Her gaze remained anguished, but there was a hint of steel in her voice when she replied rigidly, “Your concern comes rather late, doesn’t it? It has been months since I last was foolish enough to believe your tender professions.”
His faint smile was bleak. “I tried to see you, to write, but your brother banned me from the premises and ordered all my letters returned.”
“I wish I had been half as wise when you first began to woo me.” Her mouth trembled. “How pleased you must have been when you won your wager so effortlessly.”
Aubrey shook his head. “No, I was never pleased. My pursuit of you began as a wager, true, but it turned into something more, without my even knowing it. You see… I fell in love.”
Vanessa could remain silent no longer. “Aubrey, stop this!” she demanded, taking a furious step toward him.
Olivia turned even whiter if that were possible, while her voice dropped to a mere whisper. “How can you be so cruel? Haven’t you done enough? Must you make me the object of your malicious sport once again?”
“This is no sport, I swear it on my life. I haven’t been able to forget you, Olivia.” Tears shimmered in his eyes. “I know I’ve ruined any chance for a future with you, but I couldn’t go on letting you think I didn’t care. At least believe me when I say I never meant to hurt you.”
Olivia glanced wildly up at Vanessa. She looked desperate, as fragile as crystal. “Please,” she pleaded, “take me to the carriage.”
Slowly Aubrey rose from his kneeling position. “You may set your mind at ease, Miss Sinclair. I won’t contaminate you with my presence any longer. I shall take myself out of your sight.”
He turned and mounted his horse, then glanced sadly down at his sister. “Vanessa, please… take good care of her.”
He kicked his horse into a canter, leaving the two women to stare after him. They were both shaking.
Vanessa recovered first. Haphazardly arranging the blanket on Olivia’s lap, she began pushing the chair toward the carriage, her thoughts in turmoil. How could Aubrey have been so cruel? Should she have intervened sooner? Could she have somehow spared Olivia the pain of seeing the man who had devastated her life? What could she say to Olivia now?
Yet the girl was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she was blind to her surroundings. It was long moments later, after they were both settled in the carriage and on their way home, that Olivia raised eyes full of pain.
“He wasn’t a stranger to you.” The declaration was more bewildered than accusatory.
“No,” Vanessa replied quietly. “Aubrey is my brother.”
Olivia drew a sharp breath. She looked crushed at the betrayal.
For a long moment she said nothing as she searched Vanessa’s face. “Why did you never tell me?”
“I was afraid to. I feared you wouldn’t accept me as your companion if you realized my connection to him.”
“Does Damien know?”
“Yes. We… agreed from the first it would be better not to tell you.” She regarded Olivia solemnly, her heart aching. “I never wanted to deceive you. If you wish me to leave Rosewood now, I will.”
The girl didn’t reply at once. “Why did you come here?”
Vanessa looked away. She preferred not to tell Olivia the sordid truth, to reveal Damien’s threat to her family or their shocking liaison, to explain that she had been forced to become his mistress in order to save her mother and sisters from stark penury. Olivia was still too young, too innocent, to be exposed to such bald facts.
“Because I wanted to help you,” she said finally; at least that was completely true. “I was horrified to learn what my brother had done, and I wanted to make amends.”
“Then… all along you knew what happened?”
“Yes. Aubrey told me himself, weeks ago.” Vanessa leaned forward. “If you can’t bring yourself to forgive me for concealing the truth, I will understand.”
It was Olivia’s turn to look away. “I don’t know,” she said, gazing blindly out the window. “I need time to think about all this.”
For the remainder of the afternoon, Olivia shut herself in her room, while Vanessa despaired and wondered whether to pack her bags. When she received a summons to join Olivia just before dinnertime, she complied with uncertainty.
The girl was sitting in her chair, gazing out the window, her expression a little sad.
“I do understand why you hid the truth from me,” Olivia said, looking up. “If I had known Lord Rutherford was your brother, I never would have spoken to you, let alone allowed you to become my friend.”
“I am your friend, Olivia,” Vanessa replied earnestly.
“I know. And I don’t want you to go.”
The relief Vanessa felt was overwhelming. Before she could respond, however, Olivia spoke again.
“Did he mean it, do you think?” she asked quietly.
“Mean what?”
“He said he fell in love with me. Can I believe him?”
Troubled, Vanessa hesitated. Aubrey’s declaration of love had startled and shocked her, but while it seemed to have come honestly, from the heart, she found it hard to credit that her reckless, devil-may-care brother would truly have fallen in love. More likely he was acting out of guilt. Still she couldn’t be entirely sure…
“I don’t know,” Vanessa answered truthfully. “I’m certain Aubrey deeply regrets his actions, but I don’t know if he is really in love. I don’t think he would be so cruel as to fabricate such a lie-but then six months ago I never would have thought him heartless enough to make that despicable wager, either.”
Olivia’s mouth twisted bitterly. “Do you know the worst part? I want to believe he loves me. Am I ten kinds of fool?”
Vanessa didn’t know how to answer, but she wasn’t required to. Olivia’s chin rose defiantly, and for a moment she was the imperious baron’s daughter, instead of an innocent young girl betrayed by her lover.
“If he thinks he can fool me again,” she said fiercely, “he is greatly mistaken.”
Olivia was quiet that night at dinner, so quiet that her brother asked if she was feeling well.
The girl’s eyes flickered to Vanessa. “I’m well enough, though perhaps I exerted myself a little too much shopping today.”
“Would you rather I postpone my trip?” Damien asked seriously. “It isn’t absolutely necessary that I leave tomorrow.”
Olivia shook her head. “No, of course not. You needn’t worry about me. Vanessa will be here to look after me.”
Vanessa was grateful for her answer. Thankfully she’d made no mention of Aubrey to her brother. Vanessa shuddered to think what Damien might do if he learned of Aubrey’s presence in the district.
She only hoped Aubrey would have the sense to go home now that he’d had the opportunity to unburden his conscience. He was tempting fate to remain.
At least Damien would be leaving in the morning, for the better part of a week. She would be vastly relieved, Vanessa acknowledged, by his absence. Perhaps then she would be able to conquer the yearning ache he aroused in her with merely his nearness. To forget the burning enchantment she had known in his arms. To crush her foolish emotions.
She retired early, but to her dismay, she remained awake, nerves on edge, unable to sleep. After Damien’s avoidance of her these past few days, she didn’t expect him to come to her room that night, although she had prepared for him as on every other night, making use of the sponges he’d provided. Infuriatingly she found herself torn by conflicting desires-half praying he wouldn’t come, half hoping he would. She was determined to give him a cool reception if he did.
Her heart took up a rapid rhythm when she heard the whisper of the secret panel from across the room.
She lay unmoving, with her back to him, yet she was palpably aware of Damien’s presence. Moments later she felt the mattress shift as he sat beside her, felt the sensual brush of his hand beneath the veil of her hair, against her nape.