortunate… incident on your wedding day.” Noah scrubbed a hand over his face as if the memory physically pained him. “She insisted she would have Audrey married before the next Season ended, whether or not she liked it. She dragged my sister to every party and ball there was, but rumors had begun. There were a few whispers about my sister’s virtue.” “Rumors?” A sickening sense of premonition hit Griffin in the pit of his stomach. “Who started these rumors?”
Noah flinched. “I think you already know who… and why.”
Griffin closed his eyes. Yes, he did. When he married Luci, no one could have convinced him she was anything but lovely and kind. Now that he knew the truth about her… he could only imagine the revenge she had taken on Audrey for that drunken kiss.
“Luci. Damn Luci!” Griffin howled, rising to his feet to pace the room. “What did she say?”
“Leave it be, Griffin. It’s done and Luci is gone. It matters little now.” Noah shook his head.
“No.” Griffin clenched his hands. “It matters to me. I want to know what she did.”
After a brief hesitation, Noah sighed. “Apparently she swore to my sister that she would destroy her after she found you two together.” His friend’s voice was curiously flat as he continued, “She followed through on that threat with enough venom to impress the meanest of witches. After the rumors began, no suitable man wanted her. She went home after her second season with her head lowered in shame and guilt in her heart because Virginia was coming out the next year and Audrey was afraid she would taint our younger sister’s reputation, too.” “Your mother must have been furious.” Griffin felt sick as he thought of all the pain Luci had brought to him and to those he cared for.
Noah gave a glum nod. “Of course. Mama cared a great deal for appearances then, so she arranged for my sister to marry some Squire. A nice enough chap, but not the thing for our Audrey. She was miserable.” Griffin could only imagine the ugly specifics of Luci’s lies. Images of Audrey publicly humiliated tainted his mind. The pain was nearly unbearable.
“And that was why she went with you,” he said softly.
Noah nodded. “I was leaving and thanks to some snooping she had guessed a connection to the War Department. She begged me to take her with me. I couldn’t deny her when I saw how deep her misery was. I took her to meet our superior believing he would keep her from the field, but she proved herself so swiftly that she was granted her desire. I gained a powerful ally in my duty to my country that day. I would never tell her this, but I’ve never been so happy to have been proven wrong.” “And she escaped the life that would have been thrust upon her thanks to Luci. Thanks to me.” Griffin scrubbed a hand over his face. He certainly understood a great deal more about Audrey now.
“Don’t you see?” Noah asked. “As much as Audrey has changed, the fact is that you were her fantasy as a young girl. You were what she wanted. If you offer her that fantasy again now, then refuse to follow through, you’ll hurt her all over again.” Griffin gave a noncommittal grunt because he couldn’t think of anything to say. The idea of being Audrey’s fantasy was an agreeable one. But was he ready to follow through on anything he started? That he didn’t know.